FAA Random Drug
Testing Compliance

Which employers and employees are covered

Section 120.103 applies Subpart E to employers whose drug testing programs fall under 14 CFR Parts 65, 91, 121 and 135, Part 121 and Part 135 certificate holders are the familiar examples. Part 91 reaches operations such as the passenger-carrying flights addressed in § 91.147. Each of those employers has to run its program to the Subpart E requirements and the DOT testing procedures in 49 CFR Part 40.

The employees who count are the ones performing the safety-sensitive functions listed in § 120.105:

• flight crewmember duties
• flight attendant duties
• flight instruction duties
• aircraft dispatcher duties
• aircraft maintenance and preventive maintenance duties
• ground security coordinator duties
• aviation screening duties
• air traffic control duties
• operations control specialist duties

The section covers these employees whether they work directly for the employer or through a contract or subcontract at any tier. That includes full-time, part-time, temporary and intermittent workers, as well as assistants, helpers and people in training. For a maintenance operation that leans on contract mechanics, the contractor roster is part of the pool question, not a separate matter.

The 2026 rates and how the FAA sets them

The FAA’s starting point under § 120.109 is a 50 percent annual random drug testing rate. The Administrator can lower it to 25 percent when industry-reported positive rates stay below 1.0 percent for two consecutive calendar years, and must return it to 50 percent if any year reaches 1.0 percent or more. The agency publishes the rate in the Federal Register, effective January 1 of the following year.

The December 2025 notice kept the drug rate at 25 percent and the alcohol rate at 10 percent for 2026. The numbers behind it were a 2024 random drug positive rate of 0.816 percent, under the 1.00 percent line, and a 2024 alcohol violation rate of 0.131 percent, under 0.50 percent.

Counting your tests

To check whether you hit the rate, divide the number of random test results (positives, negatives and refusals) by the average number of eligible safety-sensitive employees across your testing periods. If you select more often than monthly, you only need to calculate the average monthly.

At 25 percent, an operator with 80 safety-sensitive employees on average needs at least 20 random drug tests for the year, and at 10 percent it needs at least 8 random alcohol tests. Those are floors. Nothing stops an employer from testing at a higher rate, and some do.

Building the pool, alone or with others

The random pool may contain only safety-sensitive employees, and every safety-sensitive employee must be in it. A pool that includes the front-office staff or leaves out last month’s hires fails in both directions.

An employer can use a service agent and combine its people into a larger pool. The rate then depends on who else is in the pool. If other FAA-regulated companies are in it, testing has to meet the FAA minimum rate. If other DOT-regulated companies are in it, testing has to meet the highest rate required for any company in the pool, which today would be FMCSA or FTA’s 50 percent drug rate.

Employers under more than one DOT agency

An employee subject to more than one agency’s rules is tested at the rate of the agency that regulates more than 50 percent of that employee’s functions. The employer can keep separate pools for each required rate, or select everyone at the highest applicable rate. Either way, each agency has to be given access to the random testing records. A charter operator whose staff also drive commercial vehicles is one example; compare the numbers on the agency comparison page.

Selection, timing and notification

Selections have to use a scientifically valid method, such as a random number table or a computer random number generator matched to identifiers like payroll numbers. Each employee must have an equal chance of selection every time a draw is made, regardless of whether he or she was selected before.

Tests must be unannounced and spread reasonably throughout the calendar year. An employee who is notified goes to the collection site immediately, or as soon as possible if he or she is performing a safety-sensitive function at that moment. That last clause matters in aviation, where someone in the middle of a duty period can’t simply walk off. The rule says as soon as possible, not instantly.

Aviation scheduling creates its own risk. Crews, mechanics and dispatchers rotate across shifts and bases, so a draw that is run against last quarter’s roster will quietly miss people. Run each draw against the current roster and save a copy of it.

Labs, service agents and who answers for what

Employers can’t use or contract with a drug testing laboratory unless the Department of Health and Human Services certifies it under the National Laboratory Certification Program. And employers remain responsible for what their officials, representatives and service agents do in carrying out the program (§ 120.103). Hiring a third party to run the draws moves the work, not the accountability.

Retention periods for testing records are set in § 120.111, so read that section before you write a records policy. Whatever schedule you choose, keep the roster, the date and method of each draw, and the notification and collection times together for each selection.

Where programs go wrong

• Safety-sensitive contractors are missing from the pool because they were hired through a staffing company or a repair station.
• Non-covered employees are in the pool, which spends test slots on people the rule doesn’t reach.
• The rate is taken from last year’s paperwork or from a different agency’s page.
• The employer counts only negative results when it tallies the year, and falls short of the rate without realizing it.
• A combined pool runs at the FAA rate when another DOT-regulated company in the pool requires a higher one.
• Draws are made from a roster that was exported weeks earlier.