1.7 Psychoactive Substances, Alcohol & Fitness for Duty

Two rules, two Parts

Impairment is regulated twice, and the two rules bite on different people.

Nig. CARs 2.11.1.7 — Use of Psychoactive Substances binds licence holders:

• Holders shall not exercise the privileges of their licences and related ratings while under the influence of any psychoactive substance which might render them unable to safely and properly exercise those privileges.
• Holders shall not engage in any problematic use of substances.
• The Authority will ensure, as far as practicable, that licence holders who engage in problematic use are identified and removed from their safety-critical functions. Return may be considered after successful treatment, or where no treatment is necessary after cessation of the problematic use, and on a determination that continued performance is unlikely to jeopardise safety.

Nig. CARs 8.5.1.5 — Prohibition on Use of Psychoactive Substances, Including Narcotics, Drugs or Alcohol binds any person acting as a crew member, licensed or not:

No person may act or attempt to act as a crew member of a civil aircraft: within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage; while under the influence of alcohol; or while using any psychoactive substance that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety.

Note the three limbs. The eight-hour rule is absolute and arithmetical. The "under the influence" limb is independent of it — a crew member who drank heavily nine hours before report may satisfy the first limb and still breach the second.

The definitions the examiner will use

Part 2's definitions section is precise, and questions are often drawn straight from it.

Two features are examinable. First, volatile solvents are in the list, so substances such as inhaled solvents count even though they are not drugs in the ordinary sense. Second, coffee and tobacco are expressly carved out — a favourite distractor.

Testing

Nig. CARs 8.5.1.5 also creates the testing power and the evidential chain:

• A crew member shall, up to 8 hours before or immediately after acting or attempting to act as a crew member, on the request of a law enforcement officer or the Authority, submit to a test to indicate the presence of alcohol or other psychoactive substances in the blood.
• Where there is a reasonable basis to believe a person may not be in compliance, that person shall, on request, furnish the Authority — or authorise any clinic, doctor or other person to release to the Authority — the results of each blood test taken for the presence of alcohol or narcotic substances up to 8 hours before or immediately after acting as a crew member.
• Any test information provided to the Authority under this section may be used as evidence in any legal proceeding.

Part 9 additionally requires an AOC holder to operate a testing programme for alcohol and narcotic psychoactive substances as part of its approved arrangements.

What Nig. CARs does not say

Nig. CARs sets no numerical blood alcohol concentration limit for crew members. Candidates who have trained abroad often carry a figure such as 0.02% or 0.04% in their heads from another State's rules. In a Nigerian air law answer the correct formulation is the 8-hour rule plus the prohibition on being under the influence, backed by the testing power. If an option offers a specific percentage as "the Nig. CARs limit", treat it with suspicion.

Fitness for duty in practice

Impairment is only one branch of fitness. Part 8 also requires that a flight is not commenced if a crew member is incapacitated from performing duties by any cause such as injury, sickness, fatigue, or the effects of alcohol or drugs, and is not continued beyond the nearest suitable aerodrome where a crew member's capacity is significantly reduced by impairment from causes such as fatigue, sickness or lack of oxygen.

Layer that with the medical rules from section 1.3 and the picture is complete: a Nigerian cabin crew member must self-assess against four gates before every duty.

A "no" at any gate means the crew member does not operate. The regulation places that judgement on the individual first, and on the operator and the pilot-in-command second.