No Credentials. No Oversight. No Accountability: The FAA’s Substance Dependence Decisions Exposed
June 2024
Imagine losing your pilot’s license—and your career—because a government doctor with zero addiction training decided you are “substance dependent.” This is not a hypothetical. It’s happening every day inside the FAA’s opaque medical bureaucracy.
In newly released sworn testimony, Dr. Matthew Dumstorf—who leads the FAA’s decisions about substance dependence—admitted under oath:
- He has no board certification in addiction medicine
- He has no formal postgraduate training in addiction or toxicology
- He relies on algorithmic case routing by clerks to decide which pilots he reviews
- He receives much of his so-called “continuing education” from a private contractor (AMAS) entrenched in the same system he claims to oversee
- He is part of a tiny, insular team that controls the fate of every pilot accused of substance dependence
It gets worse. When asked whether pilots’ files are sometimes sent to the wrong department, Dr. Dumstorf admitted the system frequently misroutes cases. The only safeguard? Hoping a single FAA reviewer notices and reroutes the file.
This is not how professional medicine is supposed to work.
Dr. Dumstorf confirmed that he and his team can override the findings of board-certified addiction specialists—despite lacking any comparable credentials themselves. He even conceded that if a psychiatrist told him they ignored professional standards, he would “probably” discount their opinion. Yet he is comfortable making life-altering determinations without any addiction expertise of his own.
This deposition exposes a system defined by:
- Arbitrary authority without objective checks and balances
- Complete incompetence in specialized addiction medicine
- Conflicts of interest through closed-door training relationships with AMAS
- No accountability for the destruction of pilots’ careers and reputations
If you think pilots deserve better, you are not alone. Pilots for HIMS Reform is calling for immediate action:
- Independent credentialed addiction experts to evaluate substance dependence cases
- Transparent, published standards that can be challenged and reviewed by real professionals
- Oversight mechanisms to end the FAA’s culture of unqualified gatekeeping
It is unacceptable for any government official—especially one without even basic qualifications—to wield this level of power over the lives of airmen.
We will not allow incompetence and arrogance to remain the standard for FAA medical certification.