Originally Posted by
Zombywoof
For flying it might as well be zero, because a single pint is going to put you over the limit for sure. I agree with bean, 49mg is not much.
Yes. Alcohol and flying shouldn’t be mixed, but the practical effect of 49mg is zero, although a line has to be drawn somewhere.
It is difficult to argue that a stiff drink before aviating should be allowed, however the hoopla and publicity is very disproportionate to the actual risk. If the pilot in question was a tee-totaller who didn’t get a great night’s rest (time zones, busy roster, noise, etc.) but felt kind of OK after a cup of coffee, very few would be questioning his fitness to fly but, as countless accident reports have detailed (including the recent one from Pakistan), tiredness, fatigue, hypoglycaemia, worry and stress are far more potent performance degraders than a BAC only detectable by sophisticated equipment.
If 1% of the effort put into alcohol screening and security theatre was instead concentrated on the real dangers above, the aviation world would be a safer place. Yes, don’t drink and fly but even if no-one ever did, it’s not going to do anything to improve the accident statistics. For those with real issues, peer intervention and employer support work much better than anything else.