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Air Health Long Haul Medical Issues Sleep Loss Stress and Flight Crew Cabin Decompression and Hypoxia Good and Adverse Effects of Stress Sleep Flight Safety Aspects of Contaminated Air Civil Aviation Medical Rules and Regulations

Civil Aviation Medical Rules and Regulations

This web site serves the pilots of civil aviation and military aviation alike to improve health and aviation safety. The advise is free and authentic from the desk of Aviation Medicine Specialist. Any query relating to the Aviation medicine will be entertained and answered appropriately. Large information on recent trends in aviation medicine & related articles will be provided ...

Flight Safety Aspects of Contaminated Air

Exposure to contaminated air is exposure to a mixture of chemicals, some of these chemicals have neurotoxic and or immunotoxic properties. Contaminated air has the capability to seriously impair crew performance and has done so on many occasions. There are no contaminated air detection systems fitted to any commercial jet or turboprop aircraft except for a crew’s ability to smell. The airline industry is facing an ongoing serious health and flight safety problem whereby, engine oils and hydraulic fluid sometimes contaminate the air supply. These contaminants may contain neurotoxins, sensitizers and various volatile organic compounds, as well as organophosphates such as Tricresyl Phosphate (TCP), Triphenyl Phosphate (TPP) or Tributyl Phosphate (TBP). This unacceptable situation has been ongoing for over forty years. This article will look at the flight safety debate in great detail, how crews frequently see contaminated air as normal, how the industry has dealt with contaminated air and its impact on flight safety, the aircraft checklists that deal with contaminated air and the impact of contaminated air on a crew’s ability to fly the aircraft ...

Sleep

Civil Aviation Order (CAO) 48 requires pilots to report fit for work and to declare their unfitness if necessary. Increasingly, occupational health and safety legislation is requiring both employers and employees to adequately manage the fatigue risk inherent in all workplaces. So do you have trouble falling asleep? or do you wake up tired? Sleep can be improved by what researchers are calling good sleep hygiene. Cary Thoresen (a flying operations inspector and fatigue risk management specialist for CASA) reports ...

Good and Adverse Effects of Stress

Most people think of stress in the negative sense, automatically assuming that it is a "bad" thing. However, unless we have some stress, we do not function as effectively as we would otherwise, i.e. some stress is good for us. At low stress levels we are at a low alert state and our performance and operating efficiency is equally low. As stress levels increase so does our performance until we reach peak efficiency. From then on, however, it is downhill until we reach the stage of panic where we have confused thought and cannot operate properly. Therefore, the right amount of stress is good; too much or too little most probably not being a good thing ...

Cabin Decompression and Hypoxia

There is a high degree of individual variation in the response to hypoxia. Some people may hyperventilate and turn blue immediately while others may not. In a small number of individuals unconsciousness may occur before any other symptom. If you have a pressurization warning, but the cabin pressure indicator seems OK, you should not be trying to work out which is correct. You must immediately put on the oxygen mask, descend and then look towards problem solving ...

Stress and Flight Crew

Any changes in personal circumstances such as divorce, marital separation, difficult family affairs or financial difficulties can be a source of life stress and can form part of any pilots emotional "carry on baggage". Flight crew are particularly susceptible to these stressors. For example, long periods away from home and job insecurity caused by regular medical and proficiency checks can contribute to a feeling of stress. In addition, there are constant commercial pressures, real or imagined, such as the need to stick to deadlines, be economically conscious, and always project the right "image" to passengers and other operational staff. This cocktail of issues, when not dealt with properly, can lead to job dissatisfaction, reduced work effectiveness, behavioural changes, health damage and in some cases depression ...

Sleep Loss

Human operators remain central to safe aviation operations. Sleep loss can significantly degrade human performance capability in diverse functions. For example, studies have demonstrated increased reaction time, reduced vigilance, cognitive slowing, memory problems, time-on-task decrements and optimum response decrements ...

Long Haul Medical Issues

Concerns regarding the effects of operating long distance flights continue to be a focus for aviation medical professionals - especially with the advent of Ultra Long Haul (UHL) flights. Michelle Doherty looks at some of the medical issues that can affect flight crew assigned to these routes ...

Air Health

Airhealth.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the suffering and deaths caused by flight-induced blood clots. Most of the injuries and deaths are easily preventable at virtually no cost ...