Drug Use Reported by U.S. Pilots, 2009–2014

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing trend in the use of drugs, which could increase the likelihood of an aircraft accident. Evidence exists that pilots do not report all medications to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The purpose of this study was to compare medications discovered by postaccident toxicology testing to those reported to the FAA to determine the veracity of pilot reported medications.METHODS: Medications reported on applications for U.S. medical certificates were compared to those discovered during postaccident toxicology testing. Logistic regressions were performed using Age, Gender, Type of Flight Operation, Medical Class Issued, and whether a Special Issuance (SI) medical certificate was issued as independent covariates. Truth in Reporting a medication was the outcome variable.RESULTS: Age and an SI medical certificate were good predictors of the likelihood of truthfully reporting medications. For each year of age the probability of a subject drug record being truthfully reported increased by 5%, while a pilot with an SI was 3.12 times more likely to be truthful than a pilot without an SI. When reported medications were limited to cardiovascular drugs, Age was the only good predictor of truthful reporting and, for every additional year of age, the probability of a subject drug record being truthfully reported increased by 3%.CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the probability of a pilot truthfully reporting medication use increases with Age and an SI medical certificate. When reported medications were limited to cardiovascular drugs, Age was the only good predictor of truthful reporting.DeJohn CA, Greenhaw R, Lewis R, Cliburn K. Drug use reported by U.S. pilots, 2009–2014. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(7):586–591.