Roger
Your response to my several posts needs an answer. "by your logic" and then what amounts to a straw man argument. This thread concerns commercial piloting with passengers, public carriage, not motoring. I won't answer your attempt to drift the focus off my opinion, which I believe is quite clear. What is yours? Rather than attack my "logic" and attempt to portray it as somehow irrational, explain yours.
The breathalyzer? Due process? Fatigue? Your every attempt to deflect the debate from a simple discussion into areas that are wholly unrelated is not typical of your usual articulate and well reasoned posts.
Laws are arbitrary, they need to be or be liable to attack as too specific and burdensome.That is why there is one standard for everyone, there is no other way.
Bewailing them as too harsh is ridiculous. What should be done, slide the index by nationality? Body weight? Gender?
Would you routinely allow a fellow pilot on deck with you whose senses are at 98%? 50%? Without alcohol but hungover? I doubt it.
I'll restate. If legally demonstrated to be over limit at flight time, one's certificate should be revoked.
It's curious to me the howls of protest from the others who disagree. Drinking alcohol is a legal pursuit, anyone who thinks my opinion involves a moral judgment is wrong. In uniform walking on the a/c with any measurable alcohol in the blood is so stupid as to bring into question the offenders sanity. Drinking and commercial flight should be strictly exclusive of each other. Anyone who mixes them shouldn't be flying. Further, residual alcohol can be indicative of a problem. Coming off a drunk?
Alcohol impairs the senses and judgment in many ways. Metabolytes of alcohol in the blood can cause sensate and perception problems, absent alcohol itself.
Sad to say one can no longer place utter faith in the people upfront. Whether it was ever justified, lately there are other issues staining the performance and trustworthiness of those who fly and those who manage flight. Lack of training, experience, and judgment are enough to counter, who needs the perception of an alcohol problem in the mix?
Last edited by Will Fraser; 22nd May 2009 at 17:31.