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:
An instructional kit is available at most flight schools to help prepare the knowledge exam. Video tapes are also available (with closed captioning) to assist student pilots studying for the exam. Many flight schools also conduct ground instruction in a regular classroom scenario, but you would have to advise the flight school that it would have to locate and arrange for interpreters under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The IDPA or local deaf advocate organizations would be able to assist the flight school in locating interpreters. Again, check with your local FSDO for flight schools in your area.
You can find information on how to record an aircraft claim of lien on our website.
If you are scanning the information, typically reducing the resolution to 150-200 dpi should keep the document legible while keeping the file size small.
If the document is already saved as PDF, try reducing the file size of a PDF simply by using the File > Compress a PDF, or File > Save As Other > Reduced Size PDF. (See Adobe's Saving PDFs )
It’s a good idea to check the device (scanner, cell phone, etc.) or application you are using to see if there is a way to establish settings that will make all documents and images smaller.
You can find information about registering an aircraft purchased outside of the U.S. on our website.
You can find information about registering an amateur-built aircraft on our website.
You can find information to register your aircraft on our Aircraft Registration website.
You can contact your nearest FAA Flight Standards District Office about replacement of lost or stolen airworthiness certificates.
You can contact your nearest FAA Flight Standards District Office about replacement of lost or stolen airworthiness certificates.
You can find information to replace your student pilot license on our website.
To report a voluntary disclosure issue of noncompliance under the federal drug and alcohol testing regulations outlined in 14 CFR part 120 and 49 CFR part 40, an employer or contractor should follow the FAA’s Advisory Circular, AC 120-117, Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program for Apparent Violations of the Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulations, dated December 20, 2017.
The voluntary disclosure report should be sent directly to the FAA’s Drug Abatement Division at drugabatement@faa.gov and include the written initial notification and information outlined in Appendix A of AC 120-117.
Please note that a management official and program manager (either the Designated Employer Representative (DER) or Alcohol and Drug Program Manager) must sign all program-related disclosure reports.
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
To report a safety concern, please contact your area's Flight Standards District Office (FSDO).
To locate your area's FSDO's contact information, visit: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/field_offices/fsdo/.
To report a Suspected Unapproved Part (SUP), contact our 24-Hour Safety Hotline at (800) 255-1111 or visit our website to submit a report to the FAA Hotline office.
You can report or submit a claim for stolen, lost or missing items on the Transportation Security Administration's website.
We recommend you notify your local law enforcement to make a police report. This would prevent any further action and will cover you in the event that the stolen drone happens to be used in illegal activity in the future. You should then de-register your UAS as follows:
- Recreational flyers: If you registered your drone at FAADroneZone, log in to your account and you will see your registration number, right below it (in far left column) you will see the option to "Cancel".
- Part 107 flyers: If you registered your drone at FAADroneZone, log in to your account and go to "Manage sUAS Inventory". Next, beside the drone you want to cancel are three small vertical dots, select those dots and there you will have the option to "Cancel".
Still can't find what you are looking for? Please feel free to contact the UAS Support Center for general questions and comments.
You can request (or petition) for an exemption from any rule issued by FAA under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) by:
- Following the instruction in 14 CFR Part 11, or
- Visiting our Petition for Exemption or Rulemaking website.
Is there a way to request permission electronically? Can I contact my local air traffic control tower or facility directly to request airspace permission?
All airspace authorization must be made through the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) or FAADroneZone.
Still can't find what you are looking for? Please feel free to contact the UAS Support Center for general questions and comments.
To report accidents in accordance with reporting requirements in the Part 107 rule via FAADroneZone. Accident reports may also be made by contacting your nearest FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO).
Still can't find what you are looking for? Please feel free to contact the UAS Support Center for general questions and comments.
If you are the AME who performed the exam or a staff member authorized to transmit for the AME who performed the exam, you can upload documents to the most recently transmitted exam. Go to the AMCS Search Applicants screen and search for your airman. Once you find the airman, look at the Found Exam(s) for Selected Applicant section located at the bottom of the screen. You will see an Upload Document icon 
in the Actions column on the far-right side of the screen. Select this icon to upload documents.
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.