PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Reflections on the appointment of a new CASA PMO
Old 23rd Oct 2021, 06:03
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Sandy Reith
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Victoria Australia
Age: 82
Posts: 301
Received 79 Likes on 37 Posts
What use is AVMED?

The table from the US National Transport Safety Board (see previous post) is instructive, over four years and 76,000,000 hours they show 12 accidents attributable to incapacitation in flight.

My calculator makes that one per 6.3 million hours.

The figures are so small so there’s no obvious trend or difference in the NTSB/AOPA table between the more stringent and more frequently tested categories and their (USA) Basic Class 2. In normal times they report between two to four airline pilot incapacitating events per annum. The figures given for 2020 indicate around 5670 flights per day, or, according to the FAA official figures 10,000,000+ scheduled passenger flights in FY 2019. When compared to the flight hours by private flyers, few would come near those hours flown by airline pilots and so it could be expected that they would suffer less numbers which, if anything can be derived from such tiny numbers, is shown by lack of events in the Basic Class 2.

What then is the purpose of AVMED? …………………………….. ….. …. … .. .

The public interest would be satisfied if licenced commercial passenger carrying pilots were certified by their GPs as not stark raving mad and having functioning limbs. Otherwise their employers will note the pilot’s condition as they walk to the aircraft. If found crawling, swaying or unable to find the cockpit they should recall them.


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