Here is what bothers me about dropping the 8-hour limit. Since the threshold is now "impaired" and there is definition of what is meant by that and no way to really ascertain and verify it, there is nothing stopping a person from downing a couple of colds ones and grabbing the TX of his turbine jet and having at it.
Unless a flying site has a no drinking rule there is nothing that can now be used to stop people from drinking and flying. And I am hard pressed to understand how that is a good thing.
As far as the FAA thing goes, it makes no sense since the FAA uses an 8-hour bottle to throttle rule itself. How does softening this restriction make our safety rules more palatable to the FAA??
Code of Federal Regulations
Part 91 GENERAL OPERATING AND FLIGHT RULES
Subpart AGeneral
Sec. 91.17 - Alcohol or drugs.
(a) No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft
(1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage;
(2) While under the influence of alcohol;
(3) While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety; or
[(4) While having an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater in a blood or breath specimen. Alcohol concentration means grams of alcohol per deciliter of blood or grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.]
http://rgl.faa.gov/REGULATORY_AND_GUIDANCE_LIBRARY/RGFAR.NSF/0/28757d8ae4d7d671862571960066be86!OpenDocument