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Drunk Driving Lawyers.com
Who Should We Fear More,
Drunk Pilots or Sober Terrorists
FAA tightens policies for drunk
pilots
WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a doubling of airline pilots
failing Breathalyzer tests, the government has tightened procedures
to keep those caught drunk out of the cockpit. 
Last year, 22 commercial airline
pilots tested positive for alcohol use, up from nine in 2001,
and nine pilots have tested positive this year. That's only
a fraction of the approximately 75,000 U.S. airline pilots
but enough to cause the Federal Aviation Administration to
establish new procedures for dealing with drunk pilots.
The jump in numbers, first reported
by Newsday, led the FAA to change its policy in January so
that pilots who fail sobriety tests immediately have both
their medical and airman's certificates revoked. Both certificates
are required for a pilot to fly.
Previously, only the medical certificate
was revoked in cases of drug or alcohol use, said John Mazor,
spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest
pilots' union.
Pilots can get caught in two ways: as
part of the Transportation Department's random tests of 10,000
airline pilots every year, or if their behavior arouses suspicion
among airline officials or law enforcement officers.
Pilots must wait a year and go through
rehabilitation to get their medical certificates restored.
To get their airman's certificate, they must also wait a year
and then retake all the written and flight tests required
to fly a plane.
An increasing number of pilots caught
drunk while on duty doesn't necessarily mean more intoxicated
pilots are trying to fly planes, experts say. It may mean
more are getting caught.
"There is a higher level of public
awareness," said Greg Overman, spokesman for the Allied
Pilots Union, which represents pilots at American Airlines.
"The number of false accusations has risen, and even
when there's a false accusation by a passenger or a security
screener, it tends to make headlines."
In February, a pilot removed from a
Delta Air Lines flight at Norfolk International Airport was
acquitted of operating a plane under the influence of alcohol.
Two America West pilots accused of trying
to fly drunk on a Phoenix-bound flight from Miami last year
are scheduled to be tried in Florida state court on July 7.
In all three cases, federal security
screeners had smelled alcohol on the pilots.
Robert Johnson, spokesman for the Transportation
Security Administration, said airline passengers as well as
screeners are more likely to report something unusual at an
airport since the September 11 terror attacks.
Screeners are not trained to look for
impaired pilots, Johnson said. "Their job is to search
for and keep prohibited items off the aircraft." If a
screener observes drunken behavior, he or she is directed
to report it to a supervisor, who has the authority to report
it to law enforcement and local airline officials, he said.
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