Here's the criminal complaint for this case:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/296241771/...tson-Complaint
Like wanabee777 I am puzzled over the blood alcohol limit of .10% cited in news reports and in paragraph 4 of the Special Agent's affidavit. Is it possible that a lower standard of sobriety (i.e. higher BAC) somehow requires less legal effort to prove? Is this administrative law versus criminal law?
Normally .02% will get removal from duty as a pilot and .04% will get you in a lot more legal trouble. And, from what folks in the HIMS world tell me, often the legal stuff is often used, along with a termination letter, as leverage to ensure that you come down to the altar and be saved by the program. And, lives and careers have certainly been saved by the HIMS programs.
In a few cases, I've seen the pilot publically fired with the airline trumpeting its 'zero tolerance' policy. And then the airline quietly taking the pilot back with seniority intact after successfully completing a program of rehab and entering FAA approved monitoring through HIMS.
Did the FAA in this case say the matter was settled when the pilot retired and the DOT OIG later decided to prosecute after thumbing through the FAA report files?