The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is recommending that the country's Civil Aviation Safety Authority and transport department look at the safety benefits of introducing a drug and alcohol testing programme, writes Emma Kelly.
Unlike in the USA and several European countries, there is no existing drug and alcohol testing programme applicable to aviation safety-sensitive personnel in Australia and no plans to include one in the country's new aviation safety regulations. Previous attempts to introduce random checks have met opposition.
The ATSB's recommendation follows its investigation into the September 2002 crash of a Piper Cherokee Six. The aircraft, on a passenger charter flight, crashed following a low-altitude stall after take-off from Hamilton Island, Queensland, resulting in the deaths of five passengers and the pilot.
Although the aircraft was fitted with an engine not specified in the aircraft type certificate data, it was found to have been capable of producing the required power output. The ATSB says that there was no evidence that fuel contamination, the amount of fuel carried, structural failure or meteorological conditions were factors.
Instead, the ATSB found that the pilot had an 81mg/100ml (0.081%) blood alcohol level compared with Queensland's limit for drivers of 50mg/100ml. The presence of cannaboids was also detected.
The bureau says: "There was insufficient evidence to definitively link the pilot's prior intake of alcohol/and or cannabis with the occurrence.
"However, the adverse effects on pilot performance of post-alcohol impairment, recent cannabis use and fatigue could not be discounted as contributory factors."
Source: Flight International
