Alcohol Regarding Air Pilots

The dangers of drinking and driving are now well known, so that it may be considered self-evident that drinking and flying are also incompatible. However, aviation is very unforgiving of mistakes and the complexity of powered flight far exceeds that of road transport.

Slight and subtle errors on the part of an intoxicated pilot are thus potentially far more serious than for the intoxicated driver, and can have devastating consequences. Because of this, and despite the relative rarity of aviation accidents, safeguards to prevent drinking and flying need to be much more stringent than those employed to prevent drinking and driving.

Statement of the Problem

Alcohol use may lead to accidents in aviation. Air pilots are not well-informed about the metabolism of alcohol and the effects that are produced by the consumption of alcohol on the performance. If the blood alcohol concentration becomes zero, the performance of the air pilots still can be impaired due to alcohol.

Hazard perception performance has been identified as one source of individual differences in accidents. Thus, if alcohol adversely affects pilots’ hazard perception performance, then such an effect may underlie, at least in part, the increased accident risk associated with drink-flying.

Research Question and Sub-Questions

Q. 1. What are the alcohol related problems amongst air pilots?

Q.2. what are the occupational and sub-cultural factors thought to encourage heavy drinking amongst air pilots?

Q.3. Do cockpit environmental influences upon alcohol induce impairment of air pilots’ performance?

Q. 4. What are the indirect indicators of alcohol consumption by air pilots?

Q. 5. What is the relationship between blood alcohol concentration and impairment of performance?

Significance of the Study

This study involves primary and secondary research methods for the collection of data. This paper seeks to review the published literature on alcohol and aviation. The main issues to be addressed will concern available evidence regarding the level of alcohol consumption by pilots and the problems that ensue as a result of such consumption. Some reference will also be made to alcohol consumption by passengers, ground staff and others, and to problems with other psychoactive drugs of misuse.

This study will examine alcohol’s effects on hazard perception; that is, the process of identifying hazardous objects and events in the traffic system and quantifying their dangerous potential. This research will be conducted to study air pilots across the spectrum of drink-flying practices, from non-drink-pilots to individuals convicted of flying while impaired (FWI), and to examine the effects of a moderate dose of alcohol on their HPPs. the present study will compare the HPPs of four groups of air pilots: FWI offenders, impaired pilots, non impaired drink-pilots and non drink-pilots.

Research Design

Secondary research method will be used for the collection of data for Q.1- Q. 7. The secondary sources will include scholarly journals, previously published academic material, articles, magazines etc. Primary research method will be used for the collection of data for Q. 8.

Methodology

Subjects

They will be recruited with the aim of attaining an equal number of participants in four drink-flying groups: FWI offenders, impaired pilots, moderate drink-pilots and non drink-pilots. To achieve this aim, approximately 50 individuals will be identified as potential subjects.

Design

A two-by-four, experimental condition by drink-flying category design will be used. Experimental condition (no alcohol and moderate alcohol (0.05% BAC)) will be a within-subjects factor and drink-flying category (FWI offenders, impaired pilots, moderate drink-pilots and non drink-pilots) will be a between-subjects factor.