Trainee pilot black-out over Adelaide

[gileraguy]

A TRAINEE pilot lay unconscious for 55 minutes while his plane flew itself for 250km into Adelaide.

A report released this week by the Transport Safety Bureau has revealed the young pilot - who has now been suspended from flying - woke to find he had overshot Parafield Airport and was heading out to sea.

The Middle Eastern man, who studied with Flight Training Adelaide for a year on an Emirates Airlines scholarship, has now returned home after the incident ended his career.

The bureau's report said the pilot, in his early 20s, left Parafield for a solo training flight to Mildura and back on December 27, arriving in the Victorian town for lunch.

He refuelled, ate and rehydrated, before getting back into the plane to head home.

It was while flying over Renmark that the pilot reported feeling hot and sweaty.



"He stated that the sun was directly in his eyes and he found it difficult to look out of the windscreen due to the sun glare," the report said.

The pilot, who was not named in the report, decided to climb to a higher altitude of 1980m in an effort to cool the cabin, but blacked out soon after.

"(He) regained consciousness about 55 minutes later over the water and uncertain of his position," the report detailed.

In fact, the plane had missed Parafield entirely and was on its way out to the open waters of the Great Australian Bight after passing Aldinga.

"The plane would have kept going until it ran out of fuel if he hadn't regained consciousness," bureau spokesman Dan O'Malley said.

The aircraft appeared on air traffic control radar at 3.30pm "outside controlled airspace" to the northeast of Adelaide.

Air traffic control tried several times to contact the man by radio, but their calls went unanswered.

The pilot finally responded at 4.35pm and was guided back to Parafield.

Flight Training Adelaide chief executive Pine Pienaar said the young man was "lucky to survive" the ordeal.

He said the single-engine Tobago plane had enough fuel to fly for another 60 minutes - and would have then pitched into the sea.

"I have never heard of anything like this during my 28 years in the industry," Mr Pienaar said.

"The fact he did come around saved him from ending up in the drink."

The pilot later told Mr Pienaar of his "scary experience" when he came to saying, "I looked up and didn't know where I was".

The man was among a number of Emirates Airlines employees enrolled at the Parafield Airport flight training centre. Mr Pienaar said the trainee pilot's blackout was baffling, given he had previously passed a medical examination for aviators.

"Every now and then a guy has an anomaly no one knows about," Mr Pienaar said.

[YPJT]

Just read this story of a pilot blacked out at contols (http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/trainee-pilot-blacks-out-for-55-minutes-at-controls-transport-safety-bureau-report/story-e6frfq80-1226064819094) over Adelaide.
Are the Tobagos fitted with APs? How long would you reasonably expect any aircraft of this type to fly straight and level, regardless of how well it was trimmed, without some deliberate control input?

[Di_Vosh]

I'm pretty certain that to fly for 55 min with an unconscious pilot, the AP would have been engaged.

DIVOSH!

[startingout]

Just to confirm do the press count sleeping as a blackout? Not that this sort of thing would ever happen to a training student :E

[dl_88]

i believe ATSB has complete the investigation on this incident
Investigation: AO-2011-003 - Crew Incapacitation - SOCATA TB-10 Tobago, VH-YTF, 19 Km W Renmark Aerodrome SA, 27 Dec 2010 (http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2011/aair/ao-2011-003.aspx)

[YPJT]

Looks as though the AP saved the guy. Would have been sad to have ended up as another ghost flight out into the gulf.

[dl_88]

Looking from the track of his plane, busting through Class C airspace might also have saved him too.
ATC activated INCEFA phase when they couldn't reach him on the radio, at least they could have responded with haste. Imagine if he was off the radar and they start the search after SARTIME.
Aviation Short Investigation Bulletin: First Quarter 2011 (http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/2011/ab2011040.aspx)

[Deaf]

Interesting AP
Engaged in heading mode, trimmed for climb with full pitch, full power
8,000 gradual descent to 6,500
turn through 180 descend to 1500
track back toward coastline

???

[Di_Vosh]

AP's consisting of a heading bug are common in SE aircraft. The altitude deviations would be consistent with that.

Perhaps the 180deg turn and descent to 1500' was after he'd returned to consciousness. According to the report, five minutes after this manoeuvre the pilot responded to ATC.

DIVOSH!

[Keg]

Lol. Wouldn't have been the first time a cadet was flying at FTA having had a big one the night before! :E

They're getting soft at FTA though. A/P use wasn't encouraged when I was there eons ago.

[Capt W E Johns]

Got lost, invented a c0ck and bull story.

Or am I just cynical?

[superdimona]

You'd have to be a complete idiot to fake it - if you get lost, you get more lessons. If you fake a blackout, there goes your career as a pilot.

[rmcdonal]

Got lost, invented a c0ck and bull story.
Bit of a stretch to get lost and fly out over the sea. I could understand going the other way past Mildura, but it gets kinda obvious when you only have the Ocean in front of you.

[compressor stall]

Bit of a stretch to get lost and fly out over the sea.

I've witnessed it on a pre solo nav check. Turned onto wrong heading at a turning point and heading out over water. Scratched his head but was happy to continue as he suddenly thought he was heading over a bay... :ugh::ugh:

[Deaf]

Perhaps the 180deg turn and descent to 1500' was after he'd returned to consciousness.

A Deaf cynic could think of a number of explanations, in this case due to the explanation given it is unlikely he will fly here again unless to pick the first thread of several in R&N

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/452750-air-india-bashing-gone-too-far.html

[Capt Claret]

There was an incident in Broken Hill, mid to late 80's, where a Nomad pilot had forgotten to mention to his DAME or CASA (or whatever they were back then) his little diabetic problem.

As I understand it, he became unconscious but fortunately, had a work experience pilot from the Cessnock space-base in the right hand seat,who was able to land the aircraft.

[strim]

My money is on him falling asleep.

[VH-XXX]

If he fell asleep, I don't think he would have called ATC in advance!!!

On climb out of Renmark, the pilot reported feeling hot and began to sweat. He checked that the cabin heat was selected off and the cabin air vents were open and climbed to 6,500 ft to allow cooler air into the aircraft.
The pilot reported that he lost consciousness in the climb with the aircraft auto-pilot engaged in heading mode and the elevator pitch setting trimmed for the climb attitude.

[startingout]

Does not say that he reported that to ATC, maybe he said that in his statement... Whilst I suppose these things happen and I have seen people severely hypoxic at 8000ft be it with a much higher pressure altitude I find it hard to believe something like this has happend as shown. Even if a heading bug AP has been set the aircraft will climb (if he had his climb power set) and find it's equilibrium somewhere higher then what he originally asked for being 6500ft. As they say the doctors do not know so it is just up to us to speculate but I sense something has been covered up here.

[Wally Mk2]

Either way whether a deliberate act or an underlying medical condition was the cause it's just as well that this guy is out of flying.
ATC should be able to tell if he was climbing then descending (providing they had him on rdr) due only a single axis A/P engaged. If this was the case being a put act on then he went to a lot of trouble faking it.
I guess his best plan would have been to return to MIA & land. But like all of us if he was indeed ill then we all tend not to admit it whilst under some level of pressure so as not to appear to be a failure. He's alive, no one else got killed, no aluminum got bent so that's that!


Wmk2

[Brian Abraham]

Not a new event. There was a King Air enroute Norfolk to Sydney where the pilot passed out and a pax with a bit knowledge kept things ticking over. Pilot regained conciousness approaching SYD and completed the landing.

Memory seems to recall the loss of a Dove in WA many years ago for similar reasons. One case was caused by the pilot eating a half warm pie for lunch (food poisoning), so not always down to underlying medical issues. And there is dehydration as well.

[compressor stall]

And an aeromed Kingair in NSW or QLD where the pilot blacked out from pressure in his guts from something like eating too much fibre... It's on the ATSB website.

And the FA18 eastbound from TN - can't remember if that was 02 related though.

And don't forget, some people can get hypoxic at low altitudes. I know of one engineer who got hypoxic at 7000' cabin alt.

[havick]

When I was doing avmed, the hornet crash was brought up. Someone feel free to jump in and correct me, but the pilot was flying without his oxygen mask and failed to set a valve correctly essentially exposing the pilot to ambient air pressure?

[aroa]

.. And at FL450 or whatever the pilot would have become unconcious within seconds. Doesnt yr blood "boil"/ let off its disolved gases at that severely reduced pressure.? Apparently it continued on with auto pilot and crashed near Weipa.
Hole in the ground and wreckage found by a passing ringer on horseback some years later.

Since not fitted with a locator beacon, where to find it???
The RAAF search, two Hercs at 500ft back and forth across the Cape from the west coast to the outer reef, saw nought.. and cost the taxpayer squillions.
Do RAAF aircraft have ELTs today... probably not.

Sadly, a young "gun" bought undone.

As for drowsy trainees, warmed by the sun... Sleepers Awake!!
That Southern Ocean is bloody cold.... and deep.

[Stationair8]

Might have wanted to join the solo mile-high club in his Tobago?

[Checkboard]

From the ATSB report (http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2011/aair/ao-2011-003.aspx):
The most common causes of loss of consciousness were gastrointestinal, neurological, cardiac and urological events.
I can understand the first three (and would think that they could be tested for) - but how does wanting to take a pee render you unconscious? :ooh:

As the pilot medical has only been suspended, he can re-apply for it after negative tests. Usually a restricted medical is issued, until a time period (such as a year) has passed without further incident, and the full medical is regained.

Career on hold, not necessarily finished.

[Deaf]

but how does wanting to take a pee render you unconscious?

Think the urological bit is about kidney stones

[Unusual-Attitude]

I was surprised at how little neurological testing was done during my first class 1 here in Aus.

An initial class 1 in the uk involved a full day at Gatwick, and amongst other things, an EEG, which consisted of having various sensors attached to the head, then being told to lie in a quiet dark room and relax, (until they see an alpha brain wave pattern I believe). Then being suddenly woken with a strobe light going off at various frequencies at point blank range, (obviously to test for epilepsy).

You didn't even have to have any kind of fit to fail it either, if they picked up any kind of anomaly on their machine, that was it...finished! I seem to remember you even had to sign a form beforehand to say if they did find a latent condition in you, you could have your driving Licence pulled too!

So this fella was into the sun with a prop flickering away in front of him?

[desert goat]

He checked that the cabin heat was selected off and the cabin air vents were open

So giving him the benefit of the doubt for a second...he reckons he lost consciousness shortly after doing the above. It doesn't say whether he actually found the heater on or not when he checked it. So assuming he isn't reeling off a tall story, I'd be wondering if he got a dose of carbon monoxide in the cabin, felt hot/off colour/drowsy (which is how I used to feel after half an hour driving an old XE falcon before I realized it was letting exhaust fumes in), and opened the vents just prior to nodding off, then woke up after breathing fresh air for a while. Wild speculation, I know.