Safety
FAA Releases Go/No-go Medications List
The list was a recommendation from the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee in an effort to help address loss of control fatal accidents.

As part of the ongoing industry/FAA campaign to stem loss-of-control inflight (LOC-I) accidents, the FAA recently released a go/no-go list and safety briefing to help pilots determine the safe use of over-the-counter medications while flying. In releasing this long-awaited information, the FAA noted that a 2011 study from the FAA’s CAMI Toxicology Lab found that 42 percent of 1,353 pilots tested after fatal accidents were found with at least one of the drugs from the list in their system. Of those, 90 percent were flying under Part 91.

“We all know that some drugs may compromise a pilot’s ability to control the aircraft and/or adversely affect judgment and decision making. The difficulty comes for investigators in trying to quantify the known detriment that comes with various medications and the physical conditions that require their use,” the FAA said.