Acute conditions should be considered grounding, but pilots may legally fly on non-sedating over-the-counter pain relievers such as aspirin, acetaminophen, naproxyn or ibuprofen.
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Headaches can impair a pilot's abilities, and in rare occurrences, headaches have been cited as factors in aviation accidents. Pilots who experience some types of headaches often are denied medical certification.
It is a violation under the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR; 14 CFR 61.53) to operate aircraft while using impairing medications. Should a pilot take one of these medications for any reason, the underlying medical condition will always need assessment to obtain medical certification.
3. Take your medication at least an hour before your flight. If you're taking antihistamines, decongestants, or over-the-counter pain medicine like ibuprofen or acetaminophen, it's important to take your medication at least an hour before your flight so it has time to work before your plane takes off.
Opiates, such as Morphine, Codeine, Lortab, Percodan, Oxycontin. Muscle relaxants, such as Soma, Sonata, Flexeril. Anicholinergics, such as Levsin, Bnetyl, Transderm Scop. Sedating antihistamines, such as Benadryl, Chlorpheniramine, Zyrtec.
Many pilots are unaware that there are wait times after each use of sedating antihistamines. For cetirizine (Zyrtec®) and levocetirizine (Xyzal®), you should not fly for 48 hours after taking the last dose. For diphenhydramine or doxylamine, you should not fly for 60 hours after taking the last dose.
Take an Advil! A comprehensive look at all the literature on airplane headaches agreed that taking an over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) can help relieve an airplane headache.