aviatorhi

Look, you don't know the facts... Other than they have 2 DUIs... How do you know they weren't 10 years apart or 10 years ago? The fact is you don't know anything other than said person has 2 DUIs. Basing a statement about whether they could handle an abnormal situation onboard an aircraft solely on that is not appropriate... It is not a viable measure of professional performance, if the person truly has personality or performance flaws there are other aspects of screening and/or training which are designed to identify those. Judge the person they are now... Not the person they were.

Zivko

I just think a DUI is in a different category. A lot more could have happened then just being pulled over. Doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result does not fit well being a pilot. We are all entitled to our own opinions. It was also way more difficult to get a DUI 10 years ago.

Mythbuster

The difference is they don't put people in jail for check ride busts. I'm not saying that only DUI offenders can crash planes, it just shows that after getting 1 DUI (which is pretty serious to begin with), this person put themselves in a situation where it could happen again and, guess what, it did. You don't find that mentality troublesome for someone who is supposed to be a professional airline pilot that the traveling public trusts implicitly? Let me put it this way, would you be comfortable in finding out that the school bus driver that shuttles your child back and forth everyday had 2 DUI's in his past and also had been terminated from driving at another district? Wouldn't you demand to know how someone with a past like that could possibly have been hired to drive your child around regardless of any extenuating circumstances regarding his past? Would you be willing to let it go and take a chance where human lives are involved?

aviatorhi

Here's one fundamental difference (going for the LCD with this one)... There's no codrivers on a school bus. There's also at least a dozen more differences which make your argument the same as comparing apples to not apples.

Additionally, they don't put you in jail for a driving test bust... They do put you in jail for drunk flying.

rickair7777

In the distant past (the 80's) two DUIs might be not much different than two speeding tickets. I wouldn't rule out someone with one or even two DUIs from that era, and I'll admit I could have got one back then.

But attitudes and laws changed by the early 90's and everybody knows it by now it. One recent DUI is a big deal, and two is a deal-breaker. Two DUIs is very bad judgement, serious impulse control issues, dependency or all of the above.

I would rule out an applicant for any job involving safety with two DUIs. Come back in twenty years with a clean record, and then maybe we can talk.

And I'm representative of the kind of responsible adult professional who typically gets put in charge of hiring decisions.

ClarenceOver

Regardless, the regional airlines are hiring people with busts and dui's on their record. Period. Maybe you should ask HR what their reasoning is. The fact is there are pilots who are safe and competent to pilot an airliner with dui's on their record. Whether you agree with it or not doesn't matter.Two dui's like Rick said then ya i agree with him you are done. Especially if you were an adult and should know better. But there are people that have been hired with one.

Mythbuster

I didn't bring up Buffalo, and I never said that you have to be a drunk to crash a plane.
I guess since he is being babysat by a captain, it makes everything alright. That didn't work out too well for the America West crew in Miami or the Northwest crew in Minneapolis / Fargo.
I'll just have to live with the fact that, at least when I'm flying to Canada, I won't have to worry about this guy.

Mythbuster

Clarence,
I agree with you on 1 DUI. It's bad but it could happen to anyone. My problem is with getting a second one for all the reasons previously stated.

aviatorhi

I think you're still missing the point that screening is not a one dimensional thing. And I don't have the time or energy to explain the concept except to say its good you don't do screening/hiring.

JamesNoBrakes

Hey, this is completely true. One might turn their life around after 2 DUIs or whatever. It would require a closer look at their life, how they've turned it around, and so on.

The problem is, no one can afford to do that. Just like we can't afford to run 250hr pilots through a battery of tests to find that there are some that are just as capable as 5000hr jet pilots.

It all sounds nice on paper, but reality is cold and hard and we have ensured that such things are "showstoppers" in our society, even if you are not "that way" anymore.