Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC)

[Endojoe]

A commercial pilot friend of mine says their rule is 12 hours "bottle to throttle".

The FAA rule is a maximum BAC of .04% plus a minimum of 12 hours from consuming any alcohol. If you have .04% BAC after 12 hours you must have tied on a pretty good one the night before.

An excellent policy, but 8 hours is actually the law (See the CFR link in my original post). I would hazard a guess and say that every company with an Aviation Department likely has a zero tolerance BAC policy, so they can fire pilots, but so long as there was more than 8 hours since the last drink and BAC was .03 or less, the FAA can't yank their ticket. I wouldn't want to be job hunting with that as a reference though....

[GordMay]

FWIW:

ARRIVE ALIVE:

In Ontario (Canada), we have a “graduated Licensing System” for new drivers, who must maintain a ZERO BAC, or face an immediate roadside suspension; and a 30 day suspension upon conviction, and a fine.

ALL DRIVERS must maintain less than 0.05, or face an an immediate roadside suspension.

A BAC of 0.08 or more is a CRIMINAL OFFENSE, and will result in an immediate 90 day roadside suspension, and additional licence suspensions, possible JAIL TIME, fines, and a criminal record upon conviction.

At one time (back in the dark ages, when I was younger), I drank WHILE driving.
Now, I don't drink THEN drive.
Of course, I'd rather drink, THAN drive.

[sabray]

Originally Posted by imagine2frolic

So Dinius was close to half a beer per hour?.....i2f

No
I have idea how the guy drinks but to get to .012 given pictures he's about 180. So because it's easier math he drinks 6 beers in an hour and then to maintain that bac drinks 1 beer every hour. Could be he had 3.5 beers for 2 hours and then 1 for every hour preceeding. We will never know what perdicks bac was because the evidence was mis handled.

[nautical62]

Originally Posted by GordMay

FWIW:
...At one time (back in the dark ages, when I was younger), I drank WHILE driving. ..

Yes, I can remember when drinking and driving was a pass time, not a legal offense. These days texting while driving seems to be the legal dangerous activity of choice.

[MarkJ]

I am Australian: I drink therefore I am.

Of course I drink on the water. We are always on it!

Yes I drink while we are sailing. Every second night I get the 7pm till Midnight watch off so I have a few drinkies.

Nicolle is on the registration papers as Master. So am I.

If I am drinking she is skipper

Alcohol is a great release and if it was all that bad JC wouldn't have turned water to wine.



Mark

[Starbuck]

I have idea how the guy drinks but to get to .012 given pictures he's about 180. So because it's easier math he drinks 6 beers in an hour and then to maintain that bac drinks 1 beer every hour. Could be he had 3.5 beers for 2 hours and then 1 for every hour preceeding. We will never know what perdicks bac was because the evidence was mis handled.

I hate word problems…

[Pelagic]

Thanks Gord reading your post #6 had the same effect on me as a whiskey nightcap!...

When I woke up I realized that something was missing from the definitions:
Absorbtion? Distribution? Elimination? Difussion?



What about…. Reaction!

I only drink with meals and after 3 drinks I do not trust myself to operate machinery as I am easily distracted and possess a fatalistic sense of humor.


So I conclude that I have a low psychological tolerance to alcohol


So....How do they measure that?

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by bstreep

I've ALWAYS followed this advice:

I limit myself to 1 beer per hour. That way I'm SURE I'm under the limit. Note I said beer. Wine and grain alcohol are too hard to judge alcohol content.

I believe different types of drink have different effects on different people.
e.g. @ 170#, in my case I can drink 2 shots of rum and an hour later I feel nothing. A full glass of wine puts me to sleep. And two beers makes me woosy and leaves me with a headache.

With my wife one drink of anything and she's a sleep.

Steve W. above must have been doing web searches and hit on us. Not everybody is an alcoholic.

[Springbok]

Drinking seems to be an obsession with many sailors. Advantages are - you are always right, never met a drunk who was'nt. Navigation is made easy by always following a rum line.Trip, even an ocean crossing is soon over and you won't remember a thing. Never bored always poured. Can tell the crew the same stories every day as you won't remember those told yesterday. Big seas no problem your "spirits"are topped-up and you are as brave and bold as never before. Just hope the boat is also. Don't know where you've been or where you're going. The list ( to starboard ) is endless!!!!
Clyde

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Endojoe

An excellent policy, but 8 hours is actually the law (See the CFR link in my original post). I would hazard a guess and say that every company with an Aviation Department likely has a zero tolerance BAC policy, so they can fire pilots, but so long as there was more than 8 hours since the last drink and BAC was .03 or less, the FAA can't yank their ticket. I wouldn't want to be job hunting with that as a reference though....

FWIW, In Oz, there is a zero tolerance of BAC and aviation - no matter who you are (pilot, engineer, flight attendant, baggage handler), you must be less than 0.02 - effectively nil.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by jdoe71

...everyday 6 students would serve as test subjects and get locked in a little room and pour back as much as they could as quick as they could for 1 hour.

Funny. When I was in college I was one of those students. By the time I got to .05 I was definitely feelin' it. At .08 I was drunk enough that I would have known not to drive. By the time I got to the legal limit of .10 I was falling-down drunk.

Now, mind you, this was when I was in college, and went out at least a couple of times a week to pour back a 6-pack or so. I actually flunked-out of college the first time around (finished my degree ten years later), mainly because I spent more time drinking beer and watching TV than I did studying. So I was hardly a "light-weight" back then.

Having gone through that experience, I can't even imagine how some people can get up to two or three times the legal limit and still try to drive a car!

[Healer52]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

I believe different types of drink have different effects on different people.
e.g. @ 170#, in my case I can drink 2 shots of rum and an hour later I feel nothing. A full glass of wine puts me to sleep. And two beers makes me woosy and leaves me with a headache.

With my wife one drink of anything and she's a sleep.

Steve W. above must have been doing web searches and hit on us. Not everybody is an alcoholic.

In terms of the alcohol content, the carrier doesn't matter. A drink is a drink is a drink, or 12 oz of beer is the same as 5 oz of wine or 1 oz of 80-proof spirits.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Healer52

In terms of the alcohol content, the carrier doesn't matter. A drink is a drink is a drink, or 12 oz of beer is the same as 5 oz of wine or 1 oz of 80-proof spirits.

In terms of the physiological effect, this is true. In terms of the psychological effect, though, there can be dramatic differences. "Drunk" is a condition that, for many, depends more on the psychology of drinking than on the physiology of it.

[Southern Star]

In my expereince, most toxicologists would describe impairment with respect to the ability to operate a vehicle/vessel as a marked dimunition in the ability to perform a complex motor-skill task. Reaction time, balance, coordination, the ability of the eyes to adjust from light to dark, etc. are all physiological in nature and effected by alcohol consumption; judgment is psychological, and to some degree, so is concentration - both are also impaired by alcohol consumption.

Yes, different individuals have different tolerance levels to alcohol and the physiological/psychological effects will therefore also differ. Different individuals also have different elimination rates (within a specified range). Typically, more experienced drinkers will have a greater tolerance/slightly greater elimination rate (although some alcoholics with liver damage can have extrremely low elimination rates).

Most toxicologists will indicate that for virtually everyone, 'impairment' - that is to say a marked or measurable dimunition in the in the skills/attributes necessary to safely operate a motor vehicle or vessel, occurs at about 50 mgs of alcohol in 100 ml. of blood (or a breathalyzer/intoxilyzer reading of .050). That is not to say that one is falling down drunk (although some may be) at that level.

However, let us assume that one is operating a power boat at night. After 'a few drinks' you are 'feeling good' and perhaps open up the throttles a bit (although certainly no faster than you have operated the vessel in the past). Your eyes are subject to dashboard lights and lights from ashore. You are relaxed, enjoying the night breeze and the rush of speed; your concentration is not at its highest. Suddenly, you come upon a dimly lit, slow moving sailboat directly in your path...

Sound familiar? Can any of us say that alcohol was not a factor in the collision and fatality that resulted? That just perhaps the ability of our eyes to react to changes in lighting, our concentration, our reaction time and yes, even our judgment had been effected to some degree by the consumption of alcohol? Could any of us live with ourselves knowing that what turned into a fatality, could have been, at worst, a narrow miss if all our faculties were operating at their maximum?

We can attempt to drink so as to keep our BAC below the legal limit in our respective jurisdictions. But even below the legal limit in most jurisdictions (and well below in some), this same scenario can and will play itself out repeatedly. Look at it this way: it is sometimes said that responsible people do not need laws to tell them how to behave responsibly; or, alternatively, that the laws are designed around the lowest common denominator. Take the high road - regardless of the legal limit in your particular jurisdiction, don't drink and drive!

Cheers (without alcohol)!

Brad

[Chief Engineer]

That is why the field sobriety tests aboard boats are different than on land.