True, although I'm under the impression that the effect is cumulative meaning that 4 units could take considerably longer than 4 hours to metabolise. Clearly, 12 hours (or greater) bottle to throttle is an unscientific and very rough rule of thumb following fairly limited intake.

Nevertheless, with the potential for detection being greater these days anywhere, I would have thought AMS where checking at the crew centre has been in place for years has got to be the one place where abstinence on a night stop would be prudently observed?

Has there ever been a commercial airline accident where the alcohol level in flight crew was a factor?

A friend was a commercial pilot for a major carrier between the '60s and early 2000s (a captain for over half that time) and his tales of some of the epic drinking that went on 'down the line' are quite amazing by today's 'zero tolerance' standards.

Just to clarify the "who has 5 grand sloshing about on their account" policy here in NL.
The police will offer you a one-off golden opportunity to pay up. By doing so you "admit" being guilty and in return the whole affair is settled. No more court case, no more hassle. You do get registered and everything.
It is a pragmatic approach, it saves the court system a lot of work. No lengthy procedures etc.
If you want a lengthy procedure, sure. You get arrested and then it all starts. Have fun and try.
Don't drink and fly.

Someone did it again today at AMS!!
51yo co-pilot with 0,63 promille (limit 0,2), flight cancelled.
The only cancelled flight this morning appears to be a 07:30am China Southern Airlines 777-200F flight.
The newspapers report that the other 10 crewmembers tested OK. Not specified if it were crew members from different flights/airlines.

10 crew members on a freighter plane? must have been positioning crews

From Aviation24.be:


*

Captain Lyle Prouse
 

Anybody who has read of Captain Prouse knows that he indeed did the time.
That the sentencing Judge later helped lobby for his reinstatement (which occurred) is testament that perhaps eventually people recognise that many factors are at play, including what is actually a disease.
Captain Prouse does not shy away from his responsibility, but his story helps explain some more of the insidious factors at play, including family and peer.

There are lots of subtle factors at play for pilots, but anonymous tipsters can end a career. Thus perhaps the only way to deal with sleep disturbance, dietary problems and all sorts of issues that arise from rest periods designed to save a few dollars, is to take a proactive approach to self management. It is unlikely that the regulators, corporations or indeed society ever acknowledges its part in what may well start as part of 'social acceptance ritual' but often descends into 'social ridicule' and even criminal prosecution.

Some years ago I regularly flew in the observers seat of 747s as flight mech.More than once I flew with a particular captain whose behaviour led me to believe he was under the influence - the problem I had was that the other crew members seemed to accept his condition so I was reluctant to do anything. Finally one night as he was boarding an ops officer put his arm across the door and said to him "Not tonight captain" - that was the last we saw of him so someone must have decided enough was enough. We later heard that flight attendants had noticed a concealed bottle in the crew lavatory.