Originally Posted by
sailingfun
Everyone should take a look at their rules for consuming alcohol on a trip. Way to many issues. It’s not worth your career. I use 12 hours to report and a 2 drink max on a layover. Whatever you feel is appropriate set a limit and stick with it. Keep in mind in AMS the law requires 10 hours.
A friend started a brewery and it seemed like he, and several people who worked there all got a few DUI's. We have a tiny, tiny, little winery. Bought these for everyone who manages and samples product as part of their tasking.
Use of the thing has been pretty interesting. For starters, near the legal limit, I would be too impaired to drive. Feels about like being on hour 15 of a duty day (no fun). In fact, it appears to this Irishman that even those of us in the industry tend to never drink ourselves over a .04 and that's with hundreds of gallons of great beverages at hand.
With data we can science the **** out of this, but it really is not hard.
A good buzz is BAC .02 to .04 with a max of .06. After .055 bad things start to happen physiologically which in addition to being bad for you, is literally a buzz kill and you can't get back to the sweet spot.
The average pilot (170 to 210?) can easily consume two beverages the first hour and one each subsequent hour while remaining below the vicinity of .04 BAC. Takes about 1 hour per drink to metabolize a typical adult beverage (at .015 reduction in BAC per hour). Probably best to get a little movement in, darts, a walk, food. The trendy places which allow you to walk with a "roadie" are actually a very healthy way to consume. The wild card is mixed drinks with a generous bartender. Frankly, I stay away from mixed drinks while on the road.
While it is easy to respect the 8 hour, or even a 10 hour limit, the goal isn't to get completely wrecked and try to recover. Frankly, the disturbance to your sleep and dehydration result in your not being recovered even if sober (not that many would do this, but a tiny handful do). If you ever find yourself doing this, there is no shame in getting help. Some of the best people I know have gotten help. ALPA has great resources which are well supported in the industry.
Enjoy, and if it is no fun; stop.
As a supplement to this, Georgia's charts show that women have a much narrower safe zone where slight impairment becomes intoxication. As we have more female pilots come on board probably time to cut the consumption in about half, which still would be in the ideal .02 to .04 range.