III Corps

Not hypothetical. MANY years ago I am driving a Lear 25 and we haul these two guys and a wild woman out of one of the MIA/FLL airports enroute to LAS. Just after we get airborne this pungent odor wafts forward. We advise that we can't fly with that stuff being smoked. They oblige and a few minutes later we hear giggles and snorts. We explain that maybe they need some other form of transportation. They pack the stuff away.

We get them to LAS and they promise no more stuff on the airplane. A friend of mine had spent some time in the islands when the locals founds some seeds in the carpet during a customs visit.

We spend day 1 and day 2 by the pool waiting to take them back to south Florida and we see a gurney go by with what looks like one of our boys. We get a page. "Get to the airport NOW and let's leave!" says the voice. We ask where are we going, "Anywhere.. just get me out of LAS."

We preflight the Lear and decide to head towards ATL. A few minutes later one of our guys shows up sans the wild woman and friend. We take off. No booze. No drugs. No smokes.

We drop the guy off and head back home to ATL. The boss advises the next time we fly them, IF we fly them, no funny stuff or we return and land.

A few weeks later we haul a couple from ATL to MIA and the whole way down they are bangin' away. Not for me to intervene but drugs? Nearest available.

vagabond

What about "tort law" don't you understand, Major? ;)

As Rickair said, we don't know what a court will decide until a victim files suit against Big Wig for running over him while driving his rental Hummer drunk as a fish after drinking the entire flight to LAS. My concern is for the regular Joe Blow PIC and what he should do if ever faced with something like this. If he does nothing, he may be held as liable as if he did do something. Damn if you do and damn if you don't. And by the time he finds out, they are 35,000 feet in the air.

We drew a line between illegal activity and immoral activity, however there is no bright line rule for how a PIC ought to behave. At the end, I suppose it comes down to the individual person and where he has set the bar for himself. I hope private airplane companies have some guidance in their personnel manuals.

I'm going for a margarita now.

HungryPilot

I didn't read all the posts so this is probably covered but i had not seen it yet. Intoxicated pax are not allowed on an aircraft unless under direct medical supervision. So it stands to reason that becoming intoxicated on a flight would be equally as illegal though would not bring liability on the pilot. I think the PIC has the authority to end that flight and if the pax becomes a hassle then an obligation to end the flight. I read this to be alcohol and drugs both.