Remember the limits are different overseas
 

Is that what you took from this? I'm pretty sure a BAC of 0.132% is illegal everywhere.

No, in Hungary and Turkmenistan you're legally allowed to be blacked out until you walk up to the jetbridge, remember?

didn’t realise the article said they were that much over. What I meant was always respect the 8 hour limit and also that .04 is FAA whereas in most Europe countries it’s 0.0

thanks for the better article L8. Wonder how his FO or IRO didn’t even pick up on this at the hotel unless they had separate hotels entirely.

It's been beat to death EVERY TIME this happens.

8 hours has NOTHING to do with it. SURE, it's a rule, but ZILCH.

Pretty sure the limit rule at United is 12 hours. And, not to be a fuddy duddy, but I’ve learned through the years that layover drinking needs to be limited to literally ‘a’ beer. YMMV.

If you’re at UAL, you may want to brush up in your FOM.

I’m hardly a fuddy duddy but If it’s less than 16 hours I don’t even bother with a beer. Just not worth it. Plenty of time for fun at home or the rare 24 hour+ overnight.

Atta boy/girl! If you can’t tell the difference between a couple beers or glasses of wine with dinner 14 hrs before departure vs the action required to report with a .132 then there’s no hope.

I just sleep like garbage even after 1 beer so unless I have time to sleep in I skip. I also prefer to have either more than just one or two with dinner or none at all. Never been worried about showing up .132. Although in Europe I’d be pretty leery of even one or two 12 hours out just on the off chance you blow .01.

Just personal preference, I don’t judge when guys down a few on a 12.5 hour overnight. We’re all built differently and one beer or six beers I generally sleep like garbage.

I can appreciate the sleep issue.

One or two and it’s out of your system in 3-6 hrs. The issue isn’t about a time limits. The population demographic (in all facets of career and life) that continually appear on the radar operate outside the norms of limits. They need help.

Alcohol is eliminated at 0.015% per hour, so to even blow a 0.01% 12 hrs later you would have had to stop drink with a BAC of 0.19.

Sorry but even 3 or 4 beers won’t get you even closeeee to that!

There is nooooo way guys are getting busted who have stopped drinking 12:01 before duty who have had a few beers.

Let’s not kid ourselves, they people getting busted even in Europe/UK were hammered and don’t know when to stop

carry a breathalyzer. I do. problem solved

Is the equipment that precise? I thought it couldn't reliably detect much below 0.02?

Article says this happened on Sunday and the guy got a six month suspended prison sentence and license revoked (not sure what license France can revoke). That was fast...

The license revocation was most likely in the states. Showing up to operate while under the influence is an automatic forfeiture of all certs. Not necessarily an automatic loss of employment, but at 63 I’m sure he has decided to decline the HIMS program.

A fellow crewmember would be wise to stop this before leaving the lobby or at the airport curb after the van ride.

Yet that never seems to happen. Maybe it's because they were drinking together? Maybe the other pilots want to be a bro and not cause problems for him. Maybe the rest of the crew didn't notice. Maybe they figure it will be fine, let's just get out of here. Probably not the first time either, and when this happens, usually the pilot who gets busted is a known factor. They just finally pushed it too far.

Best approach is not to get hammered on overnights, and stop at a reasonable time, well before FAR limits.

France cannot revoke an FAA license but they can ban him from exercising his license in France and probably any EASA airspace.

a little inaccurate reporting but the net effect is the same for flying in Europe

Hardcore alcoholics also generally don’t present with your typical drunken behavior. The few I knew would be totally normal at what would be visibly drunk for non alcoholics.

Not claiming to know any specifics but flying under the influence is so wholly devastating to an airline pilot’s career that when this does happen I tend to assume we’re not dealing with someone for whom it was a simple matter of knowing when to have that last drink. More like knowing how.

For most of us, saying something like “I just don’t drink at all on short overnights” is a pretty simple & straightforward decision. But alcoholism is a real disease that involves- among other things- a lot of self-deception. That doesn’t forgive or justify putting people’s lives in danger; but judging an alcoholic’s decisions from the lens of someone who can have a drink now & then and not even think about it the rest of the time is kind of pointless.

They’re also very good at hiding it. Every time this happens people say “why didn’t the crew speak up”; like you said, this is generally someone with a problem and generally people with a problem are good at hiding it and physiologically adapted to it.

Yes, there's that too. They may not even feel drunk when their BAC is well above the limits. But they still have other symptoms like odor, bloodshot eyes, etc. That's why the security people catch them. They know what to look for. If you have any LEO buddies, ask them all about this.

That's pretty moot/mute/moo when the FAA automatically revokes their certificates anyhow. But Europeans will be Europeans. I assume they will ban them from entry, like Canada does with DUIs, which accomplishes the same thing.

Visine, Listerine, and general avoidance. Maybe I’m just an antisocial jerk but it isn’t unusual for me to make it to security with anything more than “morning” and “gas looks good” without getting closer than 5 feet from someone.

And yet drunk pilots keep getting caught. It's such a paradox. :rolleyes:

Most of these guys got away with with it that way for years until they finally got caught.

I mean you can’t fool a random.

I just hate that some people place some expectation on the rest of the crew to catch it. If I notice I’ll try to help but I’m not going to field sobriety test the rest of the crew in the van.

who cares, this boomer was only like 2 years from retirement. didn't gaf anymore. Most likely will just retire early and keep all his benefits.

maybe mood - it still a sovereign country with their own decisions.

and the FAA lost their reputation as a trustworthy gold standard with the MAX debacle