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Abusing Alcohol Stories
Abusing Alcohol Stories:
Airlines Address Drinking and
Flying
By Ned Wicker
The story in the USA
Today didn’t surprise me. According to Alan Levin’s article, an
average of 11 commercial pilots a year have tested positive for blood
alcohol levels over the accepted .04 standard.
The graphic on USA Today’s web site showed the number of
positive tests for blood alcohol levels over .04, the maximum allowed
in the United States for flying an airplane. It breaks down as
follows from 1997 to 2004– 1997 (7); 1998 (5); 1999 (11); 2000 (10);
2001 (9); 2002 (22); 2003 (16); 2004 (7). In 2008, 13 pilots tested
positive.
Hard to believe but little testing is done
Levin pointed out that the Federal Aviation Administration
conducts approximately 100,000 random tests per year, so the numbers
of pilots who get caught with excessive blood alcohol levels are
miniscule, and he added that no airline crashes have been caused by
drunken pilots.
The story came on the heels of the arrest of
United Airlines Capt. Edwin Washington at London’s Heathrow Airport
after the crew reportedly smelled alcohol on him. The standards are a
bit tougher in the UK, as only .02 is tolerated. Levin pointed out
that .02 means what the level would be after one beer.
The customers were re-booked on other
flights. I remember the old Hudson and Landry comedy bit, Ajax Liquor
Store, about the drunk who orders enough booze to float a sail boat.
The punch line is his admission that he is the pilot. But obviously
the airlines take a dim view of the humor.
Pilots often in the news
There has been a lot in the news about pilots
these days, like the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overshot
Minneapolis, or about mistakes that were made during a flight that
ended in a crash, killing 50 people last February.
But the airlines are trying to take care of
their pilots, as evidenced by the Human Intervention Motivation Study
that treats about 125 pilots a year. Dana Archibald is the chairman
of that project and a pilot. He admits that he drank heavily off
duty, but adds “Did I go to work drunk? Not really.” Archibald
told USA Today that pilots are under the close supervision of not
only the FAA, but the unions and the airlines as well. He says they
are subject to increased alcohol testing.
How many don’t get caught?
The cynic in me thinks if 11 per year are caught, there has to be
so many others that go undetected. I would prefer to think the
industry is serious and takes serious preventative measures to ensure
that pilots are fit.
One thing that strikes me about this particular story is that we
have also heard a lot recently about the pressures that pilots are
under, not pressures related to alcohol, but pressures to just make
ends meet financially. It seems pilots are paid so little, yet
expected to be the very best and always perfect in their decision
making and professional performance.
Not your daddy’s pilot!
I always had a stereotypical image of the airline pilot, looking
sharp in his uniform, silver hair, tanned and handsome. But the
reality is they don’t make a lot of money, and so airline pilots
like so many other functions, become a commodity.
I am actually surprised there aren’t more incidents of pilots abusing alcohol stories. Airlines are in deep financial trouble, they are cutting
expenses left and right, and if pilots are paid little more than
hamburger cooks, how can airlines expect the highest professional
standards?
A stressful job
Even with severe sanctions, airline pilots are not exempt from the
pressures of life. The pilots who fly the little puddle jumper from
Des Moines to Chicago are probably not getting rich and may have
financial strain bearing down hard, as they scramble to pay the
bills. With the strain of life comes the need to relieve stress.
Alcohol is often the answer in American society.
I do not mean to suggest that poverty or financial limitation
means that a person automatically slips into alcohol abuse or
addiction. But it’s a factor. Regardless of how much money a person
makes, if column A and column B don’t match favorably on the
balance sheet, they are in financial trouble. That can lead to abusing alcohol stories. One person might feel
the pinch because she bought too many houses, while the other can’t
afford any house.
What’s the real story?
It’s good the airlines and the FAA do the alcohol testing and trying to find pilots abusing alcohol stories. The
numbers are fairly low and it’s good that alcohol hasn’t played a
role in any airline calamity. But if the pressure on pilots to be
high level professionals does not match the compensation for their
services, I fear too many with turn to alcohol to numb the pain.
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