Drugs and Alcohol Found in Fatal Civil Aviation Accidents Between 1989 and 1993

Canfield, Dennis V.; Flemig, Jo; Hordinsky, Jerry R.; Birky, Merritt M.

doi:10.1037/e735102011-001

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Of the 92 pilots who tested positive for ethanol, most (86, 93%) were flying under Part 91 (8). These results are similar to studies from previous periods (7, 9, 10). For example, a study of aviation employees who were tested for drugs as part of the post-accident testing program from 1995 through 2005 found that the odds of accident involvement for employees testing positive for drugs was almost three times the odds of those who tested negative (31).…”

Section: Summary Of Adequacy Of Responses and Recommendationssupporting

confidence: 92%

The U.S. Commercial Air Tour Industry: A Review of Aviation Safety Concerns

Ballard

2014

aviat space environ med

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The U.S. Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations defines commercial air tours as “flight[s] conducted for compensation or hire in an airplane or helicopter where a purpose of the flight is sightseeing.” The incidence of air tour crashes in the United States is disproportionately high relative to similar commercial aviation operations, and air tours operating under Part 91 governance crash significantly more than those governed by Part 135. This paper reviews the government and industry response to four specific areas of air tour safety concern: surveillance of flight operations, pilot factors, regulatory standardization, and maintenance quality assurance. It concludes that the government and industry have successfully addressed many of these tenet issues, most notably by: advancing the operations surveillance infrastructure through implementation of en route, ground-based, and technological surveillance methods; developing Aeronautical Decision Making and cue-based training programs for air tour pilots; consolidating federal air tour regulations under Part 136; and developing public-private partnerships for raising maintenance operating standards and improving quality assurance programs. However, opportunities remain to improve air tour safety by: increasing the number and efficiency of flight surveillance programs; addressing pilot fatigue with more restrictive flight hour limitations for air tour pilots; ensuring widespread uptake of maintenance quality assurance programs, especially among high-risk operators not currently affiliated with private air tour safety programs; and eliminating the 25-mile exception allowing Part 91 operators to conduct commercial air tours without the safety oversight required of Part 135 operators.

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Section: Summary Of Adequacy Of Responses and Recommendationssupporting

confidence: 92%

The U.S. Commercial Air Tour Industry: A Review of Aviation Safety Concerns

Ballard

2014

aviat space environ med

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“…The present procedure used to screen and confirm CDS I and II drugs is the same procedure used from 1989 to 1993 and this 25% increase does appear to be a real increase in the use of CDS I and II drugs. Controlled dangerous substances (schedules III -V) were found in 49 (3%) of the pilots tested, an increase of 48% over the earlier study (4). New screening methods were adopted in 1994 to detect CDS III-V drugs using HPLC/UV/FL and this could be the cause of the increased number of positive CDS III-V drugs detected.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Prescription drugs were found in 240 (14%) of the pilots analyzed. This constitutes an increase of 58% for prescription drugs over the original 5-year study (4). Methods have been implemented that did not exist between 1989 and 1993 to detect prescription drugs.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prevalence of Drugs and Alcohol in Fatal Civil Aviation Accidents Between 1994 and 1998

Canfield

Hordinsky²,

Millett³

et al. 2000

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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This work was accomplished under the approved task AM-B-98-TOX-202. AbstractThe use of drugs and alcohol in aviation is closely monitored by the FAA Office of Aviation Medicine's (OAM's) Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI) through the toxicological analysis of specimens from pilots who have died in aviation accidents. This information on the use of drugs in aviation is helpful to the FAA in developing programs to reduce the usage of dangerous drugs and identify potentially incapacitating medical conditions that may cause an accident. Data collected from this research can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the FAA drug testing program. The toxicology reports prepared by the CAMI Forensic Toxicology Research Section are used by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of aviation accidents. Specimens (blood, urine, liver, kidney, vitreous fluid, and other bodily specimens) were collected by pathologists near the accident and placed in evidence containers provided by CAMI. These samples were refrigerated and shipped by overnight air. Upon receipt, the specimens were inventoried and accessioned for the analysis of drugs, alcohol, carbon monoxide, and cyanide. All data collected by the laboratory were entered into a computer database for future analysis. The database was searched using a Microsoft Access TM program developed by a local contractor. The database was sorted based on the class of drug, controlled dangerous substance schedules I and II, controlled dangerous substance schedules III-V, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, and alcohol. The Toxicology and Accident Research Laboratory received specimens from 1683 pilots for postmortem toxicology analysis between 1994 to 1998. Controlled dangerous substances, CDS, (schedules I and II) were found in 89 of the pilots analyzed. Controlled dangerous substances (schedules III -V) were found in 49 of the pilots tested. Prescription drugs were found in 240 of the pilots analyzed. Over-the-counter drugs were found in 301 of the pilots analyzed. Alcohol at or above the legal limit of 0.04% was found in 124 pilots. The number of positive drug cases has doubled over the past 5 years. Over-the-counter medications are the most frequendy found drugs in fatal aviation accidents and many of these drugs, or the medical conditions for which they are being used, could impair a pilot's ability to safely fly an aircraft. The increased number of positive cases found in this research is most likely the result of improved methods of analysis, rather than an increase in the use of drugs. The low incidence of CDS III-V drugs found in fatal aviation accidents may be a result of the difficulty in finding and identifying the new benzodiazepines commonly prescribed in this class.

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“…As with the majority of the drugs, SSRIs in the biosamples are screened by high performance liquid chromatography and by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and are confi rmed/quantitated by GC/MS. Types and names of drugs found by CAMI during postmortem forensic toxicology of pilot fatalities associated with 1989-1993 and 1994-1998 civil aviation accidents have been published elsewhere (11,12).…”

Section: Toxicological Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The submitted pilot fatality biological samples are routinely analyzed for the presence of combustion gases (carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide), alcohol/ volatiles, and drugs (11)(12)(13)(14)43). All of these foreign substances (analytes) in the samples are analyzed according to established standard laboratory procedures, including screening and confi rmatory/quantitative analyses (14).…”

Section: Toxicological Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%