Flying high

[Bill Greenwood]

The story on the news a few weeks back was of TSA or some other cops searching the private jet used by singer Justin Beiber and finding no drugs.
Now the story is that Justin and his Dad were smoking so much dope on another flight, that the pilots and the stewardess complained about the smell.
When they landed the cops again searched the plane and again no illegal drugs were found.
It seems like this is a waste of law enforcement effort to focus on one celebrity who is not an airline or carrying other passengers, especially since they are not finding any drugs. The real danger is if a frustrated TSA or DEA agent plants the drugs on the plane, as they certainly have in the past in similar cases in cars. I'll bet many if not most, charter jets carry lot's of liquor, but I doubt if any of them are searched by cops even if the passengers get drunk.

No pilot in their right mind would want to fly stoned, but then again a few of them fly when using alcohol. You never know when something would call for all your best pilot ability. I don't use drugs, except Advil, and there isn't any really good long term Unbiased medical research on marijuana use, so I don't know how much it affects you. I know a professional lady who has a chronic medical problem, high blood pressure, who's husband is a pilot and she uses medical marijuana, but she has to commute to work and she never smokes in the morning before work. I asked someone else I know who has been a long time smoker if they would hestitate to drive on it and they said no. I know I used to ski race and a number of the guys would smoke on the lift before the race, then go down the course at speeds up to 80 mph, and it didn't seem to affect their performance, just as a number of pro athletes use it. There aren't any great ski racers from Texas, and so for me, I had all I could do to stand up at 70 mph and stay out of the fence.

Medical pot has been legal in Co, for a few years and now all of it is legal, and as for as I can tell there in no difference. There are still alcohol drunk drivers going the wrong way on the freeway or running over pedestrians, or getting in gun fights outside bars at closing time. I don't see any such incidents increasing by people just using mj.

[Infidel]

Having retired from Law Enforcement, I can tell you from experience. Not once did I ever run into someone that had been smoking marijuana and then felt ten feet tall and ready to fight everyone in the bar, etc.. The complete opposite of alcohol and on any given day, I'd rather have to deal with a "Pot Head" than a drunk.

I recall reading an article a few issues back of Sport Aviation concerning a guy that fatally crashed an Extra 300. If I remember correctly, the guy took off in imc conditions, etc.. The crash investigators found a bag of marijuana in the pilots personal effects and blood samples revealed THC/marijuana in his system.

Anyhow, anyone that would operate any conveyance while under the influence of any foreign substance is an idiot.

[CarlOrton]

I saw a story on Drudge that the pilot/FO had the masks on during the flight. Seems smart if the allegations are true.

It appeared in Time: (post edited to add link)
http://entertainment.time.com/2014/0...juana-arrests/

[Bill Greenwood]

The O2 mask story might be true, but I wonder. When I have seen people smoking pot, there is a prominent and distinctive smell, not unpleasant really , not acrid like tobacco. But usually not a lot of smoke. It is not like someone guzzling a Big Gulp, more like sipping brandy.
The pilots probably could have opened an air vent or maybe closed a curtain behind the cockpit. I don't know Drudge, don't know if it is a reliable source or has an axe to grind.

I think alcohol changes people so much, many times not for the better. Perhaps before you marry someone or loan them money or hire them or go into a partnership, you ought to see them drunk once to see if there are any demons in there. As for me, I get pretty silly and make alot of jokes and think they are all funny.

[Infidel]

Right on Bill. I don't doubt the pilots would've used the oxygen masks. I know I would have. I don't think the "second hand" smoke would give the pilots any impairment but, it is possible to breath the second hand smoke and then test positive for marijuana in their system/body.

Anyhow, if I was the Captain of that ship, I would've hit the nearest button on my GPS, diverted and dropped that Beaver kid & his father at the first available airstrip I could find!

[Floatsflyer]

When I fly it's a natural high!

OK Bill, you've started topics in quick succession on tobacco smoking, now grass. What's next? In keeping with your drug of the week theme, may I suggest the following "far out" drugs for discussion: Quaaludes, MDA, Mescaline, Purple Blotter Acid, standard LSD. Oh my, I'm having a pharmaceutical flashback!

[tspear]

The pilots wearing the O2 masks has shown up on CNN, Time, Fox....
Basically all the major news sources.

Tim

[RV8505]

When I fly it's a natural high! OK Bill, you've started topics in quick succession on tobacco smoking, now grass. What's next? In keeping with your drug of the week theme, may I suggest the following "far out" drugs for discussion: Quaaludes, MDA, Mescaline, Purple Blotter Acid, standard LSD. Oh my, I'm having a pharmaceutical flashback!

It's simple! Just another topic picked from the cornucopia of usless and irrelevant information.

[Bill Greenwood]

tspear, the story of the pilots putting on O2 masks is on several sources, but it may or may not be true. In a airliner, the pilots air is from a separate source than the passengers in the cabin, thus they are not breathing what the passengers are. A corporate jet may be different, the cockpit and cabin may be together. I don't know for sure. I wonder if there are any smoke detectors/fire alarms like in a airliner restroom. If so did they go off? At any rate the mask story would likely have come from the pilots and in any case no drugs were found when customs inspected the plane after the flight, so we have a good story, but no evidence other than that.

[martymayes]

In a airliner, the pilots air is from a separate source than the passengers in the cabin, thus they are not breathing what the passengers are.

what airliner would that be? I don't know of any with an airtight bulkhead between cabin and flight deck.


On March 30, 1983 a Lear 25 crashed at Newark (EWR) after an erratic approach. Toxicology report showed both pilots had used marijuana.
Here is a paper on the effects of marijuana and flying and why pilots shouldn't use drugs. I believe it mentions the Lear accident:
http://www.skybrary.aero/bookshelf/books/1108.pdf