3 ms·

Your brother is an alcoholic in recovery, or a 'functioning' alcoholic? Don't the airlines breathalyse pilots before they fly? An old school friend who's now a

• jordigh 12y ago
  He's been... all kinds of alcoholic. He always was able to stop drinking two days before his flights, but I think he slipped once. I don't know if they breathalyse him. He doesn't like to tell me details about it. From what I can tell, he's doing better now. Alcoholism is very common with pilots, though. This much I know, because I met many pilots through him and my father, and boy do they enjoy their drinks. In my dad's time (he was "almost" a WW2 veteran, he was gonna fly on the second Mexican squadron, but the war ended before Mexico sent that squadron), being a pilot was comparable to being a movie star. So much prestige, so much partying. Some of that culture from the middle of the 20th century still lives on, and many pilots still, well, burn bright and burn fast.
  • brc 12y ago
    I have a friend who is a senior pilot with a large airline, and the drinking/hazing/partying stories he told me from his younger years were eye-widening. They generally all try and stay sober for the pre-flight period, but outside of that, especially when not at home, boy do they party. Not sure how much of that still goes on - a lot, I would guess.