Drug Testing
 

On a recent AA flight JFK MIA, I inadvertently overheard bits and pieces of a rather frank galley conversation where the topic of drug testing was being discussed by several FAs.

Does anyone know if FAs are required to submit to drug testing?

If so, is it simply used for pre-employment screening?

Or, is it used randomly as a condition for continuing employment?

Are pilots subject to the same drug testing?

FAA requires it. See:

http://www.nortonmedical.com/index.p...ine_Chautauqua

American Airlines? Perhaps TravelBuzz? :)

Anyone in a safety-sensitive position including pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, some other ground positions, etc are subject to random testing. Pre-employment testing is a pre-requisite to employment as well.

Pre-employment testing, as well as DOT-mandated periodic, random and incident-driven testing, if memory serves, thanks to the cannabis-smoking idiot who crashed a passenger train some years back.

"The Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991 requires drug and alcohol testing of safety-sensitive transportation employees in aviation, trucking, railroads, mass transit, pipelines and other transportation industries. DOT publishes rules on who must conduct drug and alcohol tests, how to conduct those tests and what procedures to use when testing. These regulations cover all transportation employers, safety-sensitive transportation employees and service agents -roughly 12.1 million people. Encompassed in 49 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 40, the Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy & Compliance (ODAPC) publishes, implements and provides authoritative interpretations of these rules."

AA, as a transportation employer, certainly fills the bill...

I had never thought about drug testing for FAs on AA before, but when I heard some of their candid remarks:

"...I have some real concerns about passing the test right now..."
"...It is not really as random as it should be given the 3 weeks notice..."
"...More of a problem for the younger FAs based on what they test for..."
"...You are not as likely to be tested if you are doing a "standup" or a "lean to"

Not sure what a "standup" or "lean to" means, but hopefully it has nothing to do with drugs!

Oh, the excuses one hears as well... "I ate a lot of poppy seed rolls for dinner...", "I was at a party in the enclosed cabin of a small sailboat, it was raining, and though some were passing a big joint around, I didn't smoke any...", and of course there's the tried "I didn't inhale." :rolleyes:

Maybe a standup or a lean-to is about how one gives the sample? Or they test when the stand-up can't anymore and begins to lean-to (probable cause)?

On a slightly more serious vein, maybe the three-week notification was actually for a periodic, and not a random?

The 3 weeks seem to have something to do with the time it takes to grow your hair and cut it, removing trace evidence...

The "standups" and "lean tos" seem to have something to do with the amount of time in the air or on the ground doing exactly what I am not sure...

If someone can speak more knowledgeably about all this, please chime in...

THC, the active ingredient in pot, takes 3-4 weeks to be expunged from lipid tissue (body fat)

The FAA started drug testing prior to that, more as a part of the bogus "War on Drugs." It's far cheaper to address a perceived safety concern than the real safety issues in the aviation industry. They later added alcohol testing (what's ironic about this is they generally test pilots and FAs AFTER a flight, not before. Go figure). Individual airlines may do additional testing of employees. I don't have the stats handy, but it's seldom an ATC or a pilot gets a true positive for drugs (I can think of three positives at a 350-controller ATC center in 20 years). FAs more often test positive, but they also have less to lose financially.

The FAA's own flight examiner at my husband's facility tested himself after eating a poppy seed bagel and tested positive for opiates.

FAA tests are urine tests, not hair tests, and yes it takes 3-4 weeks for marijuana to leave one's system (longer for very heavy users). We consume a lot of hemp, and I know that can show up. The FAA budget's been slim for drug testing though so we may never find out what happens there.

I'm assuming the stand-up and lean-to comments may refer to collection techniques females use. :confused:

The Mythbusters guys did a test with poppyseeds. They both tested positive for opiates for 24 hours or so after consumption.

Oh god you guys, a stand-up is a redeye flight turn segment.

Ah, that makes sense. I don't think the FAA drug testers have ever shown up on a mid-shift (overnighter) either.

But what's a lean-to?

Stand-ups, lean-tos, naps, CDOs... all names for working the last fight out and then the first flight back in the morning with usualy less than 8 hours between the two flights. If you go to the hotel at all, you are generally there for only a few hours. These trips are favoured by those who work a second job, and generally avoided like the plague by most crew members.

We're all subject to pre-employment drug screening (this includes being re-tested after an extended leave of absence before returning to work), random screening (there is no advance notice for this - the tester will randomly show up to meet your aircraft at the gate and will escort the testee to the clinic), screening after suspected/reported problems, and screening after occupational injuries or incidents (as example in the case of FA's, drug/alcohol screening might be required after an inadvertant slide deployment).

Glad to learn that "standups" and "lean-tos" are not "collection techniques females use", but what on earth are CDOs?!