bjcc , notice how I got your name right…you should try it some time.
Yes the drink drive limit is 4 times the fly limit. I still believe that if you have drunk enough to be over the drive limit and still be over the limit in the morning after, you have had to try really hard. If you drive after a night down the pub and get into your car and drive you are trying very hard to be charged with drink driving through sheer stupidity…you never know exactly what your BAC is so you’re risking it. Alcohol affects different people in different ways depending on many factors, as you well know. Your statement that the limit is just over a pint is if I may say “shoe makers”
Because I have a family member who is a serving police officer I had the chance to be breathalysed after a few beers one evening, (no I wasn’t driving) I was shown to be under the limit but I was definitely feeling the drink. I would never have considered myself fit to drive but the law said otherwise…so if you don’t mind I won’t trust you.
I said the
limits are as low as they can reliably detect in man or woman That would of course depend on what equipment
they the police officer had with them on the day. As the old breathalysers are replaced I’m sure the sensitivity of the new units would naturally improve. What other counties do is irrelevant unless you are in that country committing the offence. FWIW IMHO a zero BAC requirement for certain drivers does nothing to improve driving, it only increases the number of driving offences.
The law is IMHO more about harmonisation than about safety. As I said fatigue and stress have a similar affect on performance and decision-making. But vast amounts of pressure is applied by the airlines to ensure they get as little restriction on the duty hours as they can get away with…after all there’s bigger profits to be had.
The trouble with alcoholics is that in the vast majority of instances, they can’t or won’t admit they have a problem, so how do you expect them to report sick?
Just for the record
bjcc, I don’t have an opinion as to whether the pilot is innocent or guilty, I just get that feeling of déjà vu whenever you read of yet another drunk pilot in the tabloids. If and when the pilot is found not to be guilty, I bet I won’t see any shock headlines stating that fact.
I don’t know of any pilot that believes drinking and flying is ok. We are generally a pretty professional lot. True there is always the exception, but there are better ways of dealing with that.