“The Test Said I Relapsed—But I Didn’t”: Ann Marie’s Story
In 2014, Ann Marie Kelly entered the FAA’s HIMS program during a deeply vulnerable time in her life. She was going through a divorce and, like many pilots seeking help, needed a path forward to save her career and her health.
“It was helpful to get my life back on track,” she says. “But the stress of being jobless while getting divorced and trying to manage the insane requirements of the program was very difficult.”
She completed treatment, followed every rule, and slowly began rebuilding her life. Eventually, she returned to the skies and even landed her dream job. But then came a devastating false blow: a positive PeTH test result.
Ann Marie had completed multiple negative tests—including PeTH—before suddenly receiving a positive. “No one believed me,” she says. “Not even ALPA would fight to find out if the sample was contaminated or swapped.” The positive result cost her everything. She was terminated, left to rely on unemployment and food stamps, and lost her flying privileges.
“I thought aviation was over for me forever.”
But she didn’t give up. Ann Marie found a new AME—someone who believed that mistakes could happen not only at the lab, but during collection or handling. “He helped me get my medical back at the cost I had enough years left to work and earn it back,” she explains. “Three years later, I started flying again as a Captain.”
To protect herself, Ann Marie began doing her own collection from a trusted site. And for nearly ten years, she never had a single issue. Until two weeks ago.
Another positive PeTH.
Again, she faces consequences for a test result she insists is incorrect. “There’s nothing that says they have to confirm a positive,” she explains. “The PeTH could be wrong. But it’s up to the AME’s discretion.”
Even more alarming, Ann Marie points out that neither the lab nor the collection site will answer questions. “The lab won’t answer questions—they aren’t accountable to the person that took the test.”
Now her company is telling her to “just call off sick until the results come in.” But there’s no appeal. No retest. And no accountability if the test is wrong again.
“It all falls on me,” she says. “And I will be penalized when the lab makes a mistake.”
Ann Marie’s story is far from unique—but it powerfully highlights what so many pilots have privately experienced: an overreliance on unchallengeable test results, zero due process, and a system that punishes the innocent while hiding behind a wall of silence.
Her courage in sharing this story helps shine a light on what’s broken—and why the time for reform is now.
— Ann Marie Kelly