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BMI is weight divided by height in inches – then move the decimal point one to the right. Other- wise, a precise calculator can be found online (www.cdc.gov).
• Emotion
o The emotions of anger, depression and anxiety
not only decrease alertness but also may lead to taking risks. Any pilot who experiences an emotionally upsetting event should not fly until recovered.
• Personal Checklist
o We should be conducting preflight checklists
on ourselves as well as the airplane. A personal checklist that can be committed to memory, which includes all of the categories of impair- ment discussed above, is available on the FAA website, www.faa.gov (search "Single-Pilot Crew Resource Management").
14CFR 61.53
Federal Aviation Regulations prohibit a pilot who possesses a current medical certificate from performing crewmember duties while the pilot has a known medical condition or increase of a known medical condition that would make the pilot unable to meet the standards for the medical certificate.
If you were to have your flight physical today, with a cold, the flu, a broken bone, blurry vision, fatigue, fever, anger
or whatever is ailing you, would you pass the physical? This is the question that we’re supposed to ask ourselves before each flight. If the answer is maybe or no, then until we believe that we would pass a physical, we are required to “ground” ourselves by temporarily self-invalidating our medical certificate. My AMR was nothing like a corona- virus (SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV), bird flu, hantavirus, or adenovirus and a kidney stone or broken bone are an easy go-no-go decision. A partially blocked ear, low-grade fever, grumpy tummy, anger, frustration or a sleep deficit are more subjective. Remember the adage that it’s better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground. It’s not only mechanical issues and the weather that can bring this adage into focus – so can exposure to cooties like the Acute Mexican Rhinovirus.
Select
Factory Direct
Listen to an infectious disease podcast at:
https://threatjournal.com/podcast/DrSteveHatfillInterview.mp3
Kevin Dingman has been flying for more than 40 years. He’s an ATP typed in the B737 and DC9 with 24,000 hours in his logbook. A retired Air Force major, he flew the F-16 and later performed as an USAF Civil Air Patrol Liaison Officer. He flies volunteer missions for the Christian organiz tion Wings of Mercy, is employed by a major airline, and owns and operates a Beechcraft Duke.Contact Kevin at dinger10d@ gmail.com.
March 2020 / TWIN & TURBINE • 37