those trying to defend a pilot over the limit here are just like alcoholics themselves.
Those are the people who obviously deny they have a drinking problem
I disagree with that statement.
As a non-drinker, there has to be a reasonable consideration of facts and physiology to determine the situation and the circumstances.
lets look at this for example:
How Long Does Alcohol Stay in the Body?
David J. Hanson, Ph.D.
After alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream it leaves the body in two ways. A total of about ten percent leaves through the breath, perspiration, and urine. The remainder is broken down through the process known as metabolism.
The rate at which alcohol is metabolized is the same for virtually everyone regardless of their height, weight, sex, race or other such characteristics.
Alcohol is metabolized at the rate of .015 of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) every hour. Thus a person with a very high BAC of .15 will have no measurable alcohol in the bloodstream after ten hours (.15 divided by .015 = 10).
So with a BAC of 0.023, that level of alcohol would have metabolized in 1.3 hours.
Many foods, and over the counter remedies have alcohol in the content. And as we have seen already a zero level is not attainable due to the human physiology, hence the 0.2 promile limit (being
effectively zero [sic]).
So subject to diet, individual physiology etc. the effective limit could quite literally be 'busted' without knowledge or symptomatic evidence.
Now going back to the level of BAC dissipation in the body of 0.023 being metabolized completely in some 1.3 hours, he could well have been
over the limit by a Crepe Suzette, or some O.T.C. cough mixture.
The reality is, that
could be a career wrecker, without any knowledge or effect being manifested.
It's quite different from a pilot staggering up for duty an unshaven wreck smelling like he's been marinated in Ricard.
All those trying to defend pilots over the limit on PPRuNe should report every morning for a breathalyzer test prior to the first flight of the day. Problem solved...
Personally I wouldnt have a problem with that as i dont drink.
However, I
would have a problem with it if the results showed me (or you) being over a 'given' level with the net results of a destroyed career, for actually not having consumed a level of alcohol that could impair performance or functional capability.
Meanwhile, people who don't know me nor have ever met me attest on a forum somewhere that I am drunk and should be thrown to the wolves and '
serves me right'.