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the Prohibition on Personal Use of Electronic Devices on the Flight Deck, publishing guidance encouraging the aviation industry to expand procedure manuals and training programs to include other personnel in the prohibition of PEDs in the operational environment.
Require Medical Fitness
The NTSB professes that the aviation medical certification process is the most comprehensive fitness
evaluation system, in comparing the other modes of transportation, but states that a certificate does not give a pilot a free pass for the duration of the document. It is the pilot’s responsibility to recognize when they are not fit to fly and remove themselves from the task until they are healthy. It also points out that pilots are increasingly testing positive for over­the­counter sedating medications. It is essential that pilots understand the effects of OTC medications and, for those medications with sedating or impairing side effects, follow FAA guidance or talk with their medical professionals to determine when they are medically fit to return to flying.
Operating aircraft requires full cognitive and physical capabilities, and pertains not only to pilots, but also maintenance personnel and other aviation safety­ critical functions.
End Alcohol and Other Drug Impairment
As mentioned earlier, many drugs (including OTC drugs) have impairing side effects, and the NTSB notes that determining the relationship between a drug’s presence in the body and an individual’s ability to operate an airplane is very complex.
A 2014 NTSB report, “Drug Use Trends in Aviation: Assessing the Risk of Pilot Impairment,” showed increasing trends in pilots’ use of all drugs – potentially impairing drugs, drugs used to treat potentially impairing
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8 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JANUARY 2017