Flight Training - October 2019 - 52

ADVANCED PILOT CAREER PILOT

PILOTS AND
SUBSTANCE ABUSE
SECOND-CHANCE PROGRAMS ARE AVAILABLE TO PILOTS, TOO
BY PETER A. BEDELL

IN THE OPENING SCENE OF THE 2012 FILM FLIGHT, the airline captain portrayed by Den-

zel Washington is seen drinking and snorting cocaine, after waking up with one of his
flight attendants. When I first saw this scene, I initially thought Hollywood successfully
checked off all of the classic airline-pilot stereotypes within one minute of the film's
start. It also crossed my mind that the scene was pretty offensive to the tens of thousands of professional pilots who don't callously ignore multiple federal aviation
regulations and codes of conduct.
While the aviation plot line of Flight goes off the rails in a ridiculous direction, the
film tackles the very real issues that some pilots have had with drugs and alcohol. Pilots
are regular people, too-and, I'd opine, likely more susceptible to addiction given the
irregular schedules, sleep loss, loneliness, and temptation faced when living out of a
suitcase on multiday trips. Thankfully, there are a number of programs that can get
pilots back into the cockpit, even after egregious violations of federal aviation regulations and state and federal law.
Most airlines have programs that get pilots the treatment they need to get their
lives back on track and, possibly, even maintain their jobs. Older pilots might recall the
famous case of Northwest Airlines Flight 650 in 1990, which splashed pilots' substance abuse all over the news media of the day. The captain of the flight, Lyle Prouse,
was sentenced to 16 months in prison, while the other two pilots were given 12-month
sentences, making them the first U.S. airline pilots to be convicted of flying drunk.
An anonymous whistleblower at a Fargo, North Dakota, bar alerted law enforcement to the three Boeing 727 pilots who were drinking to excess mere hours before
their scheduled departure to Minneapolis-St. Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain
Airport (MSP) in Minnesota. Prouse alone had at least 14 rum and Cokes that night.
The authorities didn't catch up to the crew until their safe arrival in MSP where, even
after the elapsed time of the flight itself, Prouse still had a 0.13 percent blood-alcohol
content (BAC). The FAA limit is 8 hours since the last drink and 0.04 percent BAC,
but many airlines mandate 0.0 percent BAC and a minimum of 12 hours from the last
drink.
The FAA stripped all of the crew members of their certificates. Prouse went to
prison and hit rock bottom. After his release, he entered the FAA's Human Intervention Motivation Study (HIMS) program, which navigates pilots back on track. Prouse
had to start flight training from scratch, collecting certificates and ratings just like the
rest of us. After re-earning all of his certificates, successfully completing the HIMS
program and-most important-remaining sober, Prouse was rehired at Northwest
Airlines in 1993. He retired in 1998. Prouse wrote a book about his journey called Final
Approach. His first officer on Flight 650, Joseph Balzer, wrote Flying Drunk about his
experience.
Instead of being fired or resorting to hiding their addictions, the FAA would
prefer that substance-abusing pilots come forward and enter the HIMS program. The
program is very successful when compared to relapse rates of the general public. This
could be partially explained by the fact that airline pilots, especially those at the major
airlines, are risking a multimillion-dollar career which, frankly, is a lot of leverage to
succeed. For Prouse, the journey back to the captain's seat was a way of restoring his
lost pride and penance for the shame he had brought to himself and the profession. FT
PETER A. BEDELL is a pilot for a major airline and co-owner of a Cessna 172 and Beechcraft Baron.
52 FLIGHT TRAINING OCTOBER 2019

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