Comparison of Pilot Fatalities and Number of Pilot Medical Examinations

Canifield DV, Dubowski KM, Salazar GJ, and Forster E

FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine - Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

关键词: Medications;    drugs;    aviation;    safety;    fatal;    pilots;   

RP-ID  :  DOT/FAA/AM-16/7

美国|英语

来源: Federal Aviation Administration

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: A 2004 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report stated: "Accurate, comprehensive information on designee activities is an important prerequisite for designee oversight and is integral to monitoring and evaluating the programs." In 2008, the GAO reported the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) planned "to continue reviewing AME-issued certificates and collecting the results." In 2012, the Aerospace Medical Research Division was tasked to conduct a study to determine the relative risk of a pilot fatality associated with Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs).Method: Data for this study were extracted from the FAA toxicology database for all pilots that died between 2003 and 2012 in aviation accidents and AME pilot exams from the Aeromedical Certification System/Document Imaging Workflow System (AMCS/DIWS) database between 2000 and 2012 time frame. The method was compared to NTSB reports and a review of AMEs that were outside the limits of agreement for all AMEs in this study.Results: Eighty percent (5,872) of the 7,317 AMEs had zero fatalities, and 876 of the AMEs (12%) had only 1 fatality in 10 years. One AME had 25 fatal pilots involved in aviation accidents during this 10 year study. The pilot fatality rate within the limits of agreement (LOA) was determined to be 1 fatality per 2,000 exams +/- 810. Approximately 254 AMEs (3.5%) had high fatality rates per exam and 120 (1.6%) had low fatality rates relative to the AMEs within the limits of agreement (6,942; 94.9%).Discussion: Most aviation accidents examined in this study were ruled pilot error by the NTSB but no reason was given for the pilot error. This research identified a small number of AMEs (254, 3.5%) with an atypically high pilot fatality rate per exam. Although this is a small number of AMEs the group accounted for 1,077 fatalities (37.7%) with 690 of these fatalities exceeding the 387 projected fatalities for this group over the 10 year study. The majority of AMEs (96.5%) had fatality rates within the limits of agreement or above demonstrating the success of the Aerospace Medical Certification and Aerospace Medical Education divisions.