911TinCan

Hi all,

First time posting. So a "friend" (pilot) has been abusing alcohol for a while, with no real consequences. A family member already tried an intervention & contacted HIMS previously, but said friend talked his way out of it and that was the end of it.

Friend continued to fly for another couple months, but has now used up sick/vacation/FMLA (various reasons given- none related to alcohol of course) to postpone working due to the extent of his drinking. Most recently they had a seizure and are not self-reporting to anyone. He is in denial and claims there is nothing wrong.

A non-airline professional said theres nothing I can do here, except let the friend suffer the natural consequences in due time. Any other helpful advice or insight would be greatly appreciated.

TiredSoul

Well nobody said an intervention was easy.
Attempt HIMS again and if that doesn’t work maybe a ‘random’ drug test needs to be organized.
Tough love if he fails.
He’ll be eligible to get his certificates back after going though all the required motions.
Hopefully by then he has realized the error of his ways.
Substance dependency is an illness.

rickair7777

You owe it to your friend, the traveling public, and the profession (not necessarily in that order) to lay down the law.

Give him the choice of a written request to be taken off line and enter hims, or you inform the company.

If you inform the company they may not be able to do anything immediately, but they will certainly start monitoring very closely and should catch him red-handed soon enough, if it's as bad as you say. Hopefully the scrutiny will cause him to do the right thing before it comes to that.

I don't know what would happen if you told the FAA.

I had to make a hard call in a similar instance (friends and family punted it to me). The company initially didn't see any justification, but they started paying careful attention and soon enough realized there was a good reason the guy's family and friends didn't want him flying.

georgiaflyer

Anonymous tip hotline

zondaracer

In a case like this, it would most likely be a he said-she said situation without definitive proof, but the FAA would most likely ask the certificate holder to voluntarily surrender their medical certificate. That does not mean that they would be obligated to surrender their medical certificate (because what if the accusations were false?), nor would it mean that their certificate would be revoked.

I saw a similar situation where many people felt that a specific pilot had a mental health issue and reported it to the FAA. The FAA only asked for the individual to surrender his medical certificate, which he chose not to do. He is still flying today.

Excargodog

If the guy is having alcohol seizures he’s a danger to himself and others.

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-acc....php?aid=40822



That leaves you little choice:

Submitting Hotline Reports to the FAA.
(1) The general public, aviation industry, and FAA employees may contact the FAA Hotline by telephone (1-800-255-1111, 1-800-322-7873, or 1-866-835-5322), by email by accessing the AAE Web site or by U.S. Postal mail. The hours of operation for the FAA Hotline Program are 0800 to 1600 ET, Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. After 1600, if a reporting individual believes their safety issue is time critical and should not wait until the next business day to be addressed, he/she may select an option that transfers him/her to the WOC, who will forward the call to the Air Safety Investigator. All other after-hour calls left on the FAA Hotline voice mail system will be retrieved the next business day.
(2) A reporting individual, who contacts the FAA Hotline, may request that their identity remain confidential. Confidential reports are categorized as Confidential Headquarters or Confidential Field Office. For those reports categorized Confidential Headquarters, the investigating office may submit a request to AAE to communicate to the reporting individual and AAE will provide the response from the reporting individual to the investigating office. For those reports categorized Confidential Field Office, the investigating office may contact AAE to get the reporting individual’s contact information. Anonymous reports to the FAA Hotline are accepted, but no response will be provided.

PerfInit

Does said pilot belong to a union, such as ALPA? Perhaps they can be of assistance?

911TinCan

Thanks all for the insight and advice.

I agree with that it would come down to a he sd-she sd. It is hard to convince someone they had a seizure (even with documented medical attention provided), when they can't even remember having it and is in so much denial that they are willing to say anything to dismiss it/my character.

I am bound by HIPPA, so I cannot disclose the medical information. However, due to safety of all humans I will start by contacting the recommended professional organizations.

The "friend" is still is on leave with no date to return to work.

RBFmcgee

That’d be a reasonable cause/suspicion test - not a random. Organizing it ahead of time is the exact opposite of a random screening.

I do agree, however, that OP should reach out to HIMS again. In addition, stating your concerns to the Designated Employer Representative (responsible for D&A Program at your company) should be entirely confidential. Emphasis on ‘should’. The DER has access to more resources and may be able to approach the situation from a different point. Who knows - that may make a difference. It is also worth noting that pilots that self-disclose substance abuse to their employer and ask for help are much more likely to keep most credentials valid. Not to mention much more likely to keep their job post-treatment. But they have to want the help...