Alcohol and Flying: A… | FAA Aeromedical…

Alcohol &

Flying

Alcohol &

Flying

A DEADLY COMBINATION

You are in control

Flying, while fun and exciting, is a precise,

demanding, and unforgiving endeavor.

Any factor that impairs the pilot’s ability

to perform the required tasks during the

operation of an aircraft is an invitation

for disaster.

The use of alcohol is a significant self-imposed

stress factor that should be eliminated from

the cockpit. The ability to do so is strictly

within the pilot’s control.

Alcohol avoidance

Ideally, total avoidance of alcohol should

be a key element observed by every pilot in

planning or accomplishing a flight.

Alcohol avoidance is as critical as developing

a flight plan, a good preflight inspection,

obeying ATC procedures, and avoiding

severe weather.

epartment of Transportation (DOT)/

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

14 CFR Part 120 - Drug and Alcohol

T esting Program Regulations

The FAA drug and alcohol testing regulation

applies to pilots who perform flight crewmember

duties (directly or by contract) for a domestic

commercial air carrier or operator. The FAA’s

rule defines who is subject to testing, the types of

testing, consequences, prohibitions for using drugs

or misusing alcohol, and other administrative

requirements. The DOT’s procedural regulation,

49 CFR part 40, outlines the specimen collection,

testing, and verification procedures for all DOT

testing. Employees that have a breath alcohol

test result confirmed with a concentration of

0.04 or greater alcohol or other alcohol misuse

prohibition while performing flight crewmember

duties must be immediately removed from duty

and referred for education and/or treatment.

A breath alcohol test confirmed between 0.02

and 0.039 is not considered a federal testing

violation; however, the employee must be temporarily

removed from duty until they test below 0.02 or

for 8 hours. Safety-sensitive employees must be

subject to pre-employment, random, post-accident,

random, reasonable cause/suspicion, return-to-

duty, and follow-up testing. For more information

about the DOT/FAA testing, visit www.faa.gov/go/

drugabatement or www.dot.gov/odapc/employee.

General Recommendations

1. As a minimum, adhere to all the guidelines

of 14 CFR Par t 91.17:

• 8 hours from “bottle to thr ottle”

• do not fly while under the influence of alcohol

• do not fly while using any drug that may

adversely affect safety

2. A more conservative approach is to wait 24 hours

from the last use of alcohol before flying. This

is especially true if into xication occurred or if you

plan to fly IFR. Cold showers, drinking black

coffee, or breathing 100% oxygen cannot speed up

the elimination of alcohol from the body.

3. Consider the effects of a hangover. Eight hours

from “bottle to throttle” does not mean you are

in the best physical condition to fly, or that

your blood alcohol concentration is below the

legal limits.

4. Recognize the hazards of combining alcohol

consumption and flying.

5. Use good judgment. Your life and the lives of

your passengers are at risk if you drink and fly.

Keep in mind that regulations alone are no

guarantee that problems won ’t occur. It is far

more important for pilots to understand the

negative effects of alcohol and its deadly impact

on flight safety.

ALCOHOL USE IN AMERICA

• Over 67.4% of American adults consume alcohol.

• In 2022 23.5% of American adults reported that they engaged in

binge drinking in the past month.

• In 2022 11.2% adults had Alcohol Use Disorder in the past year.

• Different alcoholic beverages have different concentrations of

alcohol; however, their total alcohol content can be the same. For

example, a pint of beer contains as much alcohol as a 5

1/2-ounce

glass of table wine. Ther

efore, the notion that drinking low-

concentration alcoholic beverages is safer than drinking hard

liquor is erroneous.

• The total alcohol content of any alcoholic beverage can be easily

calculated using the following formula: “Proof” divided by 2 =

per

cent pure alcohol by volume.

References

1. Medical Standards and Certification, 14 CFR Pt. § 67.107 (2012).

2. Alejandr

o Caro-Nuñez T , Chidester T . Literature Review and

Recommendations Concerning Alcohol T olerance Under Part 67.

Washington, DC: Office of Aerospace Medicine; 2018. DOT/FAA/

AM-18/5.

3. Alcohol Use in the United States. NIH National Institute on

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-

effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/alcohol-use-

united-states-age-groups-and-demographic-characteristics. Updated

2023. Accessed February 7, 2024.

4. Dubowski KM. Absorption, distribution and elimination of

alcohol: highway safety aspects. J Stud Alcohol. 1985;10:98–108.

Provided by

Aerospace Medical Education Division, AAM-400

To obtain copies of this brochure online:

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/safety/pilotsafetybrochures/

or contact:

Federal Aviation Administration

Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

AAM-400

P .O. Box 25082

Oklahoma City, OK 73125

(405) 954-4831

OK-24-0259 (2-24)

Alcoholic beverages, used by many to “unwind” or relax,

act as a social “icebreaker,” a way to alter one’s mood by

decreasing inhibitions. Alcohol consumption is widely

accepted, often providing the cornerstone of social

gatherings and celebrations. Along with cigarettes, many

adolescents associate the use of alcohol as a rite of passage

into adulthood.

While its use is prevalent and acceptable in our society,

it should not come as a surprise that problems arise in

the use of alcohol and the performance of safety-related

activities, such as driving an automobile or flying an

aircraft. These problems are made worse by the common

belief that accidents happen “to other people, but not to

me.” There is a tendency to forget that flying an aircraft is

a highly demanding cognitive and psychomotor task that

takes place in an inhospitable environment where pilots

are exposed to various sources of stress.

Hard facts about alcohol

• It’s a sedative, hypnotic, and addicting drug.

• Alcohol quickly impairs judgment and leads to

behavior that can easily contribute to, or cause

accidents.

The erratic effects of alcohol

• Alcohol is rapidly absorbed from the stomach and small

intestine, and transported by the blood throughout the

body. Its toxic effects vary considerably from person to

person, and is influenced by variables such as gender,

body weight, rate of consumption (time), and total

amount consumed.

• The average, healthy person eliminates pure alcohol at

a fairly constant rate. That is about 1/3 to 1/2 oz. of pure

alcohol per hour. This is equivalent to the amount of

pure alcohol contained in any of the popular drinks

listed in Table 1. This rate of elimination of alcohol is

relatively constant, regardless of the total amount of

alcohol consumed. In other words, whether a person

consumes a few or many drinks, the rate of elimination

of alcohol from the body is essentially the same.

Therefore, the more alcohol an individual consumes,

the longer it takes the body to get rid of it.

• Even after complete elimination of all of the alcohol in

the body, there are hangover effects that can last 48 to

72 hours following the last drink.

• The majority of adverse effects pr oduced by alcohol

relate to the brain, eyes, and inner ear which are three

crucial organs to a pilot.

• Brain effects include impaired reaction time,

reasoning, judgment, and memory. Alcohol

decreases the ability of the brain to make use of

oxygen. This adverse effect can be magnified as

a result of simultaneous exposure to altitude,

characterized by a decreased partial

pressure of oxygen.

• Visual symptoms include eye muscle imbalance,

which leads to double vision and difficulty

focusing.

• Inner ear effects include dizziness, and decreased

hearing perception.

• If such other variables are added as sleep

deprivation, fatigue, medication use, altitude

hypoxia, or flying at night or in bad weather, the

negative effects are significantly magnified.

Studies of how alcohol affects pilot

performance

• Pilots have shown impairment in their ability

to fly an ILS approach or to fly IFR, and even

to perform routine VFR flight tasks while

under the influence of alcohol, regardless of

individual flying experience.

• The number of serious errors committed

by pilots dramatically increases at or above

concentrations of 0.04% blood alcohol. This is

not to say that problems don’t occur below this

value. Some studies have shown decrements

in pilot performance with blood alcohol

concentrations as low as the 0.025%.

Hangovers are dangerous

A hangover effect, produced by alcoholic 1

beverages after the acute intoxication has worn off,

may be just as dangerous as the intoxication itself.

Symptoms commonly associated with a hangover

are headache, dizziness, dry mouth, stuffy nose,

fatigue, upset stomach, irritability, impaired

judgment, and increased sensitivity to bright light.

A pilot with these symptoms would certainly not

be fit to safely operate an aircraft. In addition,

such a pilot could readily be perceived as being

under the influence of alcohol.

Table 1. Amount of alcohol in various alcoholic beverages.

Alcohol tolerance

Alcohol tolerance occurs when the brain

and body change over time to compensate

for the sedative effects of alcohol. T olerance

is dangerous. T olerant individuals can still

perform complex tasks at high BACs despite

cognitive impairment.

Under 14 CFR Part 67, tolerance is evidence

of alcohol dependence.1 It can develop with

daily or periodic heavy or binge drinking.

T olerant individuals must drink more in

order to get the same effect they used to get

with fewer drinks. For example, non-tolerant

individuals have difficulty with complex tasks

at a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of

0.08, while tolerant individuals may perform

the same tasks at much higher BAC levels

(e.g., 0.16)2. However, tolerant individuals

only “appear” to maintain cognitive function

and motor skills at higher levels of blood

alcohol. Actual cognition and judgment are

still impaired.2,4

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and

Alcoholism (NIAAA) argues that alcohol

Alcohol and Flying: A Deadly Combination