You may be surprised to learn that you could be safer cruising around in a limousine than flying high in an aircraft in Australian Skies.
The regulations for West Australian drivers who are carrying paying passengers (which requires the driver to have an “F” or “T” endorsement or licence) require the driver to have a 0.0% blood alcohol reading (BAC). That sounds fair to us since our drivers are professional chauffeurs and take their responsibilities seriously.
Interestingly, though, Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 91.17 states, among other things, that “no person may operate or attempt to operate an aircraft “With a blood alcohol content of 0.04% or greater”.
This means that 0.049% is legal and the same as driving a normal motor vehicle in West Australia where the legal maximum is 0.049% and 0.05% or greater is an offence.
We realise that this amount of BAC content is not necessarily able to affect one’s control of an aircraft – we are just pointing out that limousine drivers who carry far less passengers than many aircraft have more stringent rules!
You can trust your limousine chauffeur to be totally sober!