"dale" wrote
If you have a current medical but are taking a disqualifying drug, then you
are technically grounded?

Yup

If you are not aware that the drug is disqualifying, are you then safe?

That depends. From the FAA? No. The FAA has no due process and does
what it wants. In civil and/or criminal matters, it's not so clear
cut.

If you continue to fly and the FAA somehow has a reason to check into your
medical, can they get access to your medical records?

Yes - provided one of two things happens.

They can get your medical records if your doctor rolls over and
releases them. Some will, some won't. I make it a point to tell my
doctor not to release my medical records to anyone I have not
specifically authorized. Nobody wants a lawsuit. My doctor is not an
AME or a pilot, and thus the FAA has no lever to use against him.

The other option - the FAA can get a court order. But this is not an
automatic process. Most judges won't issue one unless there's
probable cause. The FAA can't just go on a fishing expedition into
your medical records unless your doctor allows it.

If involved in an accident will your insurance refuse to cover you because
of the disqualifying drug? Even if it had nothing to do with the accident?

Well, the insurance company can try. Maybe they will, maybe not. A
lot depends on what they think they can get away with.

Generally, an insurance company will deny a claim if they believe they
can get away with it and it won't hurt future business too badly.
I've never seen a situation where a pilot had an accident with an
invalid medical, but I have seen one where the pilot had an accident
with an expired BFR. The accident was 100% pilot error (landed
downwind, ran into trees at end of runway). Insurance paid. I've
also seen one where a student pilot (in a glider) took a tow above a
broken layer (operating without visual reference to the surface is a
no-no for student pilots), got lost, landed off aiport, and severely
damaged the glider. Insurance paid.

In general, unless the insurance company believes they will win the
inevitable lawsuit by the named insured, they're going to pay. A jury
is highly unlikely to be sympathetic to an insurance company that
decides not to pay when an engine failure causes a forced landing
because the named insured was taking a disqualifying medication.
They're likely to think that the medication isn't relevant to the
accident, that the insurance company is just trying to weasel out on a
technicality, and award the plaintiff the entire claim, legal fees,
court costs, and anything else they can think of. Insurers know this
- that's why denying claims on this basis is very, very rare.

Michael