Survey of pilots' attitudes and opinions about drinking and flying.
A mailed questionnaire was used to obtain biographic, attitude, and reported behavioral data from pilots with regard to consumption of alcoholic beverages and flying. A 40.8% return of 835 mailings was obtained. Only 12 pilots reported having flown after drinking. Approximately 50% of the respondents indicated it would be safe to fly within 4 h after drinking some amount of alcoholic beverage. Based upon alcohol absorption and oxidation rates, it was estimated that 27-32% of the respondents considered flying after drinking, within a time period which would result in a 15mg% BAC or higher, to be safe behavior. Discriminant analysis showed liquor consumption and opinions regarding number of mixed drinks which could safely be consumed within 1 h before flying would correctly classify 67.5% of the respondents in terms of attitude toward drinking and flying.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000434:Alcoholic Beverages; D001290:Attitude; D001334:Automobile Driving; D001515:Beer; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014920:Wine