The man piloting a hot air balloon that crashed in Texas in July, killing himself and 15 others, tested positive for opioids and also had a history of drug or alcohol related traffic offenses, federal investigative records show. The documents released last week by the National Transportation Safety Board showed that 49-year-old pilot Alfred "Skip” Nichols had Oxycodone in his system, along with medications for an array of conditions like attention deficit disorder (ADD) and depression. The Federal Aviation Administration's guidelines indicate that a pilot should not fly while using sedatives like Oxycodone, most antidepressants, or medications for ADD, the documents said. In addition, records indicated that Nichols, “had a history of multiple alcohol and drug related traffic and non-traffic offenses, resulting in convictions and two subsequent periods of incarceration.”
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