Giving blood before flying - how long ?

[Superfly]

Hi,

I've checked my company's MOA but I can't find any guideline on how long is considered safe between blood donation and flying. A friend of mine told me that it affects your performance in the flightdeck. I can understand this due to the loss of juice !:eek:

I thought that a minimum of 48 hours would be ok. Do you think it's ok ?


SF

[Professor Plum]

The answer is 24hrs.
I asked the same question back in November.
The thread for it (for your reference) is here
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=198195
Hopefully thats everything you need!

[tart1]

I thought airline pilots were banned from giving blood, full stop!! :confused:

[Milt]

Effects of blood depletion on flying performance.

Maybe similar to driving a car or flying after a general anaesthetic.

And what about your female captain flying whilst menstruating?

[Non Normal]

And what about your female captain flying whilst menstruating?

I think the captain would be suffering from a medical condition or two (or three) if she loses 400 ml in a such short space of time (the time it takes to donate blood, whatever that is, but not very long) through menstruation.

If I remember correctly (correct me if I'm wrong), a flow of over 80 ml over one menstrual period is deemed to be a menorrhagia (that's "heavy menstrual flow"). So if she bled 400 ml even over the course of her period (that is often 3-5 days), she should definitely have herself seen by a doctor.

Women don't bleed much during "that time of the month" in the absence of a medical problem... though, pre-menstrual symptoms in some women can be more of a worry, I think, than the blood flow!

[doubledolphins]

I gave blood once to establish my blood group on joining the Navy but have not been alowed to since. Aircrew are not to give blood , end of story.

[Superfly]

Hey,

I have a friend who gives blood every 6 months. He says it's a good way of replacing your blood and is of similar effect than women menstruation. which in his modest opinion help them live longer. Women live longer than men because of menstruation and gradual replacement of "roten blood" !:confused:

Is this all complete fantasy? Any competent medical advice here to confirm this ? Thanks,

SF

[got caught]

Any competent medical advice here


:cool: yep, you seem to have hit the nail on the head !!

And for those interested in help stock our banks: http://www.blood.co.uk/

[Professor Plum]

This info was posted in the thread I mentioned earlier (originally posted by PPRUNE RADAR)......
In the UK, the CAA offer the following advice (as correctly mentioned by DX) in AIC 97/2004:
BLOOD, PLASMA AND BONE MARROW DONATION - FLYING AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
1 Many aircrew and controllers have expressed the wish to donate blood in support of the National Blood Transfusion Service.Blood donation is invariably a safe, painless and uneventful procedure and the blood volume is restored within a few hours by redistribution of body fluids and intake of soft drinks and beverages. A few individuals feel faint afterwards but this effect is minimised by resting supine for a short time (15-20 minutes). Donations are not taken from those found to be anaemic.
2 Blood and Plasma Donation
2.1 Aircrew
2.1.1 Aircrew are advised that in order to prevent the very slight risk of post-transfusion faintness or syncope they should refrain from donating blood or plasma if they are required to fly within twenty four hours.
2.2 Air Traffic Controllers
2.2.1 Air Traffic Controllers are advised to avoid donating blood if they are going on operational duties within a minimum of twelve hours. They can, however, give blood when coming off shift.
3 Bone Marrow Donation
3.1 After bone marrow donation which involves a general anaesthetic, the minimum interval recommended before duty for both aircrew and controllers is forty eight hours. However, the individual response to this procedure varies and specialist medical opinion should thus be sought.
Again, the thread is
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=198195
Presumably, the information posted by PPRUNE radar is available on the CAA website.
doubledolphins: Perhaps it's not allowable for Navy pilots to give blood, but it may be OK for Civvy pilots to give blood.

[Superfly]

Ok, Thank you professor :ok:

[Warped Factor]

The quote above is from AERONAUTICAL INFORMATION CIRCULAR
AIC 97/2004 (Pink 70) which is available from the AIS site at http://www.ais.org.uk.

WF.

[Flyin'Dutch']

SF wrote:

I have a friend who gives blood every 6 months. He says it's a good way of replacing your blood and is of similar effect than women menstruation. which in his modest opinion help them live longer.

and asked:

Is this all complete fantasy? Any competent medical advice here to confirm this ? Thanks,

A: As far as I know there is neither anecdotal evidence nor a scientific evidence base that would support such view.

(was going to write 'rubbish' but that seemed so politically incorrect)

[airborne_artist]

I have a friend who gives blood every 6 months. He says it's a good way of replacing your blood and is of similar effect than women menstruation. which in his modest opinion help them live longer.

Perfectly true, that's why we all still opt for a blood-letting session while we are at the barbers (red and white pole...).

Load of old tosh - the body is perfectly good at retiring the blood cells that are defunct.

I'd say 24 hours was fine - last time I gave blood I went for a run 12 hours later and 5 miles in I felt a bit rough. I hadn't had a big supper after donating, and had missed my pre-run cup of tea.

[BFLIGHT]

I ALWAYS understood that giving blood as aircrew was a "no! no!". After compulsory retirement at 60yrs old I decided to give a Tony Hancock "armfull" and reported to the blood donors unit when it reached the village.[Truth: my daughter said "Dad you can come along now you've stopped being a pilot?"] The nurse said "date of birth?", then, "that makes you over 60, ye canna give blood". On observing my crestfallen/ look of relief she then said, " Niver mind son ye can still hae a cuppa tea and a biscuit.":confused:

[Superfly]

I'd say 24 hours was fine - last time I gave blood I went for a run 12 hours later and 5 miles in I felt a bit rough. I hadn't had a big supper after donating, and had missed my pre-run cup of tea.

I'm sure you felt a bit rough !:uhoh: Apart from the physical implication, does anyone know if donating blood would have an effect on the brain ? for instance would affect someone's performance (coping with high workload) in the flight deck ?


SF

[VH AMF]

For some reason I don't think that donating blood, would give you a mental lack in performance, as the amount of blood taken, and assuming that your flying 24 hours after the donation or taking, wouldn't be too drastic. It might effect your performance if you mentally hate needles or seeing your blood in a jar freaks you out, like myself... :)

[foxmoth]

I am surprised you do not have anything laid down in your ops manual, all the companies I have worked for have had this - the current one states that "flightcrew should not normally give blood, if they do they must inform the company and should not fly for 24 hours"