Eastern Railroad Discussion > OT United Air tightens alcohol rules

Pilots are now prohibited from drinking for 12 hours before going on duty.

The FAA rule of 0.04% and eight hours is unchanged. Pilots are also subject to local rules, United says. These include levels of 0.00%.

It looks like an imposed change, not negotiated.

https://nypost.com/2019/08/14/united-airlines-tightens-alcohol-rules-after-flight-crews-arrests/

Posted from Android

I worked on the drug and alcohol committee at my airline.  I've worked directly with pilots that have been busted at the gate or TSA.  The airline may fire the pilots and they deserve it but the FAA never gives up on the pilots that recognize they have the problem.  Say you have no problem and you will never see the cockpit again.  I aplaud United for this rule.  I've flown so hung over that the copilot had to fly because I was shaking so bad.  Thanks United! 
PS.  The treatment center was over half full of railroad employees.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/19 09:42 by milepost180.

I remember back in the days of the G. Gordon Liddy Radio Show, he always preached 24 hours bottles to throttles.  On the other hand, I remember a story from Chuck Yeager's biogrophy where he and his fellow pilots at Edwards were doing high altitude interception testing against bombers.   The weather guys promised them that the next day would be a total washout, so they went to Ponchos and got falling down drunk and crawled home in the wee hours.  When dawn came, the weather was perfect, and they had to fly.  Yeager said he crawled to his fighter, threw up on the tarmac, crawled in, and then climbed to altitude sucking oxygen the whole way.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/19 17:19 by junctiontower.

We called it just go suck it up and shut up.

United's rule was 12 hours. The 8 hour limit was something that came after the Continental merger. It's just going back to what it was.

Posted from Android

Being subject to local rules in places you layover can be an issue, too.  I believe the Czech Republic has 0.00% as a threshold for vehicle operation. Jail time on first offense. 

I'm sure the rules for pilots are at least similar.

Oh, absolutely! Doesn't matter if it's a US crew. The country's laws apply, and some of these guys who have been convicted have done significant jail time in those countries. Not sitting at home in the US with an alcohol monitoring ankle device. Sitting in the clink somewhere in Europe.

Posted from Android

ShortlinesUSA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh, absolutely! Doesn't matter if it's a US crew.
> The country's laws apply, and some of these guys
> who have been convicted have done significant jail
> time in those countries. Not sitting at home in
> the US with an alcohol monitoring ankle device.
> Sitting in the clink somewhere in Europe.
>
> Posted from Android

We should be doing that here.

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

Do false positives ever occur ? If so, do they retest ? 

Breathalyzers can often be inaccurate.  The real proof for potential conviction is a blood alcohol test, which is conducted after a crew is suspected of being impaired.  As an example, one of the two pilots in the recent Glasgow incident was cleared of charges after a blood alcohol test.