Mesa pilots busted for booze

[publisher]

terminal stupidity

The disease here is not alcohol, it is stupidity.

 

[CA1900]

CA1900,

You're right, Eagleflip didn't phrase it properly. It should have been "Get the H-E-L-L out of this business." Confidence in our profession is falling in the public's eyes, and you insist on splitting hairs over whether it's OK to have a beer at 9pm when you have to show at 6am? What's the matter with you?

I'm not the one splitting hairs. He said he draws a new line at 10 hours, and anybody who disagrees with him should get out of the business. I'm not sitting there having a personal kegger before my showtime, believe me, and yes, I can sleep just fine without alcohol in my system.

But since I'm not going to "hit the rack" at 9pm when I haven't had any dinner yet, I'm going to be down at the restaurant for an hour or so to get some food. As it happens, I enjoy a beer with dinner. Now you're ready to hang me out as an alcoholic because I'm not adhering to somebody's new arbitrary number of hours? I adhere to the regulations, and I certainly don't have anything left in my system when I come to work.

As publisher correctly points out, alcohol isn't the problem, stupidity is. And I'll thank you to keep your armchair psychiatry to yourself.

 

[dmspilot00]

You're right, Eagleflip didn't phrase it properly. It should have been "Get the H-E-L-L out of this business." Confidence in our profession is falling in the public's eyes, and you insist on splitting hairs over whether it's OK to have a beer at 9pm when you have to show at 6am? What's the matter with you? You can't sleep without a beer? Then you have a problem and need help. You ought to be hitting the rack at 9pm, maybe getting 7 hrs of sleep, instead of depressing your central nervous system. Give me a break!

As a potential future professional pilot, I agree wholeheartedly. When I see stuff like what is in this thread it makes me think that I should pick another profession: one that's more professional. Sometimes it seems that pilots are a bunch of slacker-college-drunks.

 

[airjackson]

Drink Up Fellas !!

Drink all you want guys and girls, there's plenty of us out there on the street waiting to take the job you so freely piss away!

 

[Salty Dog]

I'm with CA1900 on this one.

Maybe somebody will chime in claiming Eagleflip is a total alkie sack because HE doesn't wait ELEVEN hours instead of ten. Spare me the righteous indignation.

The reality is that the morons we're reading about weren't concerned about being an inch or two on one side of the line or the other, they were so far over it that it's not even funny.

We all agree that showing up to fly (work or not) reeking of booze is criminally, inexplicably, and enormously stupid. Why quibble?

 

[ILS JNKY]

keep boozing

well, another one bites the dust or hits the bottle.

you young kids keep on drinking and pissing a way your jobs , and an older person such as my self will just keep bilding my time.

well got to flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[Timebuilder]

I recall a thread a while back, just after a pilot violated a TFR, where I pointed out that these times require extra vigilance, even beyond the letter of the regulations.

I think we have arrived at a similar situation regarding use of alcohol. While it may be 100% within the regs to have a beer with dinner the night before a 6 AM call, I have to think that it would be unwise in the current climate.

This could lead to that situation where the passenger claims to have seen you drinking, asks if you are sober, yadda, yadda.

If it's a non-issue, why not just bypass the risk to your job, and join me in a ginger ale? Certainly, there is enough time off on most schedules to allow for the need of a designated driver, should one have the urge to get hammered.

 

[JohnDoe]

I agree with most everybody else on this thread.....If you need a breath analyzer to determine whether you are legal or not, you need to find a new profession. I can't believe it was even discussed.
Like we don't have enough problems in this industry right now.......go and add these drunk idiots showing up for work (all of them, not just the Mesa).

 

[Dieterly]

Flip,

If I have a beer 10:15 hours before I report for duty, then I assume I can stay in the "buisness", is that correct?

Bottom line, is that some of us can handle A beer 9 hours before duty, just like some of us can handle transition from round dial to glass cockpit without any problems, while others can't.

 

[RightBettor]

On the issue of purchasing a breathalyzer for your overnight bag:

Has anyone considered how utterly ridiculous this would be? Imagine you are going through the security screening checkpoint and the screener decides to take a close look at that strange device in your bag. The super-professional federalized screener holds up a breathalyzer and asks, "WHAT'S THIS?!?!" (No doubt the screener will not use an ounce of discretion with respect to his/her tone and volume.) Now you get to explain, in full view of the public, what the suspect device is and why you have it in your bag. Oh goody!! Now that's going to instill even more confidence from the flying public... the same public who undoubtedly suspects all airline pilots are a bunch of drunken bums.

If you're on a layover and want to have a couple of beers with dinner... fine... as long as you use good judgement. If your company says 12 hours, then cutoff at a 12 hours. If your only guideline is the 8-hour-rule, then go with a more conservative approach. Stop at one beer. You're going to metabolize one beer in about 1 to 1.5 hours, so you'll be perfectly legal in 8 hours! If you cannot stop at one or use good judgment with respect to consumption, then it's time to get help. Most companies will bend over backwards for you if you volutarily seek help through the EAP or the union.

Let's get our shi+ together here gang!! We don't need anymore of this. Okay, who's next on the soapbox?

Respectfully,

RightBettor

 

[350DRIVER]

God forbid the general public gets onto this site and reads this thread- Buy a breathalyzer test unit.???- If you are stupid enough to do this then I would seriously doubt where your "best" interests are and I would not want to share the same cockpit with you- DON'T drink while you are working period (very simple and solves ALL problems)- IF you cannot wait till you are off of a trip to drink and get hammered then you probably should not be in the cockpit in the first place and should contemplate seeking professional help (food 4 thought)

Mesa appears to have a very sharp group of pilots so I am assuming these pilots wanted an "out" and wanted a quick way to change careers and shouldn't reflect Mesa as a whole, I can't see any other reason why they would "attempt" to take a chance in light of the recent events........

C H E E R S

3 5 0

 

[Jeff G]

CA1900,

It's not armchair psychology to point out that having a beer past 9pm with a 6am show time is cutting it awfully fine, legal or not. So you like to have a beer with dinner. Sure, that's great to have a discretionary adult beverage; it's your right to do so. That doesn't make it all that smart. For one thing, alcohol makes it more difficult to get quality sleep, regardless of its other effects, which makes it a really bad idea when you're not getting all that much sleep to begin with. Fatigue is as bad or worse than alcohol and its effects get *worse* as your day progresses. So again, if you insist on your right to imbibe a CNS depressant close to the cutoff, nobody can stop you. But, as a professional, I'd hope you would hold yourself to a higher standard than the minimum. Eagleflip is right on.

 

[CA1900]

... IF you cannot wait till you are off of a trip to drink and get hammered then you probably should not be in the cockpit in the first place and should contemplate seeking professional help (food 4 thought)

I'm not going to rehash my previous post, but having a drink doesn't mean "getting hammered." If you see them as one and the same, then maybe YOU are the one who should seek professional help.

See how ridiculous that sounds?

 

[FlyDeltasJets]

Wait a minute, let me get this straight...

Are people actually suggesting we not drink beer on a layover?


Maybe I don't want to go back after all!



FDJ
(Likes to kid around, but has a very strict personal policy)

P.S.
For those who would answer my post with self-righteous drivel, may I offer a "bite me" in advance.

 

[eaglefly]

Having a few drinks, a good meal and lively conversation on a layover is perfectly acceptable. The real question is - Do you consider yourself a responsible and mature adult ? If so, this argument is pointless.

If you're a twenty-something idiot who looks forward to layovers as an opportunity to get **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED**faced and hopefully laid, than do the industry a favor - get therepy or resign.

There are 4 pilots in the last month or so who probably wish they had done the former.