-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Wishing all Goanetters | | a Prosperous | | and | | Happy New Year - 2006 | | Goanet - http://www.goanet.org | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--- "D'Souza, Avelino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > NEW DELHI, JANUARY 3: Days before Navy pilot Lt > Commander Harpawan Pannu > gunned his Sea Harrier fighter for what would be his > last take-off, he > had warned of the dangers of disorientation while > flying a fighter in a > Naval flight safety journal. Ironically, it is > precisely this condition > which, the Navy suspects, caused the crash that > killed the 30-year-old > pilot. This is a medical question from a layman's point of view: Did the pilot suffer from initial stages of a sort of dementia? Can this condition be diagnosed in a normal "health-check" carried out by the Naval doctors? I am connecting this story to a recent experience of mine relating to a local GP who had deteriorated in his cognitive capabilities so much he wasn't able to recognise the instrument most used - a stethoscope. I was told the poor man had suffered some sort of dementia, or a "blackout" as one would call it. The pilot would have seen that he was approaching the end of the runway but may have forgotten (i.e. "got frozen") what he was expected to do (i.e "pull the joystick") at the time. A dangeorus condition indeed should he have been carrying passengers! Cheers, Gabriel de Figueiedo. Melbourne - Australia. Send instant messages to your online friends http://au.messenger.yahoo.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
