Career Pilot: Pilots and substance abuse

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.