rickair7777

It's a battle which could be fought, and was to a degree with PBoR.

There are always aspects of society and government which could be adjusted for better, but applying fundamental human rights style protections to pilot medical processes is not something too many people care about. Also it would be a steep uphill battle because the political soundbite would be "improved rights for drunk airline pilots".

rickair7777

I am not, never have been. But it's an uphill battle. If you want to fight it on perhaps constitutional grounds I will happily sign the petition. But it's easier for me to hand the keys to my wife than tilt at windmills.

say again

You don't have to be married to have a brain. Taxi, Uber, etc. There are many options, even for a 20-something, brand new CFI.

sailingfun

Some are really over playing the law. Spoke to my brother who is a cop and you need to be in the drivers seat or they need to show with evidence that you had driven the car. A quick internet search confirmed that on multiple sites.

The fact is, you do not have to be driving to be arrested for a DUI. You just need to be in the driver's seat of a car and be in possession of the keys. To the law in most states, this means you are in physical control of the car, even though you are not driving. Your keys do not even have to be in the ignition.

rickair7777

In the past (20+ years), in some states being drunk in the parking lot with keys counted. This was briefed to junior military personnel (due to transient nature, best to default to worst-case state law). Legal precedent might have changed at some point, I certainly hope it would eventually.

JamesNoBrakes

Yes, but it would be an uphill battle for the prosecutor if all they had was they found some guy sitting/sleeping in their car, unless there was some pretty good evidence (relating BAC with video surveillance, etc.). I haven't read those laws, but I'd assume that what is established is the "intent" or act of driving, insofar as stopping it before it happens or being able to prosecute it after it happens. Any why would you even come up on the radar at this point to a cop? Because you probably illegally parked, are blocking the street or hit something/someone while you were driving. Yes, there is a reason this law exists, but if it's truly a situation where your intent was to sleep in the back of your car because you had no other option, you are probably going to win your case. This is exactly what lawyers are for, when the police mess up and arrest someone that probably shouldn't have been arrested.

This thread just keeps getting weirder, asking "are you cool with cops arresting you illegally?" Well of course not, but obviously with a system as big as ours it's going to happen to some extent, which again, is why we have lawyers. If you aren't smart enough to hire a lawyer when it looks like you're being railroaded for something that you didn't do, well, you got other problems.

dera

That is irrelevant though. An arrest with no BAC report (or BAC over 0.15, or refusal) means an AME must defer your medical, and that gets very expensive very quickly when FAA wants you to dance through the HIMS jazz.
Doesn't matter if your lawyers win. You're still screwed. A DUI arrest can screw up pilots career, badly. Even when it's completely illegal.

Xdashdriver

I highly suspect the specifics of a few marginal cases got lost in translation before reaching the briefings then. I seriously doubt the only evidence required to show probable cause was someone standing drunk in a parking lot with keys, in any state.

SonicFlyer

Actually truth be known any positive federal involvement in air travel (other than border crossing) is unconstitutional.

We have a right to travel but the government has illegally turned it in to a privilege.

rickair7777

Constitution did not guarantee the right to pilot airplanes (or drive cars for that matter). It's not the travel that's restricted (you can still take a horse or train, or walk), it's the operating of heavy machinery that might harm other people.

In the era when the constitution was written it was perfectly reasonable to spend six months traveling between NY and CA.