Airline Pilot Central Forums - UnitedExpress pilot indicted for flying drunk

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Quote:

Originally Posted by DENpilot (Post 968077)

I suppose you think that someone who shoots another person should be allowed to keep a gun or child molester should be allowed to work in a daycare facility just because they have "paid their debt to society" and haven't re-offended.

It disgusts me this guy is flying again.

Flying drunk and the offenses listed above are not equivalent. This is a false choice. We agree as a society some things deserve a second chance. I'll bet, given the similar circumstance, most on this board would not have recovered with as much dignity. And before you say "I would never be in that situation", I say BS. Maybe you won’t abuse booze, but at some point we all make bad decisions and if you haven't yet, you just haven't lived long enough. I say, those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw grenades.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustAMushroom (Post 968388)

Well said. I know of a few individuals who have gone through similar situations and even though it was an honest mistake on their part, they take responsibility for it.

How many pilots can say that they have never gone out the night before and thought that 8 hours was enough to sober up. .04 will fail a test and it's far from "drunk".

Drunk on the job

I have witnessed several of my co-workers get busted for being drunk on the job. One confessed to the FAA and yet none of them went to jail and most are back flying.

I do not understand why some are sent to jail while others merely loose their job to be rehired again later.

If is pilot is accused of having sleep apnea it is a drawn out fight with the FAA to get your medical back but get busted as an alcoholic and a few months of being sober is all that it takes.

Perhaps the FAA is more accustomed to dealing with alcoholic pilots.?

Skyhigh

Answered my own question

I found the following article about how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects alcoholics who enter rehab.

Walter Olson home page - "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of a good beer" (Washington Monthly 9/97)

The article goes on to explain why NWA rehired Lyle Prouse under pressure to comply with the law.

Skyhigh

Quote:

During the public campaign for the ADA, which was meant to extend the principles of the Rehabilitation Act to private industry, supporters tried to assure employers that they would not have to go quite as far in accommodating the disabled as the federal government had. But before long it became clear that the ADA's coverage of alcoholism and analogous afflictions would have all sorts of implications for the private workplace -- unleashing a series of eyebrow-raising legal actions. ADA spawned successful lawsuits to bar medical boards and other licensing authorities from asking applicants about their alcohol, drug, and mental-health histories -- even though a high share of misconduct by doctors is linked to substance abuse and even though many such boards use disclosure of past problems simply as a way to make sure an applicant is offered extra help, explain an otherwise inexplicable pattern of complaints or violations, and aid in catching recurrences early.

This sentence make you wonder how the FAA / AMEs are allowed to ask about past alcoholic problems (DUIs, DWIs, drug charges, etc...)

A very interesting - and sad - article.

USMCFLYR