LSA fatal accident with medical implications

[drseti]

The EAA/AOPA proposal for increasing flight privileges without requirement of a medical certificate is wending its way through the rulemaking process. Proponents continue to claim that the Sport Pilot experience proves the lack of a medical does not compromise safety. Unfortunately, I've found a counter-example in researching the NTSB accident database. This is from the final report on a fatal accident two years ago in an Evektor SportStar:

The pilot was taking three different medications to treat his diabetes, which would have increased his risk for impairment due to excessively low blood sugar. He had been using a medication for respiratory symptoms combining a narcotic and an antihistamine, both of which have potentially impairing effects. He also may have taken another medication containing the same antihistamine. He had been using a stimulant typically prescribed for weight loss and a sedative previously prescribed for insomnia. He was at high risk for, and had previously been noted to possibly have, obstructive sleep apnea, which can cause severe fatigue and resultant impairment. The pilot may have been impaired or distracted by symptoms of his medical conditions or by effects of medications used to treat those conditions. The extent to which such possible impairment or distraction may have contributed to the accident is unclear. The crash severity precluded the determination of the existence or absence of substantive pre-existing disease, or the determination regarding when medications may have most recently been used. The pilot did not have a Federal Aviation Administration airman medical certificate, nor was he required to for a sport pilot certificate.

We need to be careful not to overstate our case, when claiming that lack of a medical certificate has no impact on safety. Let's also be keenly aware of the need to self-evaluate quite critically, and self-certify our medical fitness before every flight.

[zaitcev]

One accident by a scofflaw who flunked self-certification does not make the weather, in my opinion. I keep hearing about medical incapacitation incidents by Commercial pilots with 2-nd Class medicals as well (typically it's latent heart disease though - but in all cases that come to light the pilot knew about it). Even ATPs sometimes manage to die in flight, although nowhere near as often. The argument for relaxation of medical certification standards turns upon the overall low numbers of such incidents. But at any given time I'm sure you can find Sport Pilots who, for instance, fly drunk, as well as diseased. Private Pilots do more of it in absolute numbers, because there are more of them. In my mind the question is how we can keep these numbers depressed in the low percentage points.

[JimNtexas]

There are hundreds of examples over the years of crashes in which a medically certified pilot was found to have taken inappropriate medication prior to an accident flight.

Let's be careful not to overstate the benefits of medical certification.

[ct4me]

That's the great thing about the proposed exemption: training! Most folks with their medical don't give enough thought to their flight-by-flight condition. The proposed changes will produce a heightened-awareness of medical conditions and medications, as they impact flying. More articles, more discussion, etc. Everybody will benefit, those with medicals, sport pilots, and those operating under the exemption.

[Desconhecido]

This sounds like a real bad exercise of judgement on the pilot's part, but we really don't know. From the same NTSB report:

The pilot may have been impaired or distracted by symptoms of his medical conditions or by effects of medications used to treat those conditions. The extent to which such possible impairment or distraction may have contributed to the accident is unclear. The crash severity precluded the determination of the existence or absence of substantive pre-existing disease, or the determination regarding when medications may have most recently been used.

Probably he was taking his diabetes medication, but it may have been days since he took any of the other medication.

Here's the NTSB cause statement:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot's improper decision to initiate and continue a flight into instrument meteorological conditions that led to spatial disorientation and a loss of control during cruise flight.

I don't know if this guy should have been flying or not, though the list of medication that he had taken in the recent past is alarming.

[jnmeade]

The NTSB loves to insinuate or infer causes that they carefully avoid making part of their conclusions. It's the equivalent of telling the jury things that the judge then says, "oh, you have to ignore that - pretend you never heard it" Right.

[Jack Tyler]

Tim's point is an excellent one. The proposal makes medical issues a part of the pilot proficiency process, certainly a positive step.

Paul's NTSB report does not impeach the proposal. We are supposed to be self-certifying our readiness to fly - remember SAFE? - each time we grab the plane's keys.