The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) says it has implemented enhanced medical monitoring of pilots diagnosed with an alcohol or drug dependency; as a result the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Monday it is satisfied that the FAA has met the terms of a 2007 safety recommendation.
“Recommendations to change inadequate safety systems can and will save lives, which is why we push so long for some particularly impactful safety improvements like this one,” NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said.
The NTSB issued safety recommendation A-07-43 on June 25, 2007, in the aftermath of its investigations of “a number of aircraft accidents in which the … FAA had information to indicate, and was or should have been aware, that the pilot had a history of substance dependence, and in which the pilot’s substance dependence was relevant to the cause of the accident.”
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