Airline pilot alcoholism: one airline's experience.

The rehabilitation program at United Airlines strives for early identification of alcoholics, with constant monitoring by an educated team consisting of the flight surgeon, flight manager, and union representative. Confidentiality is essential and great caution and planning are required before confronting a suspected alcoholic pilot. UAL now has over 120 recovering pilots with an average rehabilitation time of 4 months and remission time of 3 years, by which time the probability of relapse has returned to baseline.