Originally Posted by
Cubdriver
The number of stupid things people do is inversely proportional to age. By the time you're 80 you will take every step with delicate care. Most people play rather recklessly with alcohol and recreational drugs when they are young. The problem is, airplane flight is dangerous and commercial flying is a public responsibility not to be taken lightly. That's what you are missing- you do not understand this and you think the no pot rule is just another rule put there to make life hard for people who love drugs. Not so- flying is a dangerous activity, and you need to be 100% straight to fly 100% of the time you are flying. Alcohol is ok only if it is had in reasonable moderation with minimum of 8 hours between use and operations. 10 is a much safer number. Some otherwise fine pilots have been in trouble with this issue, so who are we to think we can smoke dope and risk flying an airplane into the ground? If you have been straight for a month that's a start, but the rule on the class III medical application is put there to keep people who are recently straight from flying airplanes and they enforce it.
I think you're getting the wrong sense of character. Towards the beginning of the paragraph you seemed to be getting it right, but then you imply I don't understand the responsibility of flight. No I get it, and I wouldn't be starting the road to a drug free future if it wasn't for that. But from what I read on this forum and elsewhere, becoming a pilot isn't all its cracked up to be. The risk of no hiring, being furloughed, failing a medical, etc. combined now makes it seem like one of the worst things to do. At least thats the general consensus that I get. much is to be discovered still to see if the industry is at all plausible, or if I would be much better spending my time at a state university and getting a degree in a field that has jobs and job security.
My question to all of you who have come to, or will come to, this thread is this...Am I better off going to a state university, then pursuing ratings afterward at a non-university type setting? Do airlines look down on this? Is it at all practical? The time would allow me far more than 2 years so I would be able to actually mark down no to my question from the first post. Know any places near Madison/in Wisconsin/around the Chicago area?
Hopefully this post has helped change your opinions of me and, in my opinion, the misjudge of character.