A person may not act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft if alcoholic beverages have been consumed within the preceding

• A. 8 hours
• B. 12 hours
• C. 4 hours
• D. 24 hours

Answer: (A)

Alcohol affects judgment, coordination, and reaction time, so there is a safety rule that you may not act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft if you have consumed alcoholic beverages within the preceding eight hours. This fixed eight-hour window is known as the bottle-to-throttle rule and is designed to reduce the chance of impairment during flight, regardless of how you feel or what your exact blood alcohol level might be. After eight hours have passed, you may act as crew if you are otherwise fit to fly. The other time frames don’t match the regulation: four hours is not long enough to guarantee sobriety, while twelve or twenty-four hours go beyond what the rule specifies, though they would certainly be safe.