Use Of Illegal Drugs/Alcohol

[splitpin]

Have you or someone you know ever flown or worked on a machine while under 'the influence'?

Have you ever flown crews that were 'under the influence'?

Should there be mandatory random drug testing for Pilots and Engineers in Canada?

Personaly speaking, I have seen drug use in our industry, on several occasions, from Pilots, Engineers, and the Crews we carried.

Any Military folks out there---don't be afraid to comment, I'm sure the problem is there as well.

Your Thoughts??

 

http://www.leftseat.com/AME/health4pilots/default.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/04/us-drug-use-linked-airplane-accidents-idUSTRE7235NY20110304

[MMike]

This anecdote is only barely related.....but when I was at Boeing (in Seattle), security set up a ...call it a sting operation. They knew a gang would go out for lunch and have a beer or two. As far as I know it wasn't anything more than that, but I could be wrong. Anyhoo....when they got back, security was waiting at the turnstile. They were canned on the spot.....what with Boeing's "zero tolerance" policy. They were not let back in. their stuff was sent to them.

 

I'm really not sure if there was more to the story...ie: some sort of habitual problem. .but from what I heard from a few sources, there wasn't. a beer or two at lunch was grounds for termination.......(and I can't say I disagree. That can wait until after work)

[Amphibious]

so far haven't seen it 'on the job' yet. Have no problem with instant termination for such offenses. would assume an industry of professionals can wait until after work to partake.

 

After work, i could care less what anyone does.

[SuddenStop]

treeplanters....jug hounds....impaired from either alcohol or drugs. Oh and the geologists south of smithers too. They had a big *** bag of weed they routinely smoked from every night.

Did I say something about it...occasionally. Was something ever done about it. No.

 

The pilot in command felt he could handle it. So it was his call.

Eventually I stopped the finger pointing. His decisions were his choice, but from my perspective watching a group of treeplanters smoke a joint immediately before the flight for the thrill...I wasn't keen on it at all. If it was a new driver, or engineer, I'd make them aware of it and let them make their call. To my knowledge no one ever got pulled off the flights to sober up.

 

but I'm not innocent, I can't say I never showed up for work before I was fully sober either. And I know pilots who made the same mistake staying a the bar a little late and drinking too much and being back at it before the booze has cleared the system. It happens, it's wrong and if i could have a glaring example that others could learn from my mistakes I would. but luckily nothing bad ever happened. So there is no "don't try this at home kids" speech from me.

 

As far as hard drugs go, i suspected a few. But never saw it first hand. They circled themselves in a different crowd. You know that type, I don't need to expalin it.

 

Should there be testing? sure. but you can't just random test out of the blue. I would rather see it become a part of the hiring process initially, then added into the mix as a standard for employment so that everyone under the company roof including stores, administrative etc have all fallen to the humiliation of providing a sample. After that it can be random. Hide it under a fake insurance comapnay demand if you have to, but make sure it's fair and you're not singling out specific individuals. No matter how you go about it, there's going to be backlash from employees.

 

My biggest thing though, is never ever fire a guy because he tested positive in a random sample. You must offer counselling etc to help the individual get back on track. The people in this industry are not abusers like a crack junkie in vancouver, they're people just like everyone else, and if you get that one who fell off the wagon for whatever reason, you help him back on, not throw him under it.

[Max Continuous]

Excellent well thought out and stated post.

Test on initial hire as per every oil companies demand, but random and ongoing testing is insulting as I'm pretty sure most guys and gals won't have a "hit" and then go swing bags.

Max

[woopyjumper]

I agree drugs can and will impair a pilot/passenger. However, although drugs are a problem, the most redundant issue I ve heard throughout the years, is not drugs but alcohol !!!!! I ve refused drunk/high passengers in the past, I was a 100 hr guy. After a "not totally sober" rig guy was behaving weirdly on the front seat of my 206. That is for the light side.

 

On the dark side and in a more serious manner, my wife, who was working in eastern Canada at that point did fly on a 407 at 8am with a pilot that was still at the bar, drinking like a fish at 2am when she left. She argued with him but finally decided to go fly anyway.

 

She did 2 big mistakes that day : 1. flying with him and 2. not reporting him to his company/TC

 

Lots of you might not agree with me but i think this kind of behavior should be seriously punished, in the air or on the road...same thing.

[gwk]

In 1994 I worked with a newly rated 212 pilot who flew into an active AFS fire camp with a case of beer just behind the pilot,s seat. He saw absolutley nothing wrong with it, nor did he care about anybody.s FFFFing comments.

 

What really pissed me off was B.H. our ops manager at the big red white and blue didn,t give a rats backside either when I mentioned why AFS let him go.

 

Sometimes, as the above poster noted, it,s not the passengers who are at fault, but our highly trained professionals who get so upset when they are not shown the respect they think they deserve.

 

No wonder I up and left to go fly with the IFR geeks when you got yahoos like that flying for your employer.

[MMike]

This is also only marginally related. But my brother is also a "pinky engineer". But he studied mining engineering (no longer working in that field).

 

As part of the program he did work terms in Timmins, Lab City, Tumbler Ridge.....and somewhere else that escapes me. But all them way out in the middle of nowhere in mining towns. And it was his assessment that pretty much everyone was drunk or high at least 12 hours of every day.....as there is little else to do.

 

So I guess it's not surprising that out in the remote camps where some of you end up have experiences similar to my brother.

[Skids Up]

And it was his assessment that pretty much everyone was drunk or high at least 12 hours of every day.....as there is little else to do.

 

Now there is the worst excuse ever for that behaviour! I have nothing else to do, so I'll get drunk every night???

 

Must have a pretty poor excuse for a life... :down:

[pistonhigh]

Yup seen it LOTS. Booze and weed. Pilots, engineers and more than a million customers. Of the pot heads, I have never seen any of them actually impaired or under the influence showing up to work but I, like you all, have seen the drunks not fit for flight a million times. Not condoning, not judging, just reporting