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NEWS Local Spirit Airline Pilot Dead of Heroin Overdose

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Well this is pretty fucked up. A local pilot for Spirit Airlines was found dead in his bed along with his wife in the cause looks to be a heroin overdose. Drug paraphernalia found all over the scene.

What is Bizaro is the wife had previously been convicted of felony drug possession and her ex-husband had died of an overdose just a few years earlier. Unreal

http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2017/03/spirit-airlines-pilot-wife-found-dead.html?m=1
 

picklesuit

Dirty Hinge
pilot
Contributor
He probably got the bill for all the fees Spirit charged him to fly their aircraft...

Sucks they had to go out like assholes so their kids had to find them. Scarred them for life but they deserve better than drug addicts for parents.

I know, I'm an asshole who has no sympathy. Save the lecture. I don't have any sympathy for anyone but the kids of these two "parents."
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
He probably got the bill for all the fees Spirit charged him to fly their aircraft...

Sucks they had to go out like assholes so their kids had to find them. Scarred them for life but they deserve better than drug addicts for parents.

I know, I'm an asshole who has no sympathy. Save the lecture. I don't have any sympathy for anyone but the kids of these two "parents."
I'm with you there!
 

GroundPounder

Well-Known Member
Heroin and all its pharmaceutical cousins are making a huge comeback, and such incidents are not unusual. This one has the relative affluence of the participants and the kid angel to make it " news ". Google your address to see where the closest methadone clinic is, I bet you will be surprised.

The path is usually started by prescriptions ( valid or otherwise ) of opioids, followed pretty quickly by addiction. Many people progress to crushing the pills and using them intravenously followed pretty quickly by heroin and or phytanyl. Once you've reached that point, they are one well on the road to an OD.

It's easy to develop a dependence on opioids, I would never let anyone I cared about take them if there were any other option. My wife recently had surgury, and we went with 1/2 doses for 4 days, instead of the recommended 10 day script.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Heroin and all its pharmaceutical cousins are making a huge comeback, and such incidents are not unusual. This one has the relative affluence of the participants and the kid angel to make it " news ". Google your address to see where the closest methadone clinic is, I bet you will be surprised.

The path is usually started by prescriptions ( valid or otherwise ) of opioids, followed pretty quickly by addiction. Many people progress to crushing the pills and using them intravenously followed pretty quickly by heroin and or phytanyl. Once you've reached that point, they are one well on the road to an OD.

It's easy to develop a dependence on opioids, I would never let anyone I cared about take them if there were any other option. My wife recently had surgury, and we went with 1/2 doses for 4 days, instead of the recommended 10 day script.
Epidemic in Cincinnati/Northern KY
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Heroin and all its pharmaceutical cousins are making a huge comeback, and such incidents are not unusual. This one has the relative affluence of the participants and the kid angel to make it " news ". Google your address to see where the closest methadone clinic is, I bet you will be surprised.

The path is usually started by prescriptions ( valid or otherwise ) of opioids, followed pretty quickly by addiction. Many people progress to crushing the pills and using them intravenously followed pretty quickly by heroin and or phytanyl. Once you've reached that point, they are one well on the road to an OD.

It's easy to develop a dependence on opioids, I would never let anyone I cared about take them if there were any other option. My wife recently had surgury, and we went with 1/2 doses for 4 days, instead of the recommended 10 day script.
Navy gave me some "augmented" Tylenol after surgery once. I took one dose, and said NFW; this shit freaks me out. Stuck to the Motrin horse pills.
 

HAL Pilot

Well-Known Member
None
Contributor
Is flying for Spirit in any way different than other carriers in what @HAL Pilot calls "the Show"?
As a pilot, flying at Spirit is not the same as the majors/legacies but it is way better than the regionals or even most of the other nationals. Their pay is average for the nationals but they have some better work rules.

As a passenger, Spirit sucks.

It is The Show Lite
 

pourts

former Marine F/A-18 pilot & FAC, current MBA stud
pilot
Heroin and all its pharmaceutical cousins are making a huge comeback, and such incidents are not unusual. This one has the relative affluence of the participants and the kid angel to make it " news ". Google your address to see where the closest methadone clinic is, I bet you will be surprised.

The path is usually started by prescriptions ( valid or otherwise ) of opioids, followed pretty quickly by addiction. Many people progress to crushing the pills and using them intravenously followed pretty quickly by heroin and or phytanyl. Once you've reached that point, they are one well on the road to an OD.

It's easy to develop a dependence on opioids, I would never let anyone I cared about take them if there were any other option. My wife recently had surgury, and we went with 1/2 doses for 4 days, instead of the recommended 10 day script.

For those not familiar with what @GroundPounder is talking about, here's a good book on the subject.
https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidemic/dp/1620402521

Another issue is the fact that the difference between an "effective dose" and a lethal dose is extremely small for Heroin, possibly one of the smallest. Very little margin for error, hence the fatal overdoses. In 2015 more Americans died from drug overdose than car crashes: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-us-overdose-deaths-20161208-story.html.

Breaking Bad brought meth to the cultural forefront, but its the opiods (pills and heroin) that are really killing people.
 

Hotdogs

I don’t care if I hurt your feelings
pilot
As a pilot, flying at Spirit is not the same as the majors/legacies but it is way better than the regionals or even most of the other nationals. Their pay is average for the nationals but they have some better work rules.

As a passenger, pretty much all airlines suck these days.

It is The Show Lite

Fixed it there buddy.
 

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
So, beyond the tragedy of their kids seeing this...how did this guy keep his FAA medical? Don't the airlines test for this crap in pilots?
 

Ventilee

Active Member
pilot
Contributor
Heroin metabolizes out of your system pretty fast, so he probably just had to keep it together for a week prior to his medical.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
If you are under 40, First Class medical is annual. Random screening is expensive.

It just seems to me like that kind of hard drug use is anathema to anyone who is even remotely a professional pilot. I just don't see how this guy overdosed and have been using without his colleagues or employer knowing.

That's why I posed my earlier question, is there something unique about spirit airlines that makes it stressful or work rules that differ substantially from other major carriers or something
 
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