Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to your FAA questions.
To facilitate your inspection, it is important that your Designated Employer Representative (DER) can describe and discuss your company’s federal testing program and provide the documentation requested by the FAA’s drug and alcohol compliance and enforcement inspector. The FAA’s drug and alcohol testing program inspection process and authority is described in Drug and Alcohol Compliance and Enforcement Surveillance Handbook Order 9120.1. We encourage you to review the Order prior to your inspection to understand how the process works and contact the inspector assigned to your company if you have any questions. To start the process of an announced inspection, the FAA’s Drug Abatement Division will send you a Letter of Notification, Point of Contact (POC) form, and a list of documents to make available for inspection. Our inspection guide, available in Order 9120.1 and on our Sample Forms and Policies webpage, will describe the questions we ask and records we review. To facilitate our inspection, we request that you return the POC form with your contact information and the information about your service agents (e.g., Medical Review Officer, collection personnel, Substance Abuse Professional, and Consortium/Third Party Administrator). If our inspection will include a review or visit with your service agent (including your Medical Review Officer, collection facility, Substance Abuse Professional, and Consortium/Third Party Administrator), the inspection lead will let you know. We appreciate your assistance in facilitating our visit(s).
In accordance with 49 CFR § 40.331, you and your service agent must release all written, printed, and computer-based records and reports, files, materials, data, documents/documentation, agreements, contracts, policies, and statements related to your drug and alcohol program. During our inspection, our inspector may also need to review some of the following types of records:
- Employment records for each safety-sensitive employee (e.g., records of hire, transfer or termination, and applications or resumes)
- Documentation of your safety-sensitive positions (e.g., position descriptions)
- Documentation of an employee’s performance of a safety-sensitive function (e.g., flight logs, duty records, timesheets, work orders, invoices, receipts, and other maintenance records)
At the conclusion of our inspection, we will conduct an outbriefing and advise you of the result of our inspection. If your inspection results in no findings, we will conclude our inspection and send you a formal closeout letter. If we discover any issues that indicate a deviation from 14 CFR part 120 or 49 CFR part 40, we will send you a Report of Inspection (ROI). The ROI will give you an opportunity to provide a detailed description of your corrective actions to return to full compliance and avoid recurrence, as well as providing documentation of the actions you took. Although your timely and sufficient response is not required, it is critical to demonstrating your willingness and ability to comply under our Compliance Program (outlined in FAA Order 8000.373 and Order 2150.3).
As a best practice, we encourage you to use our inspection guide to conduct your own program audits, including your service agent(s), on an annual or bi-annual basis to ensure continued compliance with 14 CFR part 120 or 49 CFR part 40. If you find discrepancies in your program, we encourage you to consider submitting a voluntary disclosure report in accordance with Advisory Circular 120-117.
If you have any further questions or need additional guidance that is more specific to your situation, please contact the FAA Drug Abatement Division at (202) 267-8442 or drugabatement@faa.gov.
Please visit our website to learn more about our program.
Applicable Regulations:
The FAA drug and alcohol testing regulation (14 CFR part 120) does not apply when an individual self-discloses a substance abuse problem to his or her employer before a violation of the regulations has occurred. As a result of such a disclosure, there are no specific tests or processes required under the regulation. Any testing or action that may occur as a result must be done under a company's authority and policy independent of the regulation.
If, however, an employee self-reports a substance abuse problem after being notified of an FAA-mandated test, the employee must be tested. Failure to do so will result in a refusal, which has serious consequences.
Please be aware that if this individual holds a part 67 medical certificate issued by the FAA, there are further requirements for the airman to return to duty. Under this circumstance, the airman must contact his or her local Regional Flight Surgeon for further information.
If you have any further questions or need additional guidance that is more specific to your situation, please contact the FAA Drug Abatement Division at (202) 267-8442 or drugabatement@faa.gov.
Please visit our website to learn more about our program.
A test conducted by law enforcement is not regulated under 14 CFR Part 120; however, it may demonstrate a violation by the pilot of 14 CFR § 91.17. Under § 91.17, a flight crewmember is strictly prohibited from operating or attempting to operate an aircraft while having a breath alcohol concentration 0.04 or above, or while under the influence of alcohol. Although non-DOT tests like this are not required to be reported to the Federal Air Surgeon, we encourage you to report it to the Drug Abatement Division. We provide a sample form on our 'Suggested Forms & Formats' web page.
If you have any further questions or need additional guidance that is more specific to your situation, please contact the FAA Drug Abatement Division at 202-267-8442 or drugabatement@faa.gov.
Please visit our website to learn more about our program.
Applicable Regulation:
To facilitate your inspection, it is important that your Designated Employer Representative (DER) is able to describe and discuss your company’s testing program and provide the documentation requested by the FAA’s inspector. The FAA’s drug and alcohol testing program inspection process and authority is described in Drug and Alcohol Inspector Handbook Order 9120.1. We encourage you to review the Order prior to your inspection to understand how the process works and contact the inspector assigned to your company if you have any questions. To start the process of an announced inspection, the FAA’s Drug Abatement Division will send you a Letter of Notification, Point of Contact (POC) form, and a list of documents to make available for inspection. Our inspection guide, available in Order 9120.1 and on our Sample Forms and Policies web page, will describe the questions we ask and records for review. To facilitate our inspection, we request that you return the POC form with your contact information and the information about your service agents (e.g., Medical Review Officer, collection personnel, Substance Abuse Professional, and Consortium/Third Party Administrator). If our inspection will include a review or visit with your service agent, the inspection lead will let you know. We appreciate your assistance in facilitating our visit(s).
In accordance with 49 CFR § 40.331, you must release all written, printed, and computer-based records and reports, files, materials, data, documents/documentation, agreements, contracts, policies, and statements related to your drug and alcohol program. During our inspection, our inspector may also need to review some of the following types of records:
- Employment records (e.g., records of hire, transfer or termination, and applications or resumes)
- Documentation of your safety-sensitive positions (e.g., position descriptions)
- Documentation of an employee’s performance of a safety-sensitive function (e.g., flight logs, duty records, timesheets, work orders, invoices, receipts and other maintenance records)
At the conclusion of our inspection, we will conduct an outbriefing and advise you of the result of our inspection. If you have no issues, we will conclude our inspection. If we discover any deviations from the regulation, we will send you a Report of Inspection (ROI). The ROI will give you an opportunity to provide a detailed description of your corrective actions to return to full compliance and avoid recurrence, as well as providing documentation of the actions you took. Although your timely and sufficient response is not required, it is critical to demonstrating your willingness and ability to comply under our Compliance Program (which is defined in FAA Order 8000.373 and Order 2150.3).
As a best practice, we encourage you to use our inspection guide to conduct your own program audits, including your service agent(s), on an annual or bi-annual basis to ensure continued compliance with the FAA and DOT regulations (14 CFR part 120 and 49 CFR part 40). If you find discrepancies in your program, consider submitting a voluntary disclosure report in accordance with Advisory Circular 120-117.
If you have any further questions or need additional guidance that is more specific to your situation, please contact the FAA Drug Abatement Division at (202) 267-8442 or drugabatement@faa.gov.
Please visit our website to learn more about our program.
Applicable Regulations:
General aviation operations conducted under 14 CFR Part 91 are not subject to flight and duty time and rest requirements, except flight instruction (14 CFR Section 61.195) and fractional ownership operations (14 CFR Part 91 Subpart K).
Commercial crewmember flight time and duty period limitations and rest requirements are described in 14 CFR Part 135 Subpart F or 14 CFR Part 121, Subpart Q, Subpart R, or Subpart S, depending on the type of operation.
Certificated air carriers and operators should contact their FAA principal inspector for further questions about flight and duty time and crew rest.
In most cases, if you have a scheduled duty period of 14 hours or less, you must have at least nine consecutive hours of scheduled rest after your duty period before you have another duty period. However, under certain circumstances, our regulations allow a rest period of only eight consecutive hours. If your employer schedules you for an eight hour rest period, your next rest period must be at least 10 consecutive hours and must begin no later than 24 hours after the beginning of the eight hour rest period.
You can find additional guidance on our Cabin Safety Legal Interpretations website.
The Federal drug and alcohol testing regulations under 49 CFR part 40 and 14 CFR part 120 require you to maintain the following records for the minimum retention periods noted:
- You must retain the following for a minimum of 5 years:
- Alcohol test results of 0.02 or greater.
- Verified positive drug test results.
- Refusal to test determinations, including substituted or adulterated drug test results.
- Records related to other violations of 14 CFR §§ 120.19 or 120.37, including on-duty use, pre-duty use, or use following an accident.
- Records of notification to the FAA’s Drug Abatement Division of refusals to submit to testing by employees or applicants that hold a part 61, 63, 65 airman certificate.
- Records of notification to the FAA’s Federal Air Surgeon of violations by employees or applicants that hold a part 67 airman medical certificates.
- Documentation of employees' disputes of alcohol test results.
- Referrals to the SAP.
- Return-to-duty records, including the SAP referral, evaluation reports, follow-up testing plan, return-to-duty test result, and all follow-up test results.
- Annual Management Information System (MIS) reports submitted to the FAA.
- All historical drug and alcohol records reported to the Pilot Records Database (PRD) under 14 CFR § 111.255 after reporting the records.
- You must retain records of information obtained from previous employers concerning drug and alcohol test results of employees for a minimum of 3 years.
- You must retain the following for a minimum of 2 years:
- Documents generated in connection with decisions to administer reasonable suspicion alcohol tests.
- Documents generated in connection with decisions on post-accident alcohol tests.
- Documents verifying the existence of medical explanations of the inability of a covered employee to provide adequate breath for testing.
- Materials on alcohol misuse awareness, including a copy of your policy.
- Documentation that demonstrates the distribution of required alcohol educational materials.
- Documentation of training provided to employees and supervisors, and the training materials.
- Records of inspection, maintenance, and calibration of evidential breath testing devices.
- Documentation related to the random selection process, including but not limited to:
- Listing of safety-sensitive employees in the random pool prior to each selection;
- The actual random selection list each time selections are made;
- The employer copy of the custody and control forms from the random testing;
- This may or may not include the verified result, which is maintained based on the result.
- You must retain records of negative and cancelled drug test results and alcohol test results of less than 0.02 for a minimum of 1 year.
You are permitted to maintain your drug and alcohol records electronically; however, they must be easily accessible, legible, formatted, and stored in an organized and reviewable manner. If your electronic records do not meet these criteria, you must convert them to printed documentation in a rapid and readily auditable manner at the request of Department of Transportation (DOT) agency personnel. The DOT’s Q&A reiterates that an employer or service agent is obligated to make the records available expeditiously to a DOT representative, regardless of how the records are maintained.
More information about the Federal drug and alcohol record keeping requirements are explained in the DOT’s Employer Record Keeping Requirements Document.
If you have any further questions or need additional guidance that is more specific to your situation, please contact the FAA Drug Abatement Division at (202) 267-8442 or drugabatement@faa.gov.
Please visit our website to learn more about the program
Applicable Regulations:
14 CFR §120.113(d)(6)
14 CFR §120.219(a)(2)(i) and (ii)
14 CFR 111.255(e)
The FAA’s drug and alcohol testing regulation, 14 CFR part 120, requires an employer or its Medical Review Officer (MRO) to report the following drug and alcohol test results to the FAA within 2 working days of the verified, confirmed, or refusal result:
- All verified positive drug test results or refusals to submit to test for individuals that hold or would be required to hold an airman medical certificate issued under 14 CFR part 67;
- All alcohol misuse violations (including a confirmed result with a breath alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater; on-duty use; pre-duty use; use following an accident; or refusal to test) for individuals that hold or would be required to hold an airman medical certificate issued under 14 CFR part 67;
- All refusals to submit to drug or alcohol testing for individuals that hold a certificate issued under 14 CFR part 61, 63, or 65.
Although not required, an employer may report other individuals who have a verified positive drug test result, alcohol misuse violation (including a confirmed alcohol result of 0.04 or greater; on-duty use; pre-duty use; or use following an accident), or refusal of a DOT/FAA drug or alcohol test. The Drug Abatement Division provides sample forms to report any of the above information.
If the employee is a pilot, an employer must enter the violation into the Pilot Records Database (PRD) in accordance with 14 CFR part 111, § 111.220. For more information, please review our related FAQ. If you have questions about the PRD or need help accessing the system, please contact the FAA’s PRD support office at 9-amc-avs-PRDSupport@faa.gov.
If you have any further questions or need additional guidance that is more specific to your situation, please contact the FAA’s Drug Abatement Division at (202) 267-8442 or drugabatement@faa.gov.
Please visit our Web site to learn more about our program.
Applicable Regulations:
14 CFR § 120.111(d)
14 CFR § 120.113(d)
14 CFR § 120.221(c) and (d)
14 CFR § 111.220