Bill Would Bring State Law In Line With Federal Regulations

The New Jersey Legislature wants to avoid what happened in Pennsylvania last year. For that reason, lawmakers are working on a bill that would bring state laws regarding flying while intoxicated more in line with FAA regulations.

The new measures, which have passed both houses of the State Legislature, adopt similar "bottle to throttle" rules now in place at the federal level.

"Flying while intoxicated doesn't happen often, but when it does, the results are usually tragic," Sen. John Girgenti, D-Bergen, Passaic, a bill sponsor, told the Press of Atlantic City. "In order to keep our citizens in the air and on the ground safe, we need to tighten the regulations involving aircraft pilots and crew members."

The measures both prohibit flight crew members from flying within eight hours of drinking alcohol. They also impose stiff penalties for violators -- 18 months in prison and fines up to $10,000.

"Most pilots and crewmembers are scrupulous about not mixing alcohol and flying, but they still need to remember that there are plenty of legal drugs that can affect their ability to fly," Girgenti said.

The bill was prompted in no small measure by the incident involving a pilot from Pottstown, PA, whose erratic flight through Class B airspace surrounding Philadelphia International and the airspace surrounding a nuclear power plant caused quite a scare last year.

FMI: www.njleg.state.nj.us