HI Bob,

Recently in my CPL Pre licence ground component, my Instructor asked me a question on drinking alcohol before flight,

the question was, If I'm flying on the 4th of June at 0800hrs, can I sip a beer and do weight and balance at 2200 on the 3rd of June.

since the CAR 256 says "A person shall not act as, or perform any duties or functions preparatory to acting as, a member of the operating crew of an aircraft if the person has, during the period of 8 hours immediately preceding the departure of the aircraft consumed any alcoholic liquor."

my answer to him was, yes you can sip a beer while doing your weight and balance since you are doing your weight and balance 10 hours before departure, but apparently my instructor said my answer is wrong.

I have been asking many instructors and other CPL holder about this question and I got a whole lot of different answers,
I was wondering if you can help me interpret the correct meaning of that regulation and an answer to that scenario mentioned above.


Thanks a lot in advance,
SACH

"during the period of 8 hours immediately preceding the departure of the aircraft consumed any alcoholic liquor."

I think that says it all. You must have had no alcoholic liquor at all within 8 hours of departure. That means before becoming airborne.

In the case you presented, you had a sip of alcohol 10hrs before departure so I can't see anything wrong with that.

Remember though, that you cannot perform any duty associated with the flight if you are under the influence of alcohol or a drug. So if you had been drinking heavily the night before, it may be possible that you could still be over the limit at 8.00 the next day. CAR 256 (2).

Thanks a lot Bob