DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing for Aviation: FAA's Part 120 ICR Renewal and What Aviation Employers Should Know

While the bigger drug-testing news this week was DEA advancing the proposed rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, FAA quietly published an Information Collection Request renewal for 14 CFR Part 120 — the aviation drug and alcohol testing program. The April 24, 2026 notice opens a comment window through June 23, 2026 and gives aviation employers a chance to flag pain points in the program FAA uses to police safety-sensitive aviation work. For Part 121 and Part 135 air carriers, repair stations, and commercial operators, this is a small but real opportunity to shape what FAA collects and how. The story also pairs cleanly with the broader DOT drug-and-alcohol cluster: cross-modal testing programs are in motion right now, and aviation compliance teams need to understand both pieces.

What FAA's Part 120 program does

14 CFR Part 120 governs drug and alcohol testing for personnel performing safety-sensitive functions in aviation. The program is administered by the FAA's Drug Abatement Division and covers flight crewmembers, flight attendants, flight instructors, aircraft dispatchers, aircraft maintenance personnel, ground security coordinators, aviation screeners, and air traffic control specialists when working under the regulated employer's certificate.

Part 120 implements the same DOT-wide framework that 49 CFR Part 40 sets — pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable-suspicion, return-to-duty, and follow-up testing — but with aviation-specific rules around who is in scope, who collects, and how reporting flows back to the FAA. Random testing rates are set annually by FAA based on industry-positive rates, and the categories of safety-sensitive function are narrower than the FMCSA equivalent under 49 CFR Part 382.

For most aviation employers, Part 120 sits alongside their FAA operating certificate as a separately enforced obligation. A Part 121 air carrier's compliance program is not complete without a current Part 120 program, the corresponding records, and an MIS report each year.

What the ICR renewal asks for

The April 24, 2026 Federal Register notice (FR-2026-07983) seeks OMB approval to renew the information collection that supports Part 120. The renewal is a routine three-year cycle under the Paperwork Reduction Act, but it is the moment at which FAA reaffirms what data the agency collects, how often, and from whom. Specifically, the ICR covers:

• Annual Management Information System (MIS) reports from each regulated employer, summarizing the number of tests conducted by category, positive results, refusals, and the random testing rate applied during the prior calendar year.
• Employer recordkeeping requirements for individual test records, supervisor training certifications, and chain-of-custody documentation.
• Substance Abuse Professional and Medical Review Officer documentation covering the verification process and the return-to-duty pathway.
• Random testing pool documentation demonstrating the employer's selection methodology and the integrity of the random pool.

The notice is a comment opportunity. Employers and program administrators have until June 23, 2026 to flag implementation friction — duplicative reporting, ambiguous categories, gaps between Part 120 and Part 40 — and FAA is required to consider those comments before submitting the renewal to OMB.

Who this affects

Aviation safety-sensitive personnel and the employers who manage them. In practical terms:

• Part 121 air carriers — scheduled airline operations. Part 121 is where the largest random pools live and where MIS reporting is most consequential.
• Part 135 air carriers — on-demand and commuter operations, including charter, air taxi, and air ambulance. Part 135 employers carry the same Part 120 obligations as Part 121, scaled to operation size.
• Part 145 repair stations when they perform safety-sensitive maintenance under contract for a Part 121 or Part 135 certificate holder. The contract itself does not relieve the repair station from Part 120 if its employees are performing safety-sensitive functions.
• Air traffic control facilities operating under FAA contract — including FAA contract towers — and their associated controllers.
• Aviation training providers (Part 141 schools and Part 142 training centers) for the flight instructor population that performs safety-sensitive instruction under a regulated employer's certificate.

The audience is narrower than FMCSA's program — Part 382 covers a broad population of CDL and safety-sensitive CMV drivers operating under FMCSA jurisdiction, while Part 120 covers a defined population of certificated aviation personnel — but it is no less rigorous. A finding that a Part 120 program is non-compliant can put an air carrier's certificate at risk in ways that mirror an FMCSA enforcement action.

What to do and by when

1. Review your last MIS report. Pull the report you submitted to FAA earlier this year. Confirm it matched your internal records for tests, positives, refusals, and random rate. If you found discrepancies during reconciliation, those are the kinds of pain points worth flagging in a comment.
2. Inventory your supervisor training records. Part 120 requires reasonable-suspicion training for supervisors. Confirm certifications are current, accessible, and tied to a documented curriculum. The ICR renewal is also when FAA looks at the burden of training-records production.
3. Audit the random pool methodology. Confirm the contractor or in-house process you use for random selection meets Part 120's scientifically valid random selection requirement. If you have changed third-party administrators in the last 18 months, audit the transition documentation.
4. Identify duplicative reporting between Part 120 and Part 40. Many aviation employers manage overlapping Part 120 and Part 40 compliance workflows, which can create administrative duplication in reporting and recordkeeping processes. If your team has felt the duplication, the comment window is the right venue. Be specific — agencies respond to concrete examples.
5. Submit a comment by June 23, 2026 if there is a substantive issue. Comments are filed through regulations.gov under the FAA docket cited in the Federal Register notice. Aviation employers and program administrators historically under-comment on Part 120 ICRs, and the result is a program that drifts in directions that may not reflect operational reality. A short, factual comment from a working safety manager carries more weight than a policy memo from a trade association.
6. Watch the cross-modal context. The April 28 DEA marijuana rescheduling proceeding does not change Part 40 — and therefore does not change Part 120. Treat the two stories as parallel: Part 120's ICR renewal is administrative; the DEA action is a CSA scheduling change with no immediate Part 40 implications. Drivers and pilots will ask about both.

How Part 120 connects to Part 40 and the broader DOT D&A regime

Every DOT-regulated drug and alcohol testing program — FAA Part 120, FMCSA Part 382, FRA Part 219, FTA Part 655, PHMSA Part 199, USCG-administered programs — derives from 49 CFR Part 40. Part 40 is the umbrella that defines specimen collection, laboratory testing, MRO verification, SAP requirements, and the return-to-duty framework. Part 120 layers the aviation-specific requirements on top: who counts as safety-sensitive, what the employer's certificate-holder obligations are, and how MIS reporting flows.

This matters when an aviation employer also operates under another DOT mode — for example, a logistics company with a Part 135 charter operation and a fleet of CMVs, or a fueling operation that has both ramp personnel under Part 120 and ground-vehicle drivers under Part 382. In those cases, the Part 40 umbrella means the underlying testing protocols, the MRO process, and the SAP framework are the same. The mode-specific rules differ around who is in scope and how reporting flows to the regulator. A single drug and alcohol testing program partner can usually administer across modes, with mode-specific reporting layered on top.

The connection also matters because of state law. State medical marijuana statutes and recreational-cannabis reform do not create a defense to a positive test under Part 40, regardless of whether the safety-sensitive employee is a pilot, a CDL driver, a transit operator, or a hazmat-pipeline controller. The MRO verification standard in Part 40 is the same across modes. The April 28 DEA rule does not change that.

How Foley helps

Foley operates DOT-compliant drug and alcohol testing programs across aviation and surface modes. For aviation employers, that includes Part 120 program administration, MIS reporting support, random pool management, MRO services, SAP coordination for return-to-duty cases, and supervisor reasonable-suspicion training. For mixed-mode operators, the program partner can help employers coordinate testing workflows across Part 120, Part 382, and other modal regulations through a centralized compliance approach. If the April 24 ICR renewal has surfaced operational pain points — duplicate reporting, MIS reconciliation friction, random-pool questions — the compliance team can help frame them and, where appropriate, support a substantive comment.

Frequently asked questions

Does the April 24 ICR renewal change Part 120 itself?

No. The notice renews the information collection that supports Part 120. It does not amend the underlying rule. Random testing rates, safety-sensitive categories, MIS reporting structure, and recordkeeping requirements continue as before.

Does the same SAP qualify for FAA and FMCSA cases?

Generally yes, if the SAP meets the Part 40 qualification criteria. Part 40 sets the SAP standard for the entire DOT-regulated population. Mode-specific rules occasionally introduce nuance, but a Part 40-qualified SAP is typically the qualified professional for both Part 120 and Part 382 cases. Confirm the specific case with your program partner.

Are aviation random testing rates changing?

Random testing rates are set annually by FAA based on industry positive rates. The April 24 ICR renewal does not change the rate-setting methodology. Watch the FAA Drug Abatement Division for the annual rate notice, typically published in late fall.

Does the DEA marijuana rescheduling affect Part 120?

No. Part 120 testing is governed by Part 40, and Part 40 has not been amended in response to the April 28 DEA rule. A confirmed marijuana positive remains a violation under Part 120 regardless of the substance's CSA schedule.

Where do I file a comment?

Comments on the ICR renewal are filed through regulations.gov under the FAA docket cited in the Federal Register notice. The notice is published at FR-2026-07983. The comment window closes June 23, 2026.

Sources

• FR-2026-07983 — FAA Drug and Alcohol Testing Program ICR Renewal (Part 120)
• 14 CFR Part 120 — Drug and Alcohol Testing Program (FAA)
• 49 CFR Part 40 — Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs
• FAA Drug Abatement Division
• Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance (ODAPC)