Toxicology reports over the last two decades show sharp increase drug use among pilots and in drug mixing, as well. More pilots involved in airplane crashes are testing positive for drugs, according to an analysis of toxicology reports going back twenty years by the National Transportation Safety Board.Rico says, yeah, but they're only testing the dead ones...
According to the draft report released recently, in 1990 just ten percent of pilots involved in crashes tested positive for one drug, compared to forty percent in 2012. Drug mixing— which can be an especially dangerous and unpredictable way to consume drugs— has been on the rise as well.
The study crunched the numbers on toxicology reports from nearly seven thousand pilots who were killed in airplane crashes between 1990 and 2012. The study looked at the use of both legal and illegal drugs and found increases in the use of all drugs.
Alcohol was not considered in the study.
The most commonly used drug that can cause impairment was diphenhydramine, a sedative antihistamine used in cold medicine and other related applications. Few pilots tested positive for illegal drugs, the report says, but the percentage of pilots who tested positive for marijuana increased over the study period, mostly in the last ten years.
Because the vast majority of airplane crashes involve non-commercial flights, more than ninety percent of the pilots tested were private pilots rather than commercial air carrier pilots.
10 September 2014
Idiots for the day
Denver Nicks has a Time article about stupid people, flying:
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