Citation

McFadden KL. Hum. Factors 2002; 44(4): 522-529.

Affiliation

Operations Management and Information Systems Department, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115-2854, USA. kmcfadden@niu.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12691362

Abstract

This paper assesses whether persons convicted of driving while intoxicated (DWI) are at increased risk of alcohol-related general aviation accidents. Past research has shown a clear link between DWI convictions and pilot-error accidents in commercial aviation. However, no study in the literature has addressed whether DWI convictions are associated with an increased risk of alcohol-related aircraft accidents. To evaluate a hypothesis, a total of 308,912 pilot records over a 10-year period were analyzed using logistic regression. After potentially confounding variables were controlled, DWI convictions were found to be associated with alcohol-related aviation accidents. Pilots with DWI convictions were about 3.5 times more likely than pilots without convictions to have alcohol-related general aviation accidents. Actual or potential applications of this research include providing policy makers with data-driven information that is useful in improving decisions related to the medical certification of pilots.