No more “free pass” with FAA’s new DUI policy

[Kalifornia]

maybe if calling in sick when you were not sick did not happen on a regualr basis no one would need notes.

With that typing, despite your prior post alluding to your success at drinking without incident, I would suggest not driving today. Already drunk at 1? Combined with your level of senility and total lack of awareness to why someone who makes say 30 grand a year and is away from home 2/3 of the month may be chronically fatigued, needing a night off for a function they'd be unable to bid off (or their a$$nine manager has no sympathy to allow), if not indeed sick; I'm just amazed you still hold a medical.

 

[densoo]

maybe if calling in sick when you were not sick did not happen on a regualr basis no one would need notes.

Every company is faced with those who will take advantage of sick day policies. They can react in two ways.

They can establish a draconian policy of trying to catch those who aren't sick which will thereby drive up significantly the rate of those who are sick coming to work.

They can consider those who call in sick when they're not "acceptable losses" unless there is clear evidence of fraud (photo in newspaper at a baseball game when you were "sick").

Most find a middle ground between the two. In a safety oriented business, it is wise in the long run to favor the latter. As the Buffalo accident showed, both pilots stated they didn't feel well enough to be there but they showed up anyway.

Because the company decided not to put up with "acceptable losses" in a small number of pilots calling in sick when they weren't, they ended up with the unacceptable loss of all lives on board that aircraft. In the end, their losses (both moral and $) are going to be much greater than if they'd just had a no-fault, no-penalty sick leave policy. I'm sure those on the plane and their families wish the pilots had been fully rested and well.

Interesting how after the accident the company adopted one of the most liberal no questions asked sick and fatigue policies in the industry. If I'm not mistaken the CPs are prohibited from inquiring into a fatigue call any longer. Call it in, fill out an ASAP, go home. Unfortunately, it will take many more of these accidents for the FAA to make this an FAR, if ever.

Yes, there is going to some fraud. The beancounters hate it. But the alternative has been demonstrated. The beancounters have to be overruled by leadership, which is sorely lacking in the industry.

 

[Ticker]

Because the company decided not to put up with "acceptable losses" in a small number of pilots calling in sick when they weren't, they ended up with the unacceptable loss of all lives on board that aircraft. In the end, their losses (both moral and $) are going to be much greater than if they'd just had a no-fault, no-penalty sick leave policy. I'm sure those on the plane and their families wish the pilots had been fully rested and well.

Well said.

 

[lookin4better]

Dont drink and drive and dont drink on layovers..... why is this hard for some people to get? A few beers is never worth a career.

 

[pilotyip]

Get over this non-drinking thing

Dont drink and drive and dont drink on layovers..... why is this hard for some people to get? A few beers is never worth a career.

It is not a career without a few beers, you only fly because it makes the first beer taste better.

 

[Whine Lover]

"..photo in newspaper at a baseball game when you were "sick". "

Why can't I be at a baseball game when I am sick?

I'll be sick wherever I damn well please, Thank You.

I have a responsibility to call in sick if I am not fit to fly. That doesn't mean that I can't go to my kids baseball game with a pounding headache while running to the bathroom every 15 minutes.

I had a scheduler all flustered one day about ten years ago...I called in sick, out of base, on a layover in LAX. As soon as she confirmed me out sick I then asked her to get me set up to position home on the next flight back to base about an hour later. She freaked and said "You can't position, you're sick."

Same concept. I explained I could be sick wherever I chose to be sick, and in this case that was at home.

While I was not fit to fly as PIC I was able to sit in the back and sleep in between running back and forth to the lav.

Never heard a word about it.

 

[densoo]

"..photo in newspaper at a baseball game when you were "sick". "

Why can't I be at a baseball game when I am sick?

I'll be sick wherever I damn well please, Thank You.

I have a responsibility to call in sick if I am not fit to fly. That doesn't mean that I can't go to my kids baseball game with a pounding headache while running to the bathroom every 15 minutes.

I had a scheduler all flustered one day about ten years ago...I called in sick, out of base, on a layover in LAX. As soon as she confirmed me out sick I then asked her to get me set up to position home on the next flight back to base about an hour later. She freaked and said "You can't position, you're sick."

Same concept. I explained I could be sick wherever I chose to be sick, and in this case that was at home.

While I was not fit to fly as PIC I was able to sit in the back and sleep in between running back and forth to the lav.

Never heard a word about it.

Glad you've had success with that. You're the Norma Rae of Flightinfo.

 

[B-J-J Fighter]

Is this going to be retroactive?

 

[Pull To Guns]

What is wrong with drinking and driving? Me and my pilot buds do it all the time, that is why beer was invented. I buy beers at "Wedge" for pilots passing through Belleville. Secret never drink from a pitcher, only bottle and only one bottle per hour. Takes discipline, a lot of people don't have that.

One 12 oz bottle of beer/hr. should keep anyone under the limit, especially in Utah and Oklahoma (3.2%). Why do bars have parking lots?

If one is to believe MADD that they are not anti-alcohol, you have to wonder where their zeal is when it comes to mobile texting, eating or applying makeup while driving, the elderly with deteriorated senses, folks on prescription drugs and sleepy graveyard shift workers on the way home. Impairment is impairment, the penalties should be the same no matter what the cause.

The way it is now, a couple of glasses of wine at dinner can land one in jail if caught at a checkpoint, but drive exhausted, fall asleep and plow into a school bus and you will get a slap on the wrist in comparison.

Some parallels can be made in the flying biz. I am not advocating operating an aircraft or car after drinking alcohol, but all of the many forms of impairment should be considered.