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12 hr drinking rules and FAA action

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great cornholio

Are you threatening me??
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Posts
792
The "mooning pilots" made it onto the first few minutes of Inside Edition the other day and at the end of the report they mentioned that the two might have been drinking inside of TSA's 12 hour rule. My question is if they were found to be drinking within 12 hours, but outside of 8 hours can the FAA enforce any kind of certificate action? Obviously if they were drinking within 8 hours then they would have violated the FARs and certificate action would most likely follow. If someone is found violating a policy in their companies GOM can certificate action follow?
 
I think it depends on their BAC when they report for duty.
 
The TSA has a 12 hour alcohol limit?!? When the hell did that happen?

I think the short answer is as long as an FAR wasn't violated (8hrs and .04 BAC) then no, the FAA can't pursue certificate action. I don't think a violation of a GOM would matter in this case.

Then again, I'm no lawyer...
 
I don't know how TSA's manuals are written, but I believe airlines are supposed to have a heirarchy arranged when FAR's and company policies conflict. At the same time, most places have a stipulation that the most restrictive of the FAA or company rules/policy are the ones that take precidence.

If TSA's manuals are written like this, then yes, the pilots can possibly have certificate action put on them from the FAA.
 
The "mooning pilots" made it onto the first few minutes of Inside Edition the other day and at the end of the report they mentioned that the two might have been drinking inside of TSA's 12 hour rule. My question is if they were found to be drinking within 12 hours, but outside of 8 hours can the FAA enforce any kind of certificate action? Obviously if they were drinking within 8 hours then they would have violated the FARs and certificate action would most likely follow. If someone is found violating a policy in their companies GOM can certificate action follow?

They didn't violate any FARs, so no FAA action but would probably get fired from TSA for violating company policy.
 
I don't know how TSA's manuals are written, but I believe airlines are supposed to have a heirarchy arranged when FAR's and company policies conflict. At the same time, most places have a stipulation that the most restrictive of the FAA or company rules/policy are the ones that take precidence.

If TSA's manuals are written like this, then yes, the pilots can possibly have certificate action put on them from the FAA.

That's not how it works. If company policy is more restrictive then the FARs then the company can penalize you in whatever way it deems (considering labor law, union contracts, etc) but there is no FAR violation. If they had broke the 8 hour rule they still couldn't be violated by the FAA unless they stepped onto airport property which would show intent to fly.

Now I've also heard that just putting the uniform on could be enough to show intent. So if you're driving to the airport and get stopped a block away and get busted for failing a breathalizer can the FAA violate you if they could show that you would of shown up to work within 8 hours of drinking if you hadn't been stopped?
 
I still think the FAA can get you because the manual is a "FAA approved document". Although kind of a mute point because the required background check for any 121 carrier would show the violation or violation of drug and alcohol policy.
 

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