Issues surrounding the Company and Pilot Ethical and Legal Responsibilities for flying

Issues surrounding the Company and Pilot Ethical and Legal Responsibilities for flying

Introduction

Majority of professionals who involve themselves in stressful jobs typically enjoy having a drink. Several of them will sporadically indulge, and small fraction may turn to dependants of alcohol. But the threat to limb and life presented to citizens, for instance, a drunken lawyer or journalist is minimal, providing he/she does not engage in doing something such as driving. On the other hand, ship’s officers, train and bus drivers, and airline pilots are held responsible for many lives in their daily duties. Several occasions involving airline pilots suspected to have reported working while they are drunk have taken place recently, forcing the readers to get in touch with The Independent to find out the prevalence, rules and risks on airline pilots and alcohol.

An aircraft flying is overwhelmingly job that is so demanding; airline pilots are trained to conduct the highly complicated duties necessary to take the plane into the sky, follow the map safely to the intended destination and land. These processes require redoubtable cognitive capability, conformity to a plethora of national and international rules and regulations. They are getting ready for unexpected occasions from an unintended depressurization to an emergency of medical on board. The place of work is outstandingly cramped and small by the standards of practice based on the ground, and the hours implicated are frequently antisocial and entail numerous time zones. Aviation and alcohol do not combine, it doesn’t matter if you are a pilot or a passenger, and indeed the impacts of alcohol can be deepened at altitude.

Risks and penalty of alcohol to a pilot

The US Federal Aviation Administration utters that: “The more significant part of adverse impacts generated by alcohol associate to the inner ear, the eyes, and the brain which are the three vital organs of an airline pilot. The effects on the brain include memory loss, poor judgment, poor reasoning, and impaired reaction time. Additional visual effects include the imbalance of eye muscles, which results in difficulty in focusing and double vision. Also, the inner ear gets affected, resulting in decreased hearing and dizziness. Every airline posses its policy of disciplinary, typically involving a suspension. After that, the presiding legal program decides to impose a sentence or fine on the pilot. In 2013, Irfan Faiz, a pilot from Pakistan, was sentenced for nine good months in Britain after being caught having consumed three times over the authorized limit. Faiz later admitted to having drunk three-quarters of whisky bottle nineteen hours before flying from Bradford to Islamabad. In last year June, a pilot from British Airways was jailed for eight months for containing 86mg concentration of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his body before flying to Mauritius.

Rules and Regulations

There is several evidence that minimum alcohol intake provides several benefits in the body, even though the fact is well-established that excess of a good thing at a bad time can be quite dangerous. Alcohol is a key factor in deaths related to motor vehicle accidents and also a major cause of aviation deaths. Every state establishes its own rules and regulations, but the basic regulations normally require a significant gap – regular eight hours – between the last take of alcohol and reporting for work. This is frequently referred to as “bottle to throttle” time. Additionally, most countries enforce a limit lower than the authorized blood-alcohol maximum for performing duties such as flying and driving. Most of the alcohol rules for airline pilots include no drinking within eight hours of flight, pilots must say something, personal responsibility and random testing, and 0.04% FAR.

The limit of alcohol for pilots in the UK is 20mg for 100ml of blood; which represent a quarter of the popular drink and drive in England (801mg/100mg). Most nations share low blood limit of alcohol. Authorities responsible for aviation usually recommend a period of eight to twelve hours to which a pilot can no longer drink. In India, there is a zero-tolerance. In a documented policy about pilot alcohol usage, the Civil Aviation Director General states: “Alcohol present in the body metabolism even in few quantities impacts the safety of flight on some counts and is likely to influence an airline pilot into the hangover period majorly.” Even 1mg concentration of alcohol per 100ml of blood would push an Indian pilot over the limit.

The United States airlines have strengthened up its rules and regulations of when pilots can have their last take of alcohol before using the cockpit – from 8 to 12hrs. This declaration came after two pilots were last week restricted from boarding a plane at the airport of Glasgow after rejecting to be tested through a breathalyzer. These men were supposed to fly to New Jersey but are now arrested and still in custody of the police. This is not recorded as the first case in Glasgow concerning United Airline pilots. In 2016 August, two pilots were also sentenced to jail after reporting to work while consumed alcohol over the limit before leaving to Newark.

Pilots must say something

Under this rule, pilots are not allowed to have any member who is suspected or appear to be under the influence of alcohol to fly on their aircraft. Jeff Price, a security analyst of aviation, primarily ask questions for safety, he says that any crew individual who thinks that any other member is under the influence should report to the authority and not allow the individual to operate the aircraft. These were words said by Jeff, a professor at Denver University in the US.

Individual responsibility and random test

Under this rule, Rob Mark, a flight instructor and Flying Magazine senior editor, says that the pilots should take responsibilities by themselves to ensure they do not take alcohol within the eight hours of flight. He continued to say that all airline pilots know the regulations and understand that they put their license in danger by violating the rules. Still, even more, they risk the safety of individuals who have boarded the aircraft and entrusted to him/her. Rob insisted and continued to stress the testing of pilots to avoid alcohol consumption when operating an aircraft.

No drinking within 8 hours of flight

The United States regulations and rules passed by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial pilots are apparent. The FAA’s alcohol and drug regulations categorically reject pilots from conducting flights duties with illegal drugs in their body systems. They also prohibit pilots from attempting or flying an aeroplane within 8-12 hours of alcohol consumption or if the concentration of alcohol in the blood is 0.04% or higher according to FAA rules and regulations. The rules and regulations also need members to submit to test of alcohol in the blood as requested by the officials of law enforcement authorized to demand those tests.

International Consideration

Aviation Medicine is led by a group of United Nation, known as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). All states that involve international flights through the airspace of other country are required to abide by their standards (Calder S Airline Safety: 2017).  ICAO demands that all pilots are supposed to receive a certificate of medication given by national authority to perform privileges of flights. Even though ICAO lay down standards for medical fitness, each nation possesses its legislation that requires rules around revoking and granting certificates of aeromedical and privileges of flight.

Conclusion

From the discussion above, it is easy to understand that an individual could still be intoxicated legally even when adhering to the rule of 8-12 hours before piloting.  The concentration of alcohol in the blood is another factor to be considered when the pilot should be legally allowed to fly. Furthermore, there are significant matters about alcoholism and abuse of alcohol as it associates not only to piloting but also to individual health in general.