Originally Posted by
firefighterplt
I know someone else who never had any legal or employment issues with drinking, but it started to have some personal/family consequences. He voluntarily sought treatment. FAA treated him just like a guy with a 0.28 BAC who hit a van full of nuns and babies—for doing the right thing.
A stupid or illegal act is absolutely not required to end up subject to a 12-18 month loss of medical, tens of thousands of dollars in expenses, and 5-6 years of follow-on monitoring and daily ‘recovery activities’. If I could shout this from the rooftops, I would. It has such a profound and horrific impact on professional aviators.
He's right, if the FAA sniffs heavy alcohol use, you're going for a ride on the HIMS wagon (without your medical for a good while). It doesn't matter how they find out, and it's also correct that you have to report anything like clinical intervention for dependency.
Also... know a guy who's soon-to-be-ex played the abuse card: he came over, yelled at me, slapped me, kicked my cat, smashed stuff up, and oh yeah he was drunk. All total BS, and it all went away real quick. All except that part about being drunk... he wasn't because he doesn't. But denial is a sign of abuse, so off he went to HIMS.