Some years ago on the RAAus chat group (before it was shut down by
the executive for discussing issues embarrassing to them) this issue
was raised. Somebody came up with some official numbers from the USA.
Around 1% of accidents in powered aviation where the pilots had an
official medical had a medical possible cause. Amongst balloon and
glider pilots with self declared medicals that number was around
0.5%. Now I suspect that many glider pilots in the US actually have a
power licence also and a possible reason is that glider and balloon
pilots have at least twice the accident rate of power due to "dumb
pilot tricks" so the raw numbers don't mean much.
In any case medical causes aren't a very large part of aviation
accidents for whatever reason. I do agree about having regular
medical checks though for your own health and longevity....... so you
can die of dementia in a geriatric ward. Great. Maybe we should take
Rumpole's advice "there are no pleasures in life worth foregoing for
another 5 years in the geriatric ward."
The medical issue is really likely historical from an earlier era
when people actually thought governments knew what they were doing
(WW1 and WW2 - what were they thinking?). Private pilots were looked
upon by governments as a reserve of people with militarily useful
skills (Like rifle clubs). They could form an instructor cadre if
nothing else. Up until at least the mid 1950s in Australia the
government would subsidise a PPL for this reason. Hence the medical,
somewhat akin to a military medical. When I started gliding in 1966
it was almost the end but clubs would get a subsidy for glider pilot
certificates achieved. Money would go from GFA TO clubs, not the other way.
This is no longer a valid consideration but the bureaucratic
requirements grind on.
CASA is right now seriously considering removing the medical
requirements for the PPL (other than an unlimited driver's licence)
for day VFR in aircraft up to 1500Kg with only one other occupant
than the pilot. This brings it into line with the current RAAus
requirement (they've got about as many members as there are PPLs in
this country). The CEO is a proponent. This was addressed back in
2002 in the original rec licence proposal that was sabotaged by the
GFA and RAAus. The medical issue was addressed in detail in that
proposal including the recognition that it was worthless for accident
prevention. Maybe these people should declare to their passengers
that they don't hold an aviation medical - like the EXPERIMENTAL sign
and the "Fly in this aircraft at your own risk" sign in homebuilts.
As a society we try to avoid unnecessary risk to innocent 3rd
parties. If you get in car you are risking the person coming at you
being suddenly incapacitated and hitting you head on. If you or your
loved one rides in car they are taking the same risk that the driver
collapses and hits the on coming semi. Given the relative amount of
driving vs flying the risks would seem to be small and society
accepts these risks. The risk of doing damage to anyone else while
flying seems to be much lower. It seems hardly a week goes by without
a car or truck hitting a house though.
Note in Queensland they no longer test vision for drivers! My
optometrist is appalled. He's had people drive in and test legally
blind. So maybe a driver's licence and a statement from your
optometrist should be enough for flying just to protect the other
airspace users although ATSB are doing their best to convince
everybody that see and be seen doesn't work. Keep it up fellas and
nobody will even bother looking. Bit like "you have x seconds to live
after entering cloud". Counter productive.
Mike
.
At 06:16 PM 18/05/2012, you wrote:
> I wonder what statistical evidence there is for the added safety
value of the Class 2 Medical.
Let's also not forget that glider pilots are aging (like their
aircraft), so statistically your chance of developing a medical
health issue is increased just by virtue of being around longer.
Diabetes, high blood pressure can be silently doing you damage.
Many chronic medical problems can be better managed when they are
diagnosed early, so aviation medicals aside, everyone should have a
family GP and visit them once a year for a health check (even the
young folk). Pee in a jar, get your blood pressure checked, have
your blood glucose and lipids checked.
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