According to investigative reporting by the Boston Herald, 160 pilots, air traffic controllers and mechanics, as well as other safety personnel, tested as drunk in 2012, the latest year that statistics have been released by the FAA. Why is this a secret?
A disturbing newspaper story by investigative reporter Erin Smith highlighted the results of a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) alcohol testing program obtained through a freedom of information act (FOIA) request. The statistics indicated a higher than expected level for commercial pilots but also noted that other aviation safety professionals such as mechanics, air traffic controllers and flight attendants were reporting to their jobs impaired by alcohol.
Federal officials reported 160 pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and other airline personnel charged with keeping passengers safe nationwide failed alcohol screening tests in 2012, according to a Herald review of the latest available data.
Air carriers reported 14 alcohol violations for commercial pilots that year, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. All told, there were 60 cases of pilots with confirmed breath alcohol concentrations of 0.04 or greater in the five-year period from 2008 to 2012, the FAA said.
The agency did not include the names of the airlines or the airports where the 160 workers are based.
Travelers United considers this report totally unacceptable. When the Department of Transportation requires reporting of lost baggage, late flights, broken wheelchairs and enplanement records, it seems that a report about pilots, air traffic controllers and airline mechanics working while under the influence would be even more important to the safety of the flying public.
I am not sure what is more disturbing — having a pilot flying a plane in an inebriated condition, discovering the mechanic that is tuning up the aircraft has been drinking, or learning that air traffic controllers are drunk on the job. These are professions that go right to the heart of the FAA’s safety mission. And, this testing program should be mandatory. Results should be reported regularly. Airlines discovered with impaired pilots should be identified. And, airports with impaired air traffic controllers should be called out.
If knowing what percentage of checked baggage is lost or delayed is considered important, the sobriety of pilots, mechanics and controllers should be sacrosanct. Amazingly, according to the Boston Herald article:
… travelers flying home or to vacation destinations for the holidays won’t be able to find out how many pilots and airline workers failed alcohol and drug tests this year or last because FAA officials said they don’t have that data. While federal safety agents inspect air carriers’ mandatory drug and alcohol testing programs, the airlines self-report those screening results to the FAA.
If the FAA is serious about its mantra, “Safety is our most important mission,” they should tighten up testing and reporting on alcohol testing and should begin a series of drug testing programs for pilots, mechanics and air traffic controllers. The program should be mandatory.
Identification of individual pilots, air traffic controllers and mechanics should be confidential; however, the identification of airlines and airports involved should be reported on a monthly basis.
Our commercial pilots and mechanics, as well as air traffic controllers, should be monitored for off-duty substance abuse such as driving under the influence and drug use.
Pilots caught breaking federal rules by failing to report off-duty drunken driving arrests and convictions have largely received warnings, fines and short suspensions for the motor vehicle offenses, according to documents obtained by the Herald.
Airline transport pilots — the license held by the vast majority of those in the cockpits of commercial airline jets — were cited in 137 cases for failing to report driver’s license suspensions and convictions stemming from drunken driving stops from Jan. 1, 2009, to July 22, 2014, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Pilots are required to report any drunken driving arrests and convictions to the FAA, according to federal rules.
It is time that the FAA take another look at its drug and alcohol testing programs and make them available to the public. This kind of scrutiny will only help the safety environment and build confidence in the FAA mission. With recreational drugs becoming more and more accepted, an expansion of drug testing should also be mandated. Hiding these testing results only serves to raise more questions and allows the system to put passengers at risk.
Note: Granted, the federal regulations mandate a .04 percent level to test “impaired,” as opposed to the normal state level of .08 percent for a drunk driving conviction. However, these levels need to be strictly enforced. A pilot website offers this observation about drinking and flying.
There are two FARs [Federal Air Regulations] that are important to know when it comes to drinking and flying. Most pilots are aware of the “8 hour” rule — that is, 8 hours from bottle to throttle — but many airlines have a more stringent 12 hour time limit. Most pilots do not know of the 0.04 percent FAR, which prohibits flying an aircraft with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.04 percent or higher.
Let’s talk a bit about the physiology of alcohol metabolism, in order to understand these 2 different FAR’s, and what they mean to the pilot. The first one is quite clear. The FAA prohibits the ingestion of any alcohol within 8 hours of flying as a pilot crew member, be it general or commercial aviation. For most of us who are not heavy and regular drinkers, if we follow the 8 hours rule, we would assume that we should not generally be busting the 0.04 percent rule. However, because our bodies eliminate alcohol at a constant rate, it is quite possible to ingest enough alcohol, follow the 8 hour rule, and still be over the 0.04 percent limit. In comparison, most states set this limit for driving under the influence (DUI) at a higher level, generally about 0.08 percent.
When thousands of passengers are at risk the FAA cannot keep hiding the results of its testing program. This is a report that should be made public in the interests of the aviation community and the public.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
