FAA new DUI policy
 

New FAA DUI Policy
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced new guidance following any alcohol-related motor vehicle action (driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated) offense.

For quite some time there have been two separate reporting requirements after receiving “motor vehicle action”:

You must report within 60 days any “motor vehicle action” (which includes DUI or DWI convictions) to the FAA IAW FAR Part 61.15 (e). If you do not report such occurrences within 60 days, you risk enforcement action against your certificates.

You must also report the “motor vehicle action” on the very next FAA medical examination. You must now report arrests, convictions, and administrative actions by checking “yes” at line 18.v of FAA Form 8500-8.

In the past, the FAA took no further action after a properly reported first “motor vehicle action.” Now, on all offenses, including the first, your Aeromedical Examiner (AME) may require the court documents and question you regarding the offense.

If you had a blood alcohol level of 0.15 mg % or above in connection with a “motor vehicle action” or if this is not your first offense in your lifetime, your medical certification is supposed to be deferred to the FAA. Also, if you refused to allow the police to take a sample for alcohol concentration, your medical certification should be deferred. The FAA will then insist that you obtain a substance abuse evaluation from a recognized counselor as a condition of further consideration for issuance of a medical certificate. Additional documentation will also be required for FAA review.

The documentation and review process may take up to several months. If your medical certificate has lapsed during this period, you will not be eligible to fly until cleared by the FAA.

The bottom line is that in the event you have a “motor vehicle action,” or if you are told by your AME that you are no longer qualified to exercise the privileges of your airman medical certificate contact the ALPA Aeromedical Office (303-341-4435) immediately to discuss the specifics of your case. By immediately contacting the Aeromedical Office, the staff can guide you to the proper substance abuse evaluation well before the month your medical certificate is no longer valid, if the timing works out with the “motor vehicle action” and your medical examination.

ALPA plans to publish an article that will discuss the issues and ramifications of a “motor vehicle action” (which includes DUI or DWI convictions) in an upcoming issue of Air Line Pilot.


Why are we treated like prisoners on parole? How much more involvement into our personal lives do we give to the FED's? (not condoning drinking and driving, but how about EVERY employee of the federal gov't/senators/congress/TSA.....have the same standards)

No suprise after the last UA incident.

I love to party as much as the next guy. Bottom line, take a cab, have a friend, wife, girlfriend or whatever drive, period. End of story......

Actually, this went into effect many months ago, it's just that no one knew about it. A friend of mine is a big union guy at another carrier dealing with these sort of issues, and he had told me about it. Kind of sneaky because the first you may find out about it is when it's time to get your medical renewed and realized they've changed the DUI question on the form. Problem is, it can take a couple or three months to sort out.

His advice: if you've ever been even arrested for it, even if it was reduced to say, reckless driving, go get your medical renewed say 2-3 months early. That way you have time to jump through the hoops for your new certificate while the old one is still valid.

Must be nice to have a union to help u out. I sure miss the peace of mind and services a union gives you.

Agreed....don't break the law (especially one on the skyline such as DUI) and you'll have nothing to worry about. Exercise that professional judgment and don't paint yourself into a box.

USMCFLYR

Damn straight. Just don't do it. I know - and have heard of - too many people, some younger than me, killed or seriously injured by drunk driving. There's a reason that it's serious-business-illegal...not to mention that any person who attempts it demonstrates a severe lack of judgment.

Now how does that affect the no smoking within 8 hours of flight and no drinking within 50' of the fuel truck rules:D?

True, so what will it take to get texting/calling while driving banned in the same manner. Texting while driving is just as detrimental as a .14 BAC.

Um old medical is null once the new one has been issued......

Yes, this is casing issues for many guys.

They are also looking at lifetime monitoring for those that are diagnosed "Dependent" et al.

Simply put if you are hiding an issue, better to get it resolved now before they make this change.

US Airways has a HIMS program through USAPA. You should at least know what your union offers.

Should have happened long ago....with the NWA incident

Right On !
 

Well stated and thanks Jarhead. If more people heeded your advice, all of us would be a lot better off.

For what it's worth, there is an excellent editorial in the current issue (Dec. 2009) of Air Transport World. The article is titled "The Death of Common Sense" and is written by Perry Flint. It should be required reading for everyone in the industry and if I can figure out how to scan and post it, I will.

We are headed down a slippery slope with the lack of common sense and professionalism that has been demonstrated by a small number of individuals in recent incidents. Unfortunately, it only takes a few stupid occurances for the entire industry to end up with egg on it's face.

G'Day Mates.:)

PS- USMCRFLYR, don't take offense to the "Jarhead" label. I'm one also.

Does "motor vehicle action" include a speeding or parking ticket?

Hasn't the DUI question always been on the 8500? Seems to me like the only thing new is if you get a DUI now, you may have to jump through more hoops, but a previously reported one should present no problem.

It refers to anything substance related (FAR 61.15), not routine traffic tickets.

No, it's always been there, but the wording has changed.

It used to say: "have you ever been convicted of.........etc.etc...

Now it says: "have you ever been arrested/charged with.........etc.etc..

Big difference.

And of course the previous posters are correct, don't do it and you've got no problem. I think that is pretty obvious. The reason that this has come up as a discussion is because of the fairly recent change to the medical form as I noted above. You may have screwed up years ago, and put it behind you, but because of this change you've now got to deal with it. My understanding is that the Feds felt or got wind of the fact that there were some guys out there who were repeat offenders but were flying under the radar because they were able to continually plea down and get the charges reduced to reckless driving or something similar. Therefore: no DUI convictions. I get that, but to me they are treading into a shady legal area because they are in effect treating you as if you have a DUI on record, when technically, you do not.

The question has changed, and to add to it, you are no longer getting the one free pass from the AME. You are charged with a DWI/DUI, the medical is forwarded to the FAA for consideration. They may give you a pass, but they may not.

Best advice I can give you is, if you have a problem and deep down know that you do, go see the support and help of your airlines HIMS program. I think that almost every 121 airline has one. Some are "better" than others, but in the end they will get you the help that you need, and allow you to return to your job. FWIW, Netjets has one too and it is a really good program.

If you have questions about the HIMS programs look at the ALPA website or your unions website, there is some good info there and contact numbers.
Do not let your self be in the cockpit with a "Reasonable Suspicion" test being performed. At that point you are past a lot of the easier options.

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... deleted becauseI figured it out.

That is exactly what they are doing, but there is nothing shady about it really. FAR's are administrative law, which is not held to the same standards as criminal or civil law. The FAA can get away with things which would get them laughed out of a real courtroom.

The flip side to that is that all they can do to penalize you under admin law is to pull your tickets. For those few offenses which result in substantial penalties or jail time, they have to fall back on the FBI and the regular federal justice system...in which case all of the normal rules apply.

Bottom line: flying is a privilege, not a right and you don't get the same protections you would in other situations.

Here in California, it's outright illegal. And a recent Executive Order bans employees of the Federal government operating a Federal vehicle on official business from doing so.

The feds don't have the right to regulate texting while driving on a nationwide level. I guess you could make an argument about interstate highways and commerce...hmm...

I see..

Good explanation, thanks

According to the FAA website nothing has changed. Can someone point me in the right direction as to where the specifics of the changes are spelled out. This applies to several professional pilots that I know who have had past convictions, all more than ten years ago.

On the old medical form you only had to report convictions for DUI, or other admin actions.

On the new medical form you have to report convictions and arrests. This means there folks who had an arrest in the past which did not result in conviction will now have to report it. Presumably it won't be a big deal if it was a one time thing and happened a long time ago.

Maybe not, or maybe... You MAY have to get an assessment by an addiction specialist to ascertain whether or not you have a problem.

ALSO, if someone had a conviction in the past and DID NOT report it, they could be subject to certificate action.

That's always been true, nothing new. If you're in that boat, better talk to a lawyer before it catches up to you.

I don't think it is really fair to say because you get arrested for OVWI, means you have a problem. Having a problem are the people who are repeat offenders, new OVWI every couple amount of years. Those kind of people won't last in aviation anyways.