Pilots should face impaired tests: TSB

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, 2005, in the mountains north of Vancouver. Four other fatal crashes since 2009, three involving commercial operators, had drugs or alcohol as a contributing factor, said Fox, who added it was time to learn lessons from the latest disaster. The B. C. Coroners Service had reported that pilot Robert Brandt had a blood- alcohol level of three times the legal limit for driving. Brandt, 34, was captain of the twin- engined Swearingen cargo aircraft operated by Carson Air. First officer Kevin Wang, 32, also died, but did not have any drugs or alcohol in his system. The safety board said the crew did not declare an emergency before the aircraft dropped to 900 metres from 2,400 metres in less than 20 seconds. Other countries, including the United States and Australia, have found mandatory drug and alcohol testing are most effective along with education, employee- assistance programs, rehabilitation, return- to- duty programs and peer support, Fox said.