Originally Posted by eman

To the OP: I have been following this thread out of curiousity, to learn what future someone in your shoes has hopes of achieving. I, like the rest of us here have zero idea what events in your life led to the decisions for which you will pay the price for years to come. I'm sure most of us have at some point in our lives felt like a good drink to smooth the rough edges of a bad day/week or deal with a terrible time in our lives yet still gotten behind the wheel thinking we can drive; while the laws and common sense say otherwise. Surely I am not bs-ing when I say at least one person here has dodged that DUI bullet and can live to correct their bad judgement, but it doesn't give them the right to point fingers and berate those that didn't share such good fortune. I am glad that you are now sober and probably rebuilding your life, hopefully whatever made you look to alcohol has also been resolved and you have a brighter outlook on your future. I hope you continue to find strength, wisdom and happiness in things that do matter and things that last longer so that you may someday look back and say you are 10, 20, 30 years sober.

The lack of empathy on this thread has really shocked me, self-righteousness and judging, finger pointing and "holier than thou" thinking some on here are displaying. Please don't let them get to you; and if anything should probably be put into the "cons" list of re-entering this career. You would have to work amongst this type of mentality while in pursuit of happiness which I'm sure being able to fly again would bring you.

It's obvious that what you hold credit for is terrible and the consequences to others around you would have been deadly, but I'm sure you've sought help and forgiveness for your weakness and bad judgement. I commend you on being able to get through it all and still fighting. With some of these replies I've read, I wouldn't be surprised if these folks haven't talked someone into suicide. Which is why I felt like replying. Because as a human being, I can empathize with anyone who has had struggle, big or small in their life and would like to provide encouragement to continue, improve your life and seek happiness.

The comments reminding you of how stupid you were, or how you're not welcome in a cockpit, or reminding you of bad points are unnecessary. You've had time to find this out for yourself as a consequence of your decisions.

Some would do good to remember the verse John 8:7

I wish you all the luck in the world in your continued struggle and hope that you are discovering where true and lasting happiness lies, as well as how to pave your path towards it.

Being a pilot is tough as hell anyways and not all of us will make a decent living at it while foregoing other things in life due to income...so you won't miss much!

Fire away gents...