No Drinking Allowed for 12 Hours Before Shift Starts

Few flyers have been in the business for long without hearing about there being at least an 8 hour bottle to throttle rule... and now United Airlines pilots have a few more hours to add to the formula. 

After recent bad press involving pilots suspected of being drunk or at least under the influence as they prepared to fly, United Airlines seems ready to set aside some additional boundaries to avoid further such temptations. 

They have good reason to be rethinking this strategy... in one of the most recent incidents, it was two of UA's pilots who wound up under arrest as they prepped for a scheduled FAR 121 flight from Scotland's Glasgow Airport to the US's Newark Airport, on August 3rd. United Airlines 162 was canceled, as a result. 

The change makes UA's policy one of the toughest in the biz... even exceeding the limits set aside by the FAA and similar national regulators. The FAA requires a minimum of eight hours alcohol abstinence before flight, which may not be the most scientific way to guarantee a sober cockpit, though they also demand a measurable 0.04 percent limit for blood-alcohol measurement. Other airlines, for the moment, still side with the FAA's definition but it is expected that UA's example may find imitators in short order. 

A UA spokesperson noted that the policy was revised on August 10th. 

FMI: www.united.com, www.faa.gov