At 08:32 AM 21/12/05 +1100, you wrote:
>No Mike,
>I'm thinking more of the threads in re.aviation.soaring of US pilots who
>have failed their PPL medicals, so they get their 'glider rating' after
>a few flights, and then buy a motor glider, with a self declaration of
>fitness to fly.
>
>I'm also thinking about elderly instructors who are subsequently fond to
>have medical problems that prevent them flying, but have been quite
>happily self declaring their fitness to fly, perhaps from ignorance,
>perhaps intentionally.
>
This is definitely a grey area.
One interpretation says that if you lose a PPL medical you are no longer
fit under the self declaration.
How many people actually know what the medical criteria and disqualifying
conditions are?
Are people being told this when asked to self declare?
"Medical problems" that prevent them from flying aren't always a black and
white issue. In Germany a bunch of glider pilots have just lost their
medicals because the rules changed, not their medical condition. See a
recent post on the DG website re rear seat command.
We could just insist on a PPL medical for all glider pilots. Some clubs
used to do this (GCV in 1971 when I was a member). I guess there is nothing
stopping any club from doing this. The question is, is there a gain in
safety and even if there is I suspect it is largely only to the pilot
himself. If he is flying his own glider the ethics of this aren't all that
clear and go to the rights of society to prevent people from self harm and
the limits of individual freedom. Let's not go there as we could have
several hundred posts on this group about that.
Mike
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments
phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
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