Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to your FAA questions.
You can find information about foreign medical certification and flying in the United States on our website.
The FAA requires you to update your program registration, LOA, or Operations Specification when the following information changes:
- Company name
- Certificate number
- Telephone number
- Address where your drug and alcohol testing program records are kept
- Type of safety-sensitive functions you or your employees perform
- Whether your safety-sensitive employee count changes from 50 or more to 49 or fewer)
To make changes to your Operations Specification, please contact your FAA Principal Operations Inspector (POI) or Principal Maintenance Inspector (PMI). To make changes to your LOA, please contact the Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) who issued your LOA and provide the updated information. To change the information on your program registration, please submit your amended registration form to the Drug Abatement Division at drugabatement@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 website to learn more about the program.
Applicable Regulations:
We realize that you may select more employees than necessary to prevent under-testing in the event that someone is excused. However, this practice may lead to a liberal excusal policy, which is not appropriate. Instead of using alternates, the best practice would be to recalculate the number of selections needed following each testing period to ensure that the minimum annual rate is met.
It is important for you to have a consistent policy in place that addresses this issue to ensure that each individual is treated fairly.
For more information regarding best practices for random testing, please visit the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Web site for a copy of the DOT publication "Best Practices for DOT Random Drug and Alcohol Testing".
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 Medical Review Officer (MRO) is required to report medical information they have learned as part of the verification process if, in their reasonable medical judgment, they determine that this information indicates that continued performance of safety-sensitive duties by an employee is likely to pose a significant safety risk. Although it is up to each employer to decide what action, if any, to take based on the information provided by an MRO, the MRO may advise the employer to have the employee evaluated by a physician or occupational medicine physician. If the employee is medically certificated by the FAA, the MRO should report the safety concern to the Federal Air Surgeon.
Employees who have concerns regarding how the use of any medication may affect their performance of safety-sensitive duties and/or their future Department of Transportation drug test results should consult their physicians, an occupational medical physician, or their employer's MRO.
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 Regulation:
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
You can find information about who must hold a medical certificate on our website.