United States Department of Transportation
i
In-Flight Medical Incapacitation and Impairment of U.S. Airline Pilots: 1993 to 1998
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2004-10-01
[PDF-449.62 KB]
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Abstract:Although it is not known when the first accident due to pilot in-flight medical incapacitation occurred, a recent survey showed that almost one-third of all pilots who responded had experienced an incapacitation requiring another crewmember to take over their duties, with safety of flight significantly threatened in 3% of cases. The importance of in-flight medical incapacitation and impairment can be better understood when it is realized that each in-flight medical incapacitation or impairment could potentially lead to an aircraft accident. We studied in-flight medical incapacitations and impairments in U.S. airline pilots from 1993 through 1998. We defined in-flight medical incapacitation as a condition in which a flight crewmember was unable to perform any flight duties and impairment as a condition in which a crewmember could perform limited flight duties, even though performance may have been degraded. We found 39 incapacitations and 11 impairments aboard 47 aircraft during the six-year period. All pilots were males. The average age for incapacitations was 47.0 years (range 25 to 59 years). The average age for impairments was 43.3 years (range 27 to 57 years). The in-flight medical event rate was 0.058 per 100,000 flight hours. The probability that an in-flight medical event would result in an aircraft accident was 0.04. Incapacitations significantly increased with age, with more serious categories in the older age groups. The most frequent categories of incapacitation were loss of consciousness, cardiac, neurological, and gastrointestinal. Safety of flight was seriously impacted in seven of the 47 flights and resulted in two non-fatal accidents.
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