Big John wrote:

Dean (and Dr James)

If you read close I said one Oz not a fifth. Guess you speed read and
jumped over that?

If you read my response closely, you would see that I mentioned that
even a BAL of 0.02 can be clearly seen in simulations to adversely
affect your ability to do a task. That is just one ounce of alcohol.
I'm not going to argue one way or the other about whether one drink does
or does not help you, but there is no question that any more than one
drink has a decidedly negative effect on people's ability.

Also in the past few years the AMA has stated that red wine is good
for the heart (based on some studies of people in Italy). Recently
they have changed their recommendations to a couple of Oz's of alcohol
a day to get the benefits and reduce heart attacks.

Yes, and medical journals regularly print contradicting articles about
the benefits and risks of drinking coffee or eating chocolate. It is no
different with alcohol. People who like those things only remember the
articles that proclaim the health benefits.

Beyond that, whether or not red wine or alcohol prolong life, they have
absolutely no place in an aircraft, or at least in the PIC of that
aircraft.

So alcohol is not the evil portrayed in this thread. If does have some
socially redeeming values.

Again, that has nothing to do with flying airplanes. Your initial post
suggested that the pilot might have been unfairly charged, as there
might have been extenuating circumstances. You even suggested that an
alcohol abuser might not be affected by the amount of alcohol he had
consumed, and that should be taken into consideration. I work in a
transportation company, and believe me there can be absolutely no other
policy regarding the use of alcohol or any other "mind altering" drug
than that of zero tolerance. No extenuating circumstances can be
considered. Period.

On the subject of reaction time and drinking. I have always been able
to catch eating utensils before they hit the floor if I knocked them
off the table. I am still able to do that even after my evening
libations and I use it as a measure of how much (if any) I have slowed
down with old age (somewhere over 80)

That's nice. I had a great uncle who was a complete teetotaler
throughout the first part of his life. He only started drinking after
he retired, but purely for medicinal purposes. He justified his
drinking based on its supposedly social and medical value, but for the
rest of us it was not very pleasant watching him go through DTs in his
70s.

I may be overly sensitive about the subject at the moment, since I just
buried a high school friend. His obit stated that he was 48, and that
he died of massive organ failure. His friends would more accurately
describe it as acute alcohol abuse. This was a university-educated
person with a comfortable income. He would justify his drinking with
just the sort of rationale that I see in your posts: The AMA says that
it will extend your life; It sharpens my mind when I need to do
something; It enhances my social life; and so on. He totally misjudged
every one of those.

I'm not being evangelical about this, since I enjoy a drink with meals
and on social occasions, and I am thankful that I don't seem to be
inclined to overindulge, unlike some friends and relatives. Alcohol is
to be enjoyed, but at the same time it is to be feared. When one is
considering taking control of an aircraft, or machinery of any kind, for
that matter, alcohol is to be completely avoided. There is no
justification for any other course of action.

Enough ranting. Need a night cap to calm down to get a good nights
sleep.

That's what my great uncle used to say, you know, the one who died of
alcohol abuse.