Pilot error, what gives?

Question

With recent plane crashes due to pilot error, I'm wondering about the regulations regarding pilot testing.
Does anyone know how often pilots are screened for alcohol and/or drug use? Is it before every flight?
Or just performed randomly?
Please, no one take offence, I'm just curious.

Answer 1

Pilot error is a VERY old-fashioned term (still used by the media) which air accident investigators would use in the infancy of the industry when sophisticated human factors investigation was non-existent.

Incidents in passenger flying are caused by a whole series of cumulative problems which very rarely occur, and all of us currently undertake extensive training to monitor such occasions. Flying has never been safer in its history, and never has the gap between flying safety and driving been as pronounced.

Airline Pilots are NOT a bunch of drunks (contrary to popular media opinion). We are a true elite, highly professional and very highly-trained, who have to practice their skills every six months in a simulator, are subject to medical checks every six months, (that's not including random drug and alcohol checks). We enjoy a privileged position, being highly paid, able to enjoy travelling the world, and are therefore generally not stupid enough to jeopardise that position by drinking before work.

Be aware, the pilots drink/drive limit is 20% that of the drink/drive limit, yet how worried are you about having a friend drive you home who "just had one"? If you are going to suffer injury or death at the hands of a drunk, it is 800,000 times more likely to be a driver than a pilot.

Answer 2

Kudos to Ranjeeh D, Super Flyer Guy, and Jason for their great answers!

"Pilot Error" is outdated terminology, and reflects a lack on knowledge on the part of the user.

Aviation is a very complex system, which has millions of factors interacting at any given moment. The flight crews (pilots) control only a tiny fragment of that system. Pilots are often blamed because they did something, or failed to do something, which would have otherwise saved the aircraft from all the other factors which would have caused an accident. Pilots represent the last line of defense in an extremely complicated series of system defenses against accidents. In an analogy to sports, pilots are like the goalkeeper. They might have been able to stop the opposing team from scoring by their actions, but you cannot simply blame them and forget all their teammates when you evaluate the loss.

To illustrated the complexity of the aviation safety system, let's take the example of Air Ontario Flight #1363, which crashed on March 10, 1989 in Dryden, Canada. In the old days, the crash would have been blamed on pilot error, and written off. While there is no doubt that the flight crew ultimately contributed to the accident, this is incomplete does nothing to improve the system or prevent future accidents. The final report actually found a total of 191 causes and contributing factors to this crash. That's 191 things in the accident chain that led to this crash. When you start to fix the 190 things besides the "pilot error" that caused the crash, you actually make the system safer.

And let us not forget, aviation is safest form of vehicular tranportation in the history of mankind!

Answer 3

How many auto accidents are caused by driver error? Nearly all. It is very rare for a mechanical break to occur in a car that would case an accident. Even blown tires in many cases could be avoided.

The thing is, a car is moving maybe 80 miles an hour a road. Most accidents are caused at much lower speeds. Again, all are caused on the ground.

I don't want to fall from 100 feet, much less a few thousand. Autos are simply more safe to have an accident in than an aircraft.

As for drugs and alcohol, unless they work for a company, they are screened about as often as any driver. They do however, need an annual flight physical. If they work for a company, they are screened as often as the company and the pilot's union have negociated for.

Answer 4

The term "Pilot Error" is a catch-all term that gets thrown around on media outlets like Fox and CNN. It makes it seem as though the pilot screwed up and accidentally crashed a plane instead of flying it...its a VAST oversimplification of a very complex string of errors that cause nearly every crash. There are typically many other factors involved beyond the "one mistake" that led to the actual crash.

The most recent US crash (Comair) was stated in the media as pilot error because the pilot took off from the wrong runway (and they did, I'm not trying to excuse them). But in actuality, the pilots had been up all night on what we refer to as a "stand-up" (you spend all night awake but not flying...maybe get like 5 hours time off between flights but its not enough to be rested) the runways and taxiways were improperly marked, the taxiway diagrams were wrong, and runway lighting was inoperative, only one controller was on duty, and many other factors I probably dont even know about.

While pilots certainly do make mistakes, and the consequences of those mistakes can be deadly, there is usually a very complex back-story that explains *why* that particular mistake proves fatal rather than the countless other mistakes that get caught in time and never amount to anything.

Also, contrary to popular belief, we are not all alcoholic drug-users that spend all night getting tanked then show up in the morning to work with a hangover. Almost every pilots is aware of the ramifications of drinking and flying, and we do everything in our power to keep flights safe. While sometimes pilots are caught and this tends to make the national media, it is extremely rare that any pilot would do such a thing, and if they ever do they are immediately shunned by the rest of us that actualy give a crap. To answer your question, we are not tested every day. What we have is a random testing policy that also tests post-incident and with any "due cause." So if anyone so much as suspects that I had been drinking, they could insist on me being tested. This happens sometimes with TSA (Thousands Standing Around) when they suspect a pilot who is going through screening has been drinking, but rarely turns out to be true.

Answer 5

Firstly, any investigation that finds 'pilot error' as the only cause would be an incompetent investigation. Many airlines have testing, although I'm not aware of any in the western world that test every crew member before every flight.

The best safeguard is to have a "whole of airline" approach to safety, that would pick up these issues.

If a pilot crashed a commercial plane due to overuse of alcohol, one of the primary causal factors would have to be unsound practices in the airline.

Answer 6

i really hate the term Pilot Error, because it is used as a blanket excuse for accidents. The reason for this is that the pilot is ultimately IN CHARGE, even though his company policies may make it impossible for him to exercise his authority as aircraft captain. Sometimes really weird situations come up and they conveniently blame it on Pilot error because he is charged with knowing all, expecting the unexpected and being able to deal with a billion different scenarios. CERTAINLY there are situations where you have to shake your head and wonder "What was he thinking" But I sure would like to see The end of using the pilot as a scapegoat when there are legitimate reasons which brought down the aircraft. I do beleive that pilots do their best, after all, their butt is in that airplane too.

Answer 7

I don't know any answers to your questions, but just answered another question from you about an upcoming flight.
Please, don't psych yourself out about flying. You'll be fine. I'm not sure what crashes you're referring to but most of the ones I've seen in the news lately have been small private planes. The airlines are much more heavily regulated and have far more stringent rules for their pilots. There's far too much money at stake for the airlines and the economy for either the government or the companies involved to be lax about this. You may be able to go to your carriers website and find out what their procedures are.

Answer 8

FAA requires a drug screen at each physical as well as random multiple screenings per year. Seems as though I've heard recently about Homeland Security screeners catching a few as they pass through the airport screening system... maybe pilots ought to have a breath screener read their BAC levels before every flight... just to be safe !

Answer 9

I have had my Commercial Pilot's Certificate since 2000 and I have never been tested for drugs or alcohol. I was never tested to obtain my First Class Medical Certificate. The medical exams are a joke. They reserve the right to test you whenever they want (random testing), and if you are in an accident or incident you can be subject to testing.

Answer 10

I never heard a commercial aircraft crashing due to the pilot been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. but i know they do random testing for both of them... and if anyone gets cought... bye bye to their only trained carrer.