Random drug tests for Pilots and airport staff

[Greg McDonald]

Pilots and airport staff will be tested for illegal drugs when new safety regulations are brought in this month.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority will soon be subjecting pilots to random drug tests, as well as drug and alcohol tests for "safety-sensitive personnel" including air traffic controllers and baggage handlers.

Other occupations to face scrutiny include flight attendants, aircraft engineers, re-fuellers, flight controllers and ground staff.

"It's been in the pipeline for several years," the Sydney Morning Herald reported CASA spokesman Peter Gibson as saying.

"The scope is quite intentionally fairly wide to include anybody who could have a safety impact on the aircraft."

The current system tests only pilots for alcohol, with a maximum BAC reading of .02 allowed through random breath testing.

Any airport employee found to break .02 or test positive to illegal drugs will now be stood down immediately.

They must undergo a doctor's assessment and enter rehabilitation if they are deemed to have a dependence problem and also face fines of up to $5500.

The scheme was introduced in the final Howard budget after cannabis and smoking utensils were found in the car of a pilot involved in a fatal plane crash on Hamilton Island in 2002.

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[Mick F]

This actually came in, in the middle of March.

The bit about pilots having a limit of 0.02 previously though, is incorrect. Prior to these new regulations, there was never a stated limit. The only thing to go off was the regulation which stated that a pilot must not consume alcohol for 8hrs prior to conducting any flight activity, and that a pilot must not be under the effects of alcohol. That's a very broad statement there, as you could have a level of say 0.05 and feel that you're not under the effects of alcohol.

The new regulations at least, provide a set limit, which cannot have a broad meaning at all.

Mick