Aeromedical Examinations Should Place Additional Emphasis on Age and Multiple Diseases

On Mon­day Sep­tem­ber 27, 2021, a flight in­struc­tor and a pi­lot re­ceiv­ing in­struc­tion de­parted on a re­fresher train­ing flight from Hyvinkää aero­drome in an am­a­teur-built Van’s RV-8 air­plane. The pur­pose of the flight was to ex­tend the LAPL priv­i­leges of the pi­lot re­ceiv­ing in­struc­tion. Con­trol was lost dur­ing a sim­u­lated forced land­ing, which was part of the flight syl­labus, and the air­plane im­pacted ground. The pi­lot re­ceiv­ing in­struc­tion was fa­tally in­jured while the in­struc­tor sus­tained se­ri­ous in­juries. The air­plane was dam­aged be­yond re­pair.

Investigation revealed that the pilot receiving instruction died from a bout of illness on the accident site. He had been diagnosed with multiple cardiovascular diseases, which had been under regular hospital monitoring, but the increased incapacitation risk induced by these diseases combined with old age had not been recognized, and consequently his aeromedical certificate had remained valid.

“It is not unusual that aeromedical examiners need to assess incapacitation risks among working-age pilots diagnosed with only one or two diseases. However, there are few studies looking at increased age-related incapacitation risk among elderly comorbid pilots. In these cases, the assessment of incapacitation risk will be extremely difficult or even impossible”, states aeromedical examiner and specialist investigation team member Alpo Vuorio from the Safety Investigation Authority Finland (SIAF).

The SIAF issued safety recommendations related to aging and comorbidity among pilot population to the European Aviation Safety Agency and International Civil Aviation Organization. Aeromedical examiners’ knowledge and ability to address the issue during assessment should also be bettered.
In addition, the knowledge of general aviation pilots of the requirements related to training use of amateur-built and experimental aircraft should be improved.

“The use of an RV-8 for the dual instructional flight would have required a specific approval from the competent authority. The specific approval requires, among other things, complete dual controls. Because of the omission of the rudder pedals at the flight instructor’s position, the instructor had only limited possibilities to intervene with the control inputs of the pilot receiving instruction”, explains Chief Safety Investigator Janne Kotiranta.

Further information:

Chief Safety Investigator Janne Kotiranta, tel. 02951 50703
Aeromedical examiner, specialist investigation team member Alpo Vuorio
Requests for comments from Dr. Vuorio should be submitted in writing to: turvallisuustutkinta@om.fi or via phone to safety investigation assistant Ms. Kaija Eklund at +358 2951 50710.

Information concerning the health of the pilot receiving instruction is disclosed under Regulation (EU) No. 996/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council, where Article 16 paragraph 5 states that the information shall be included in an investigation report […] only when relevant to the analysis of the accident or serious incident.