Get an EAP program!
 

Bloody obvious that the guy is propelled to the Employee Assistance Program Manager at their airline sharpish.

rigpiggy

That's just the sort of response I expected, I'm just surprised there were not more of them.

Strikes me that I what suggested is a very simple solution where the only person who gets hurt is the transgressor. If you like having to make difficult heart searching decisions that might cause difficult relationships that is your prerogative.

As for what my occupation is, it's not relevant to the discussion in hand, but I'm most definitely not a politician.

For those interested in the subject of this thread, this is an eye opener.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?C...-ed92eb50ff32&

My suggestion of mandatory breath test before signing on for a flight could have saved the public many flights of exposure to a possible hazard. The captain would also not have been exposed to a possible $250,000 fine and 15 years in clink, much better for him if his admitted problem had been detected much earlier.

I'm not getting at the bloke, it's all to easy to become addicted and end up in denial. Like he says "I'm just fortunate I didn't hurt anyone".

One thing I'm not quite clear about though, at what point would the full force of law come into play, i.e. when is the pilot deemed to have taken command of the aircraft?

Nice to see a reasonable debate for a change, it obviously pays to come into the backwaters of a Safety related forum :hmm:

Intersesting, that everyone has accepted the scenario.
'Captain turns up smelling of alcohol'
Why the Captain?
Why is it an acknowledged problem?
So common(?) it goes unchallenged.

1) the captain by definiton, almost, has been doing this job for longer than anyone else.
2) alcohol is a bigger escape mechanism than is generally acknowleded.
3) alcoholism is aquired usually over man years
4) most captains are functioning alcoholics.
5) if you are a co-pilot, this is a future that becons
6) see other threads on crew fatigue issues.
7) I am unqualified to comment, I am a 33 year captain, with dozens of colleagues in my airline.
&) flying over your city at night