AviationBanter - View Single Post

**Mxsmanic**

writes:

Both driving and flying under the influence of alcohol are illegal.

But being a drinker or smoker is not. You can drink and smoke regularly (both
of which vastly increase the likelihood of problems that may incapacitate you
in the air), and the FAA doesn't care, as long as you don't drink in the eight
hours before flying (and there's no prohibition on smoking at all, so
conceivably you could smoke in the cockpit).

And yet, at the same time, if you've ever had, say, a bad headache, the FAA
can deny your medical.

There is no correlation between smoking and accident rates for either
driving or flying.

Smoking significantly increases the risk of incapacitating cardiovascular or
respiratory problems. It also increases the risk of altitude-related problems
that may be incapacitating.

About half of regular smokers ultimately die of conditions that are related to
their smoking.

The fact is, the FAA's assessment of possible incapacitation is extremely
lopsided. And there really isn't any way to predict incapacitation reliably
for any person in anywhere near normal health who is not already being
incapacitated.