Thanks! I will enjoy my life knowing I don’t have to watch the clock on an overnight. Or ever make the news because of alcohol. Or ever show up to the plane putting another crew member in a horrible position for them to have to call me out on my condition.

I would argue substance occurrences affect all of us. Those HIMS university students don’t get free tuition. The money comes from somewhere. I hear ALPA say all the time how we have the best of HIMS programs. But in the end we all end of paying for those programs with offsets in something else in the contract. Get guys to stop showing up drunk or high and there is more pie for those of us that color within the lines.

As for the window sticker....didn’t the news reports say there were four witnesses to the act and it wasn’t just passing by a window sans his epaulets they saw?

Good grief. Justifying your actions by speaking to such rare events wears a little thin.

Excellent post and It’s not cold to say at all, it’s the right thing to say. People (usually other heavy drinkers) defend alcoholics as if they are victims. They ARE NOT. They are humans that make awful
choices. And they destroy other people’s lives in many ways, let alone their own. I have first hand intimate experience (many years) with an alky and there is only one person that can help them—themselves. So for those of you on here trying to insult me or shame me because “I’m not fun at parties” or what ever, there’s a reason I don’t touch the stuff. I’ve seen first hand how it destroys people and careers. When they show up to a plane with it in their system or drive a car, it’s absolutely criminal and should be treated as such. The potential for people to be hurt or die is real. They are not innocent. It’s a series of bad choices in life that leads one down that road. Fix the bad choice problem and you fix the alcohol problem. But petting their head as if they are an unwanted dog dropped off at a shelter isn’t the answer.

Seriously??? We go to training every year and they discuss “rare events” the whole time and how to prevent them. Then we take what we learned and apply it every flight to avoid another rare event. Wow!! Go have another drink.

Coupled with the amount of occurrences, that pie you speak of is a speck if anything. I'd dare to venture a guess how you would administer justice for those unfortunate enough to find themselves in a substance issue.

While we're on the Mount with ihateyou, why don't we mandate no smoking, no speeding, mandatory weight limits, mandatory diet and exercise practices, mandatory safe sex practices for the adventurous amongst us. I'm sick of the expensive health care benefits we pay for and I demand my section 3 satisfaction.

Ah the pre trial witnesses in a public court of conviction. Hope you're never on the receiving end of that stick. I'm not a fan of his ALPA politics but he's a fellow pilot.

I guess if you say it enough it will be true. Keep it up and you'll have me believing that MOST pilots display risky behaviors on layovers. Like a wise friend told me, the more I learn of pilots....

I always find it interesting those who get offended with anti drinking comments. First off, do what you want when you want while you're not at work. Don't care. Do what you want on an overnight also, but don't show up to the plane with alcohol in your system in any amount and put the lives of passengers at risk and put your fellow crew members in an awful position to have to call you out on it. Are you truly defending this kind of behavior? There are plenty of people who on an overnight have one drink and that's it. My original post, to which all the drinkers took offense and ran with it making it something it wasn't, was to those who do not drink responsibly. Simple as that. And on top of that, I simply was implying that to eliminate any risk of losing a career over alcohol, don't drink on an overnight, save it for days off But the drinkers who hold alcohol close to their heart and a part of who they are (especially the guy who's fond retirement memories will be only of hotel bars) got offended, estrogen climbed and they got all whiney. Pretty simple, don't drink on overnights and you'll never lose your job to alcohol. Don't steal sweaters, you won't get fired for stealing, etc., etc.

Smoking, being overweight and such that you eluded to doesn't put the passengers lives at risk, nor my career. If you show up to the cockpit fat, I can't lose my license if we proceed with the flight. There's a reason there's laws about how much BAC you can have to operate cars, planes, heavy machinery and such. If that offends you then that's your issue.

If you ever have the luxury of watching someone close to you destroy their life, and try to destroy yours too, with alcohol, you may hold a different view like me. I stay away from it. I didn't say you should. But just don't show up to work or drive a car with it in your system. Simple.

How much do you think a trip to rehab costs? I am guessing a 100K at a minimum. Have heard we have 50 plus in the program at any one time. Also think they get a pre pbs paid day to attend their monthly “you are great” sessions. Personally I don’t think these are insignificant cost but

You make all those other things you mention illegal and perhaps that’s possible to get to your vision. But are you okay with spending 100k per over weight pilot or smoker to get them help since you suport getting the drinker and dopers help? Maybe we can get those to claim eating and smoking as a disease. Seems to work for sympathy when you up at work impaired.

"All the drinkers" and "most of the pilots" speaks volumes to your argument. By the way, OldMako never mentioned hotel bars with fond memories. He didn't even mention drinking. You inserted that to fit your myopic narrative.