{"id":1888,"date":"2026-10-27T12:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T12:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/?p=1888"},"modified":"2026-10-28T16:32:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T16:32:45","slug":"drug-and-alcohol-rebrand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/drug-and-alcohol-rebrand\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifty or Fewer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Photo:<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Effective October 18, 2026, FAA Notice N 8900.789 retitles Operations Specification (OpSpec) A449 for Part 121, 121\/135, and 135 certificate holders. The former “Antidrug and Alcohol Misuse Prevention Program” is now “Drug and Alcohol Testing Program,” matching the A449 already issued to Part 145 repair stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revision is nonmandatory and changes no regulation. Updated inspector guidance in Order 8900.1 clarifies that issuing A449 requires only the information listed in 14 CFR 120.117(d) and 120.225(d), and FAA inspectors are expected to reissue the revised A449 to existing certificate holders within 12 months, or by about October 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two entries on the Part 135 version deserve a look when the new A449 arrives. Table 1 lists the address and telephone number where drug and alcohol testing program records are kept, and the certificate holder informs its Flight Standards office when either changes. The employee selection states whether the company had 50 or more, or 49 or fewer, safety-sensitive employees on January 1, which determines whether it sends the FAA’s Drug Abatement Division an annual report every year or only when asked. The check comes down to one question: “do the records address, phone number, and headcount selection on our new A449 match the program as it runs today?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We updated our Part 135 regulatory course and both of our Part 135 drug and alcohol courses, for employees and for program administrators, so your team learns A449 by its new name along with what it covers: the company’s commitment to 14 CFR Part 120 and 49 CFR Part 40, where program records are kept, and whether the company has 50 or more safety-sensitive employees. When A449 comes up in training or during an FAA review, the title your crews learned is the one on the page. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The details are in FAA Notice N 8900.789 and Order 8900.1, Volume 3, Chapter 18, Section 3, both on the FAA’s Dynamic Regulatory System. If you’d like to talk through how your training covers your OpSpecs, we’d love to hear from you<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Effective October 18, 2026, FAA Notice N 8900.789 retitles Operations Specification (OpSpec) A449 for Part 121, 121\/135, and 135 certificate holders. The former “Antidrug and Alcohol Misuse Prevention Program” is now “Drug and Alcohol Testing Program,” matching the A449 already issued to Part 145 repair stations. The revision is nonmandatory and changes no regulation. Updated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1888"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1894,"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888\/revisions\/1894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aircrewacademy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}