To be fair road vehicle drivers have the same requirements for disclosure of medical conditions. I would say that the rate of disclosure for road users would be a lot less than 50%, probably no different in Aviation, especially among PPLs. Autism has been on the road safety hit list for a while now, at least in some states. As with the recent Daylesford crash, if you are aware of a medical condition, and it is part causation of a fatal accident, you will be charged with manslaughter. It can be just as frustrating if you are disqualified from driving on medical grounds with tests and reports required at your own cost. Considering how many drivers continue tod rive unlicenced or disqualified shows the system is a joke as it only punishes those that are doing the right thing anyway. Thousands of dollars in medical fees to prove fitness, or possibly the same in fines IF you get caught, as far as the threat of manslaughter charges, if you thought you would actually kill people you wouldn't do it anyway. Proves the point that education is far more valuable than punishment after the fact, or sitting on the ones doing the right thing pushing those that like taking chances under the RADAR.
I know several pilots that had un-diagnosed conditions (that they were unaware of) that led to more serious conditions later. Had they been educated enough to seek professional help earlier the more complicated results would have been avoided. Considering the aviation medicals did not pick up these conditions, most including cardiac issues, then the medicals were useless in ensuring aviation safety as intended. If these pilots were more engaged with their own medical professionals they would probably have recognized and corrected the conditions before they became a problem, without any need for CASA, AvMed or anyone else being involved. So my view is that the current situation of medical requirements actually is more dangerous than self certification, as it pushes pilots to be less likely to seek medical opinions in the formative stage of a condition for fear of huge consequences of just saying they had tests.
My point is that CASA should focus education in the early stages of flight training that pilots need to have a good medical team behind them and consult regularly for their own health and safety. Then have very strict penalties for pilots that willingly fly with known disabilities that are dangerous to air navigation. And not an arbitrary list, but after an incident, accident an investigation to see if that condition contributed. If it didn't who cares.
Last edited by 43Inches; 23rd Feb 2024 at 21:30.