A previous poster quoted
"Post #34 on this thread (page2) quotes:
'A breath test showed 45 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath, five times the 9mcg limit for pilots. A blood test at 11.45am revealed 42 milligrams in 100ml of blood, twice the 20mg limit.'
The legal limit for drivers in the UK is 35 Microgrammes of alcohol in 100ml of breath, therefore the pilot was actually in excess of the drink drive limit and 5 x the Pilots limit when he was first breathalysed.
(35mcg/100ml breath = 80mg/100ml blood).
If it could have been proven that he had driven to the airport to commence his duty then he could have been banned from driving aswell!!
It is not clear form the infomation on this thread how long elapsed between the initial breath test and the blood test being taken. However it must have been long enough for his alcohol level to drop from five times the pilots limit to just over twice."
I defy anyone on this thread to say that alcohol in the system does not impair function. That is what is important. Studies prove beyond doubt that alcohol impairs judgement and even at levels which the pilot admitted he had in his system, its severely disabling. Its not a matter of what flight crew can get away with, it is that their function is impaired by alcohol. Its seperate from fatigue, which is a different issue totally.