Title: Pilots: Are All of Them Fit to Fly?
Tags: Pilots, Medical, Health, FAA
Blog Entry: Pilots: Are All of Them Fit to Fly? 28-Sep-2008 By Karen Di Piazza On Friday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee announced that the Government Accountability Office has issued a new report in response to its investigations of falsifications made by pilots when applying for medical certificates. The GAO reported that the Federal Aviation Administration is making progress of policing pilots' medical certificates. However, Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the committee, said he still has concerns over the FAA's oversight. The committee's report , released in March 2007, showed that a significant number of pilots were flying with fraudulent medical certificates. In an earlier report by the Department of Transportation's inspector general, some of the medical certificates investigated were described as "egregious." The report further stated that the "FAA's own research indicates that airmen are concealing serious medical conditions; posing harm to themselves and the public. In November 2006, researchers from [the] FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute published a study assessing post-mortem toxicology results for all 4,143 fatal aviation accidents in the 10-year period [from] 1993 [through] 2003." The committee's findings revealed that researchers found that 387 or nearly 10 percent of pilots involved in fatal accidents demonstrated evidence of having either a neurological, mental or cardiovascular disorder, which were not disclosed on their applications for a medical certificate. On Sept. 8, it was reported that private pilot John H. "Jack" Haber, 78, flying solo, crashed his plane and was killed, due to suffering a silent heart attack. According to the report, Haber held a valid pilot's license since 1998, yet he hadn't submitted to a required medical certification exam since 2000. Haber's doctor, according to the story, said if he'd known his patient was a pilot, he would've told him not to fly. "I am pleased that the FAA is taking this issue seriously and is showing progress addressing this widespread problem," Oberstar said in a statement. "However, the GAO report shows that the agency relies heavily on the ‘honor system,' and lacks the resources to thoroughly evaluate medical certificate applications." According to the GAO study, the FAA has developed a multi-step process for evaluating medical certificate applications. Oberstar, though, said that the report shows that a number of unfit applicants were issued medical certificates due to errors by the examining physician, the FAA's computer process or clerical handling. "Progress is good, but progress must lead to a goal," Oberstar said. "In this case, the goal should be 100 percent certainty that certificates are not obtained fraudulently or erroneously. Perhaps that's an impossible goal, but it should be our goal nonetheless." E-mail your news tips, feedback and press releases to Industry Headline News editor Karen@CharterX.com .
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