More than six years after the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board urged the Federal Aviation Administration to develop guidance for air tour and charter operators on how to identify intoxicated or impaired passengers, the FAA has instead shifted that responsibility onto operators through an Information For Operators (InFO) published on Jan. 13.
The document, which is advisory rather than mandatory in nature, is aimed at part 135 operators as well as part 91 operators authorized to conduct limited commercial air tours.
Passengers in these operations are sometimes seated close to the aircraft controls and may interfere with them either accidentally or intentionally — a safety risk that is greater if passengers are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the FAA states.
The InFO encourages operators to work through their safety management systems (SMS) to develop training for flight crew members on how to identify and prevent boarding of impaired or intoxicated passengers, along with safety policies supporting flight crew assessments and appropriate reporting procedures.
The FAA says it is “imperative” that flight crew members be able to identify impaired or intoxicated passengers “because their behavior is unpredictable,” and “past aviation accidents have shown that carrying intoxicated or impaired passengers can be a contributing factor.”
The FAA confirmed to Vertical that the InFO responds to a 2019 NTSB recommendation related to the crash that killed five FlyNYON passengers on a doors-off helicopter photo tour the previous year.
All five were wearing supplemental harnesses for the flight in an Airbus AS350 B2 operated by Liberty Helicopters, which lost engine power and made a forced landing to New York City’s East River after the tether attached to the front seat passenger’s harness snagged on the fuel shutoff lever.
The helicopter overturned in the water due to incomplete inflation of its emergency floats; with no easy way to release their harnesses, the passengers drowned.
Post-mortem testing revealed that the front seat passenger was intoxicated by alcohol, and witnesses said he showed evidence of alcohol consumption before the flight. The NTSB did not link the passenger’s drinking to his inadvertent activation of the fuel shut-off lever, reasoning that his exaggerated movements during the flight “could have been performed by an enthusiastic but sober passenger.”
Nevertheless, the board said it was “concerned that in other situations, a passenger’s behavior while intoxicated or impaired could lead to interference with the controls or the pilot’s operation of the aircraft.”
The NTSB recommended that the FAA “develop guidance on how to identify intoxicated or impaired passengers, and distribute it to operators who carry passengers for hire” under part 91 and part 135. In official correspondence to the NTSB in 2020, the FAA said it would “consider developing new guidance” along these lines.
However, the agency abandoned the idea after a few years, telling the NTSB in 2023 that “after further review of current FAA guidance, we do not believe additional guidance to identify intoxicated or impaired passengers would create the added value intended by the recommendation.”
The FAA pointed to existing Federal Aviation Regulations that prohibit pilots from carrying anyone who appears to be intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, as well as the requirement that flight attendants receive training on how to recognize intoxicated passengers. The agency concluded it had “effectively responded” to the NTSB’s recommendation and considered its actions complete.
Unsurprisingly, the NTSB disagreed. “Although the regulations define pilots’ responsibility to deny intoxicated or impaired passengers to board an aircraft, they do not include guidance on effective ways of identifying intoxicated or impaired passengers,” the board wrote back, adding that flight attendant training was irrelevant to the FlyNYON flight, which — like most helicopter operations — did not have any flight attendants on board. Since that letter in 2024, the NTSB has characterized the recommendation as “open – unacceptable response.”
With its new InFO, the FAA still does not provide any guidance on how to recognize or manage intoxicated or impaired passengers.
Instead, the agency says operators have the ability through their SMS to “identify safety hazards related to individuals who may be impaired or intoxicated, and employ methods, techniques and procedures specific to their operation, to effectively control safety risks appropriate to their operation.”
This vague and limited wording stands in striking contrast to another InFO issued by the FAA on Jan. 22, which recommends that part 91 and part 135 operators develop enhanced training for pilots on spatial disorientation — a response to a different NTSB recommendation stemming from the 2020 crash that killed basketball star Kobe Bryant.
That InFO suggests specific types of training and special emphasis areas and includes a list of resources that operators can consult to learn more.
When Vertical asked the FAA about its lack of detailed guidance related to impaired or intoxicated passengers, the agency replied: “Each operator faces unique challenges due to the diversity of passenger-carrying services. Therefore, the FAA has not provided blanket guidance for how companies can prevent impaired or intoxicated passengers from boarding their aircraft. We believe operators, using their SMS, are in the best position to identify and address safety hazards related to impaired or intoxicated passengers and to train their personnel on the organization’s procedures and policies.”
Putting pilots on the spot
The FlyNYON crash gave rise to a long-running court battle that concluded in 2024 with a jury verdict against FlyNYON, Liberty Helicopters (which is no longer in business), and emergency float manufacturer DART Aerospace.
Deposition transcripts from that case illustrate the challenging position pilots can find themselves in when trying to establish whether a passenger is intoxicated, since people react differently to alcohol and drinking before a flight does not necessarily disqualify a passenger from boarding.
“We don’t have Breathalyzers,” one former Liberty pilot said in a 2022 deposition, contending that “unless someone is stumbling drunk and covered in piss and whiskey” it can be difficult to distinguish between someone who is intoxicated and someone who is simply excited to be going for a helicopter ride. “If I’m trying to give a safety briefing and you’re not listening, and you can’t pay attention . . . you’re out of here,” he said. “If that doesn’t happen, though, then I go, ‘Oh, the guy has had a drink or two,’ which is normal.”
He perceived that pilots could face retaliation for incorrectly judging a passenger to be intoxicated: “If I’m wrong, I’m one hundred percent f***ed and out of a job because I just kicked a passenger off a flight.”
Vertical Aviation International spokesperson Bailey Wood told Vertical that the organization is not aware of any specific guidance to help operators train pilots on how to identify and manage intoxicated or impaired passengers, which he characterized as a “scenario that is encountered primarily on commercial airplanes.”
“The guidance/training that we provide stresses that it is up to the pilot to make the decision to take off or not. And in that intimate environment a pilot is encouraged to use his best judgment,” Wood said via email.
However, some companies have developed the type of formal training and policies the FAA describes in its InFO, including the helicopter booking service Blade, which was recently acquired by the eVTOL developer Joby Aviation. Blade is not an operator but checks in and screens passengers before escorting them to their aircraft, thus serving as “a first line of defense” against intoxicated, impaired, or otherwise disruptive passengers, according to CEO Rob Wiesenthal.
“Our ground and lounge staff are trained to ensure no passengers pose any safety risk to the other passengers or the pilot and that all passengers act in a safe manner in accordance with our operators’ safety policies and the pilot’s safety briefing,” Wiesenthal told Vertical. He said Blade — which does not prohibit passengers from drinking before or during their flights — worked with two national hospitality groups to develop “Fit to Fly” training for its employees, drawing on the groups’ “experience in maintaining a safe environment in a national footprint of music festivals, venues, and restaurants.”
Ultimately, though, Blade always defers to the pilot’s judgment, as required by federal regulations, said Wiesenthal. “The pilot always makes the final determination of who can fly and who can’t fly,” he said.
