Am J Psychiatry 1986; 143:1546-1550
Copyright © 1986 by American Psychiatric Association
Hangover effects on aircraft pilots 14 hours after alcohol ingestion: a preliminary report
JA Yesavage and VO Leirer
Using a repeated measures counterbalanced design, the authors had 10 Navy
P3-C Orion pilots fly two carefully designed simulated flights under
control (no hangover) and hangover conditions. For the control condition,
pilots drank no alcohol within 48 hours before the simulated flight. For
the hangover condition, they flew 14 hours after drinking enough ethanol
mixed with diet soft drinks to attain a blood alcohol concentration of 100
mg/dl. Pilot performance was worse in the hangover condition on virtually
all measures but significantly worse on three of six variance measures and
one of six performance measures. The results indicate that caution should
be exercised when piloting an aircraft 14 hours or less after ingesting
similar quantities of alcohol.
