Why do pilots need a medical

Brian wrote:
take out a backyard hot tub somewhere when he goes down.

The one incident I am aware of a pilot having a heart attack while
flying. The Pilot on a Cross country flight landed and called the FBO
to call 911 for him. He had a 2nd Class Medical.


We had a local chiropodist who had a heart attack while approaching the Rock
Hill, SC airport in an Aerostar after a trip to the coast. He ended up crashing
in an intersection and burning up. Unfortunately he took his passenger with
him.

Nobody on the ground was injured and I don't believe there was any appreciable
property damage, except his own.

You can read about the resulting lawsuit at:

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories...1277.001.shtml

Use blahblah1 as the username and blahblahblah as the password unless you feel
the need to register.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

"Paul kgyy" wrote in message

I think the theory is that disabilities rarely occur without warning.
If you get chest pain while driving a bus, you can pull over to the
side of the road. If it happens in airplane, it may be a while before
you can find a safe place to park.

Passing a kidney stone in an aircraft would be a show-stopper, or having a
heart attack or an asthma attack or a stroke or...

It's a good argument that you can't just pull over if you think you might be
having a medical problem. Good discussion, though!

-c

"gatt" wrote:
...
It's a good argument that you can't just pull over if you
think you might be having a medical problem.


I don't think it is a good argument, because in noncommercial
flight, it's gov't protecting us from ourselves. It's the same
objection many motorcyle riders have against helmets. An argument
is made there that there's a societal cost to treating avoidable
head injury, but I wonder how many pennies in our hospitalization
insurance that really is. There's exposure for passengers, but
they knowingly assume other and greater risks of flight. A pax
might even save us were we to become incapacitated and land the
plane with some help from the ground, as has actually happened. If
FAA had to make a narrative case for their rules here, I think
they'd run out of words pretty quick.

Fred F.

TaxSrv wrote:

I don't think it is a good argument, because in noncommercial
flight, it's gov't protecting us from ourselves.

No, it's the Feds protecting the people on the ground from us.

George Patterson
If a tank is out of ammunition, what you have is a sixty ton portable
radio.

I think the "loigical" reason for non-commercial medicals is to protect
third parties (i. e. those on the ground) from our actions. What's
missed though is how rarely ground injuries or deaths are occuring from
single engine aircraft crashes. How many were there last year?

I think the need for medicals should be related to the amount of fuel
on board.

An alternative is I think the pilot community should demand biennial
medicals for all drivers licenses. Particularily given the number of
third party casualties involved. After all who can be against safety?

"TaxSrv"
objection many motorcyle riders have against helmets. An argument
is made there that there's a societal cost to treating avoidable
head injury, but I wonder how many pennies in our hospitalization
insurance that really is.

In actual practice, medical insurance companies learned not to support
motorcycle helmet laws. They found their claims were much higher because
the accident victims actually survived and they had to pay for extensive
post accident treatment.

Hey, question:

How come you always see occupants of ultralights wearing helmets, but I've
never seen anyone in a C150 wearing one?

:-)

Dallas

"gatt" wrote

Passing a kidney stone in an aircraft would be a show-stopper, or having a
heart attack or an asthma attack or a stroke or...

Ohh?

I've driven myself home from work, at least twice (maybe more) while
starting to pass a kidney stone. It was not easy, and surely painful, but I
did manage it quite safely.

Jim (passer of 11 stones) in NC

Morgans wrote:
I've driven myself home from work, at least twice (maybe more) while
starting to pass a kidney stone. It was not easy, and surely painful, but I
did manage it quite safely.

Jim (passer of 11 stones) in NC


Jim, where in NC are you? I live in Charlotte; work in Rock Hill.




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

Morgans wrote:

Jim (passer of 11 stones) in NC

Over how many years? 10 over a 15 year period for somebody I kneaux
quite well, stone free for the past year though...

No more tea and sodas for him in LA...

"Darrel Toepfer" wrote

Over how many years? 10 over a 15 year period for somebody I kneaux
quite well, stone free for the past year though...

I think it was about 4 or so years. At one peak time, I passed 3 stones in
2 weeks. I then got one hung that had to be removed through surgery. THAT
really sucked. Yes, what you are thinking, is how they go in to remove one.

No more tea and sodas for him in LA...

That was not my problem. They tell me there are two types of stones. One
of calcium, and one of the other type caused by tea and sodas. Mine were
the calcium type.

I went to a urologist, and he had me do a 24 hour urine test, where all
output for a day went into a jug. It showed my body captured more of the
calcium that normally goes out with the urine. All I had to do was take a
diuretic (same thing some people take for blood pressure) to help keep the
kidneys flushed out. I haven't had a stone in close to ten years, or
coinciding with when I started the medication.
--
Jim in NC