SophieRose
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I imagine they have or are talking to the doctor now.
Germanwings Airbus crash 24 March #1
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ScarlettScarpetta
When the going gets tough, drink coffee
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This is so horrid. If he only stayed home that day. What could this diagnosis be that it would skew his balance enough to think it was okay to take everyone with him?!
CARIIS
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[h=3]Mental[/h] The new mental standards include several of the 15 specific disqualifying conditions. These include:
[h=3]Ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium[/h]
[h=3]Neurologic[/h]
[h=1]Pilot's Guide to Medical Certification[/h] Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 171
The FAA Act of 1958 charges the federal government with promoting aviation and maintaining aviation safety standards. The FAA Office of Aviation Medicine regulates, among other things, airman medical certification standards and structures certification policies and processes to reflect medical technology advancements. There are ongoing problems in the administration of the system that result in some lengthy delays in processing medical applications. A major overhaul of the system is underway now. The process takes time, however, and it will be at least two years before the transition is completed. Those delays notwithstanding, the U.S. FAA has the most progressive civil aviation medical certification standards in the world.
The Airman Medical Standards and Certification Procedures, FAR Part 67, is a maze of medical and legal language that is, in some respects, clear and concise, in others, general and vague. Certifying pilots is a bureaucratic process, devoid of purely medical considerations alone. The FAA also has to consider the prevailing political and legal climate in the course of evaluating an applicant's medical history. Aviation safety is foremost, and each medical history is evaluated on the basis of risk of incapacitation.
The airman medical standards are minimum standards. There is no practical way for all possible medical conditions to be addressed in a regulation. The standards have to be general and subject to interpretation by the FAA doctors who make the decisions. Policies are established to give the FAA aeromedical personnel guidelines for determining that an applicant is eligible to hold a medical certificate. The regulations and policies govern the review, but each case is evaluated on an individual basis.
[h=4]Help with your medical[/h] AOPA medical certification specialists routinely help pilots through the sometimes-complicated process of obtaining a medical certificate. If youre concerned about a condition that may complicate your medical certification, call 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672) for help. Or, see AOPAs online medical certification resource for more information on medical certificates, special issuance, and more.
More than two years after a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was issued in October 1994, new medical standards took effect on September 16, 1996. The amended rule eliminated outdated language and standards, reformatted the regulation into subparts, and increased the number of disqualifying conditions.
Subpart "A" of FAR 67 is general information including certification of foreign airmen and an important authorization for access to the National Driver Register. (More on that in the question and answer section.) Subparts B, C, and D include the minimum standards for First, Second, and Third Class medical certificates. The subparts are further divided by organ group including Eye; Ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium; Mental; Neurologic; Cardiovascular; and General medical condition. Subpart E is Certification Procedures, and includes the detailed description of special issuances that are required for pilot applicants who have disqualifying medical histories.
[h=3]Eye[/h] 1st and 2nd class visual acuity standards are identical and require that you be able to see 20/20 or better in each eye, with or without correction for distance. For near vision, the standard is 20/40 (at 16 inches) and, for pilots age 50 and over, a 20/40 intermediate vision (at 32 inches) is also required.
There is no uncorrected distant vision requirement. Your aviation medical examiner (AME) will probably check your uncorrected vision just to see if there have been any significant changes since your last exam. Waivers for uncorrected visual acuity are no longer valid. When you renew your next medical, ask the AME to include a note requesting that the waiver be removed from your records. If you wear eyeglasses or contact lenses to see 20/20, you meet the standards. Your certificate will include a limitation that you wear corrective lenses while exercising privileges.
For 3rd class, you need to be able to see 20/40 or better in each eye, with or without correction for distance and near vision.
The language for color vision is amended for first-class medical certificates. "Normal" color vision is no longer a requirement. The new rule applies to all classes of medicals and requires that an applicant have " the ability to perceive those colors necessary for safe performance of airman duties." Now we don't know exactly what colors are necessary for performing airman duties; the rule doesn't tell us, but when we find out, the regulation is already there to cover it.
Practically, though, the procedure for determining that an airman meets the color vision standard hasn't changed very much despite the new language. It is still necessary to identify characters on a field of colored dots using, most commonly, the Ishihara pseudoisochromatic color plates. Pilots who don't do well with color plates in the AME's office can still be issued a medical certificate, but will be limited to no night flying or color signal control.
The FAA authorizes several alternative color perception tests. If you can pass one of these tests, you will be issued a medical certificate without the night flying restrictions. A last resort is to take a color signal light test at an FAA control tower. Passing this test will allow the issuance of a "waiver," or Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA), which will also remove the night flying restriction.
[h=3]Ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium[/h] The standards now require, for all classes of medical certificates, that you be able to hear a conversational voice at 6 feet, with your back turned to the examiner. If you can't meet the conversational voice test, additional testing may be needed, including audiometric speech discrimination testing or pure tone audiometric testing. Even if you wear a hearing aid, the AME can issue you a certificate if you meet the 6 feet conversational voice test. The FAA will issue a waiver when your application is processed.
Obviously, any condition that results in vertigo or any type of disequilibrium is disqualifying until the condition is diagnosed and the likelihood of recurrence of symptoms established. Ear problems that are at least temporarily disqualifying include serious infections such as those caused by labyrinthitis. Acoustic neuromas are tumors that grow in the inner ear and can cause hearing loss, ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and disequilibrium similar to vertigo. Meniere's disease is a particular problem for pilots because of the quick onset and severity of symptoms. Vertigo can come on quickly and last for up to 24 hours. Symptoms may disappear, only to recur unexpectedly months or even years later.
[h=3]Mental[/h] The new mental standards include several of the 15 specific disqualifying conditions. These include:
[h=3]Neurologic[/h] Neurologic cases pose some of the more difficult certification decisions for the FAA. Epilepsy and a disturbance of consciousness or transient loss of control of nervous system function without satisfactory medical explanation of the cause are disqualifying. A history of epilepsy can be considered for certification only if there has been at least a 10-year period since the last seizure, and at least 10 years since anticonvulsant medication was used. A single seizure history might be reconsidered if at least 4 years have passed since the last seizure, and there has been no anticonvulsant drug therapy for at least two years.
Some "disturbances of consciousness" may be directly related to a neurologic problem but may also be associated with an underlying cardiovascular problem or a combination of neurocardiac pathology. These cases require extensive cardiac and neurologic evaluations to arrive at a diagnosis. Sometimes a diagnosis cannot be made. When a firm diagnosis isn't made, the FAA will need to see at least one year without a recurrence of symptoms.
Strokes and transient ischemic attacks ("ministrokes") without evidence of serious neurological deficits can be reconsidered after one to two years of recovery. Transient global amnesia, an interesting phenomenon that involves a partial loss of memory of recent past events but no unconsciousness, may be a precursor for future significant neurological events. These cases also require a period of uneventful recovery and a current neurological evaluation before certificate eligibility can be established.
[h=3]Cardiovascular[/h]
http://flighttraining.aopa.org/students/presolo/special/medical.html
- a personality disorder that is severe enough to have repeatedly manifested itself by overt acts;
- psychosis;
- substance dependence/abuse (defined within the regulation and includes prescription drugs, illicit drugs, and alcohol), or a verified positive DOT-mandated drug test.
[h=3]Ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium[/h]
[h=3]Neurologic[/h]
[h=1]Pilot's Guide to Medical Certification[/h] Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on email Share on print More Sharing Services 171
When pilots complete an application for a new medical certificate, many find themselves on the receiving end of a letter from the FAA that arrives months after the medical examination. The content of the letter may be confusing and just a little intimidating, and it's then that we might begin to wonder just how the FAA medical certification process really works. The FAA Act of 1958 charges the federal government with promoting aviation and maintaining aviation safety standards. The FAA Office of Aviation Medicine regulates, among other things, airman medical certification standards and structures certification policies and processes to reflect medical technology advancements. There are ongoing problems in the administration of the system that result in some lengthy delays in processing medical applications. A major overhaul of the system is underway now. The process takes time, however, and it will be at least two years before the transition is completed. Those delays notwithstanding, the U.S. FAA has the most progressive civil aviation medical certification standards in the world.
The Airman Medical Standards and Certification Procedures, FAR Part 67, is a maze of medical and legal language that is, in some respects, clear and concise, in others, general and vague. Certifying pilots is a bureaucratic process, devoid of purely medical considerations alone. The FAA also has to consider the prevailing political and legal climate in the course of evaluating an applicant's medical history. Aviation safety is foremost, and each medical history is evaluated on the basis of risk of incapacitation.
The airman medical standards are minimum standards. There is no practical way for all possible medical conditions to be addressed in a regulation. The standards have to be general and subject to interpretation by the FAA doctors who make the decisions. Policies are established to give the FAA aeromedical personnel guidelines for determining that an applicant is eligible to hold a medical certificate. The regulations and policies govern the review, but each case is evaluated on an individual basis.
[h=4]Help with your medical[/h] AOPA medical certification specialists routinely help pilots through the sometimes-complicated process of obtaining a medical certificate. If youre concerned about a condition that may complicate your medical certification, call 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672) for help. Or, see AOPAs online medical certification resource for more information on medical certificates, special issuance, and more.
More than two years after a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was issued in October 1994, new medical standards took effect on September 16, 1996. The amended rule eliminated outdated language and standards, reformatted the regulation into subparts, and increased the number of disqualifying conditions.
Subpart "A" of FAR 67 is general information including certification of foreign airmen and an important authorization for access to the National Driver Register. (More on that in the question and answer section.) Subparts B, C, and D include the minimum standards for First, Second, and Third Class medical certificates. The subparts are further divided by organ group including Eye; Ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium; Mental; Neurologic; Cardiovascular; and General medical condition. Subpart E is Certification Procedures, and includes the detailed description of special issuances that are required for pilot applicants who have disqualifying medical histories.
[h=3]Eye[/h] 1st and 2nd class visual acuity standards are identical and require that you be able to see 20/20 or better in each eye, with or without correction for distance. For near vision, the standard is 20/40 (at 16 inches) and, for pilots age 50 and over, a 20/40 intermediate vision (at 32 inches) is also required.
There is no uncorrected distant vision requirement. Your aviation medical examiner (AME) will probably check your uncorrected vision just to see if there have been any significant changes since your last exam. Waivers for uncorrected visual acuity are no longer valid. When you renew your next medical, ask the AME to include a note requesting that the waiver be removed from your records. If you wear eyeglasses or contact lenses to see 20/20, you meet the standards. Your certificate will include a limitation that you wear corrective lenses while exercising privileges.
For 3rd class, you need to be able to see 20/40 or better in each eye, with or without correction for distance and near vision.
The language for color vision is amended for first-class medical certificates. "Normal" color vision is no longer a requirement. The new rule applies to all classes of medicals and requires that an applicant have " the ability to perceive those colors necessary for safe performance of airman duties." Now we don't know exactly what colors are necessary for performing airman duties; the rule doesn't tell us, but when we find out, the regulation is already there to cover it.
Practically, though, the procedure for determining that an airman meets the color vision standard hasn't changed very much despite the new language. It is still necessary to identify characters on a field of colored dots using, most commonly, the Ishihara pseudoisochromatic color plates. Pilots who don't do well with color plates in the AME's office can still be issued a medical certificate, but will be limited to no night flying or color signal control.
The FAA authorizes several alternative color perception tests. If you can pass one of these tests, you will be issued a medical certificate without the night flying restrictions. A last resort is to take a color signal light test at an FAA control tower. Passing this test will allow the issuance of a "waiver," or Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA), which will also remove the night flying restriction.
[h=3]Ear, nose, throat, and equilibrium[/h] The standards now require, for all classes of medical certificates, that you be able to hear a conversational voice at 6 feet, with your back turned to the examiner. If you can't meet the conversational voice test, additional testing may be needed, including audiometric speech discrimination testing or pure tone audiometric testing. Even if you wear a hearing aid, the AME can issue you a certificate if you meet the 6 feet conversational voice test. The FAA will issue a waiver when your application is processed.
Obviously, any condition that results in vertigo or any type of disequilibrium is disqualifying until the condition is diagnosed and the likelihood of recurrence of symptoms established. Ear problems that are at least temporarily disqualifying include serious infections such as those caused by labyrinthitis. Acoustic neuromas are tumors that grow in the inner ear and can cause hearing loss, ringing in the ears (tinnitus) and disequilibrium similar to vertigo. Meniere's disease is a particular problem for pilots because of the quick onset and severity of symptoms. Vertigo can come on quickly and last for up to 24 hours. Symptoms may disappear, only to recur unexpectedly months or even years later.
[h=3]Mental[/h] The new mental standards include several of the 15 specific disqualifying conditions. These include:
- a personality disorder that is severe enough to have repeatedly manifested itself by overt acts;
- psychosis;
- substance dependence/abuse (defined within the regulation and includes prescription drugs, illicit drugs, and alcohol), or a verified positive DOT-mandated drug test.
[h=3]Neurologic[/h] Neurologic cases pose some of the more difficult certification decisions for the FAA. Epilepsy and a disturbance of consciousness or transient loss of control of nervous system function without satisfactory medical explanation of the cause are disqualifying. A history of epilepsy can be considered for certification only if there has been at least a 10-year period since the last seizure, and at least 10 years since anticonvulsant medication was used. A single seizure history might be reconsidered if at least 4 years have passed since the last seizure, and there has been no anticonvulsant drug therapy for at least two years.
Some "disturbances of consciousness" may be directly related to a neurologic problem but may also be associated with an underlying cardiovascular problem or a combination of neurocardiac pathology. These cases require extensive cardiac and neurologic evaluations to arrive at a diagnosis. Sometimes a diagnosis cannot be made. When a firm diagnosis isn't made, the FAA will need to see at least one year without a recurrence of symptoms.
Strokes and transient ischemic attacks ("ministrokes") without evidence of serious neurological deficits can be reconsidered after one to two years of recovery. Transient global amnesia, an interesting phenomenon that involves a partial loss of memory of recent past events but no unconsciousness, may be a precursor for future significant neurological events. These cases also require a period of uneventful recovery and a current neurological evaluation before certificate eligibility can be established.
[h=3]Cardiovascular[/h]
http://flighttraining.aopa.org/students/presolo/special/medical.html
CARIIS
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I think they are legally struggling with right to confidentity as it relates to medical mental and what are the implications in death as it relates to that right to privacy. THrough in several countires and we have quite a mess in terms or releasing specifics I do think we will get them tho!
marlywings
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Evening guys
This thread will close shortly. Thread #2 now open at following link...
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?275059-Germanwings-Airbus-crash-24-March-2
This thread will close shortly. Thread #2 now open at following link...
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?275059-Germanwings-Airbus-crash-24-March-2
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