TSB says pilots should be tested for alcohol and drug use to prevent crashes
VANCOUVER — The airline industry and Transport Canada should develop a program requiring pilots to be tested for drugs and alcohol, the Transportation Safety Board said Thursday after releasing a report into a crash that killed two people.
Board chairwoman Kathy Fox called on both sides to work with employee representatives to implement a program that would protect public safety. She added that self-policing by the industry has not worked, so the issue of impairment will continue to go unrecognized and unreported.
“What’s needed is something more, especially for safety-sensitive positions where, to be plain, people’s lives could be at stake,” she told a news conference.
“Alcohol impairment almost certainly played a role,” Fox said of the cargo plane crash on April 13, 2015, in the mountains north of Vancouver.