Replies

That a man who had been arrested twice for alcohol-related incidents, and was known for violent behavior towards his wife and neighbors was allowed to fly again, drunk, after "anger management" classes is inconceivable and also very, very frightening.

Yep. This guy has a serious problem, and IMHO should have been suspended or sacked once the problem became evident.

Clearly pilots need to be drug and alcohol-tested before every flight.

Every pilot before every flight? I'd respectfully disagree, and don't think there's a chance of pilots agreeing to it.

FWIW, drug and alcohol tests are done on crew (living or dead) after crashes. I can't remember a single accident report -- admittedly, I haven't read anything like all of them -- that showed significant blood alcohol.

I've pinged some FReepers who'll have better information.

I'd respectfully disagree, and don't think there's a chance of pilots agreeing to it.

Nor do I, they have a very powerful union that would fight tooth and nail against it. But I still believe they should be tested before every flight.

I can't remember a single accident report -- admittedly, I haven't read anything like all of them -- that showed significant blood alcohol.

I've pinged some FReepers who'll have better information.

A jet crashed in Alaska years ago and the dead pilot's blood alcohol level was way over anyone's definition of drunk, much higher than these two pilots. It was a freighter, flying cattle to Japan.

Actually alcoholics have a very high tolerance and I'd rather fly with an alcoholic pilot whose had a few than a non-alcoholic. His hand-body coordination would not be as impaired.

Years ago I read of a group within AA made up of recovering alcoholics who had commercial pilot licenses. They called themselves Birds of a Feather.

There are many active alcoholic pilots. Don't forget F. Lee Bailey ... he is a licensed pilot and may still represent the pilots' union. Read Patty Hearst's book about her trial and her descriptions of Bailey's alcohol consumption -- at lunch, during trial -- and make up your own mind.

Lots of hits here on a search for 'alcohol' and 'accidents' on the FAA.GOV domain

As a staring point an article in "The Public i":

While blocking healthy captains from flying after the cutoff age, the FAA has been liberal over the years in certifying alcoholics, past drug abusers, pilots with psychiatric problems, and those who are blind in one eye or deaf in one ear, as well as hundreds who have undergone multiple heart bypass operations.

(Excerpted from here.)

Followed up by a search for 'ALPA' (Air Lines Pilot Assoc.) and 'alcoholics':

Google search.

For those into forensics and 'heady' documents there is this:



Prevalence of Drugs and Alcohol in Fatal Civil
Aviation Accidents Between 1994 and 1998

Office of Aviation Medicine
Washington, D.C. 20591

Abstract
The use of drugs and alcohol in aviation is closely monitored by the FAA Office of Aviation Medicine's (OAM’s) Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) through the toxicological analysis of specimens from pilots who have died in aviation accidents.
This information on the use of drugs in aviation is helpful to the FAA in developing programs to reduce the usage of dangerous drugs and identify potentially incapacitating medical conditions that may cause an accident.
Data collected from this research can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the FAA drug testing program.
The toxicology reports prepared by the CAMI Forensic Toxicology Research Section are used by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of aviation accidents. Specimens (blood, urine, liver, kidney, vitreous fluid, and other bodily specimens) were collected by pathologists near the accident and placed in evidence containers provided by CAMI. These samples were refrigerated and shipped by overnight air. Upon receipt, the specimens were inventoried and accessioned for the analysis of drugs, alcohol, carbon monoxide, and cyanide. All data collected by the laboratory were entered into a computer database for future analysis.
The database was searched using a Microsoft Access TM program developed by a local contractor. The database was sorted based on the class of drug, controlled dangerous substance schedules I and II, controlled dangerous substance schedules III-V, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and alcohol.
The Toxicology and Accident Research Laboratory received specimens from 1683 pilots for postmortem toxicology analysis between 1994 to 1998. Controlled dangerous substances, CDS, (schedules I and II) were found in 89 of the pilots analyzed. Controlled dangerous substances (schedules III - V) were found in 49 of the pilots tested.
Prescription drugs were found in 240 of the pilots analyzed. Over-the-counter drugs were found in 301 of the pilots analyzed.
Alcohol at or above the legal limit of 0.04% was found in 124 pilots. The number of positive drug cases has doubled over the past 5 years.
Over-the-counter medications are the most frequently found drugs in fatal aviation accidents and many of these drugs, or the medical conditions for which they are being used, could impair a pilot's ability to safely fly an aircraft.
The increased number of positive cases found in this research is most likely the result of improved methods of analysis, rather than an increase in the use of drugs.
The low incidence of CDS III-V drugs found in fatal aviation accidents may be a result of the difficulty in finding and identifying the new benzodiazepines commonly prescribed in this class.

The full report, containing a breakdown of the types of substances they found in pilot's blood, may found here in this Adobe ".pdf" format document.