Scudrunners

Pot will soon be legal.  Potheads may be in the cockpit with you.  Can't be fired. By law. (If not impaired)


How will you handle it?

Same way I handle all the alcoholics I've flown with: I expect they'll leave any impairment at home.

I wonder if Marijuana is more serious a drug than alcohol due to it staying in your system far longer and thus degrading your thought process with little or no obvious signs of impairment?

[quote author=Chuck Ellsworth link=topic=7613.msg21102#msg21102 date=1512965094]
I wonder if Marijuana is more serious a drug than alcohol due to it staying in your system far longer and thus degrading your thought process with little or no obvious signs of impairment?
[/quote]


That I expect will be an issue.

They are already there, this whole thing is a money grab with all parties salivating over the cash and no one is bringing up the costs and burden on the health care system. In my mind no difference than the cigarette and throw in the impairment the potential is mind boggling. The one difference between booze and mary jane is alcohol is the end product and toking up is the entry level to a much larger world. Like everything else ----- it's all about the money, let's qualify that, cash flow but at the end of the day we pay for the fall out.


Companies will need to have a strong drug and alcohol policy and pissing in the bottle will be the only tool. Most companies have already adopted 12 hrs for alcohol. I don't know if there are tests out there to determine when the last toke was but I hope they develop a test. Until then and until more data is available I hope drug testing and zero tolerance is adopted by carriers.

Pot stays in the body for something like 30 days after use so it can easily be detected long after its used.


As a pilot flying into the US/Asia etc where its pretty illegal I would have thought that would be a huge risk.

How do the freaky-deaky Dutch do it?

I find this to be a surreal discussion.

Hypothetically speaking, if someone can pass a PPC with
a BAC of 0.08% or after eating a special muffin, they have
achieved the required performance level which is the ostensible
objective of all of this concern. 

Am I correct?

After all, there was a guy on the left coast that recently
crashed with a BAC of 0.25% (no typo) and right up until
the moment of impact, he had everyone fooled.  Heck,
even afterwards, other pilots claimed that the sample
was contaminated.

Scenario:  Bob Hoover has a beer with lunch, then climbs
into his Shrike Aero Commanded and does his airshow
routine flawlessly.  I would wager that NOT ONE sober
pilot could fly his routine.  Clearly ethyl alchohol is the
demon rum.

North Americans are so silly and hypocritical.  When my
father was flying Sabres over in Europe, the French fighter
pilots would have a glass of wine with lunch and then
go flying.

Panties would be bunched everywhere in North America
if that happened.

Given that egalitarianism is so rampant and powerful in
our post-modern aviation, I would have thought that the
prevailing thought would be that good pilots should be
[i]required[/i] to get drunk or stoned before flight, so that they
don't make the marginal pilots [i]feel bad[/i].

[quote author=Liquid Charlie link=topic=7613.msg21106#msg21106 date=1512995096]The one difference between booze and mary jane is alcohol is the end product and toking up is the entry level to a much larger world.[/quote]


Calling marijuana a gateway drug is a bit inaccurate. It may be the first "drug" that most people use, but ranks far behind alcohol as the first substance used. The fact that alcohol isn't thought of as a "drug" is only because it's so prevalent and accepted in society. It's just as mind altering and the side effects are far nastier. I've never heard of a grumpy stoner getting high and beating his wife. I've never seen two stoners thrown out of a bar for starting a brawl.


We may end up finding long term health problems with marijuana use but to date there isn't a single documented case of someone dying by overdose. Alcohol poisoning kills people every day.

In terms of flying with someone who smokes... Meh, I probably already have plenty of times. Hasn't killed me yet. The only difference legalization will make is that you have a better chance knowing who the smokers are. Those who are interested in smoking weed already are.

any substance is a "gateway" if your are so inclined, if you need the buzz and are addicted to an escape then it doesn't matter the tool. Like anything else the stupid ones always fuck it up for those who have control. I don't much care what you use to satisfy your needs. I just don't want you bring it with you when there is work to be done. Now isn't that like the dog chasing his own tail. Round and round we go -- what do we expect when they can't even make drinking a driving illegal -- oh ya we don't need to pay attention cuz of "safety" features -- so are automatics safer than strung out, fatigued, jet lagged pilots -- oh my the pilot shortage will take care of its self -- I wonder if the guys starting out now will get to retire after a full career or will they be replaced by automation, if not this generation the next for sure.  >:D  By then everyone will be "high" - nothing else left to do.