AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2016 - 30

FLY WELL

Impacts and collisions

BY DR. JONATHAN M. SACKIER

Grieving a loss, preventing further tragedies

DR. JONATHAN SACKIER

answers AOPA
members' medical
questions through
the AOPA Pilot
Protection
Services program
(www.aopa.org/
pps).

SOMETIMES CIRCUMSTANCES collide in seemingly
bizarre ways. Sometimes collisions have a massive
impact. This is a story of impacts and collisions. I try
to pepper my writing with wit in the hope of keeping my readers' attention, but today I must make my
impact with quite a different tone.
Many months ago, AOPA honored me by asking if I would represent the association at an NTSB
forum, "Humans and Hardware: Preventing General
Aviation In-flight Loss of Control." My topic? Medical
issues impairing pilot performance. I determined to
make an impact by detailing how over-the-counter
cold medicine, for instance, was implicated in fatal
accidents by affecting judgment. I prepared my talk
oblivious to how powerfully life would affect my
participation.
Several days before the forum, I received a phone
call that deeply affected me. My friend and colleague
had crashed and died in his general aviation aircraft,
together with his daughter. At the time, I was en route
to a local airshow, but I promptly turned around as
the thought of doing anything remotely enjoyable-let
alone involving aircraft-was anathema. I was emotionally drained that day and for days afterwards,
struggling to come to terms with this awful event.
My pal was a thoughtful, quiet, and deliberate guy:
a wonderful leader, devoted family man, and the furthest you could imagine from a reckless pilot. But he was
dead, nevertheless-and possibly from a loss-of-control
accident. My first impulse was to cancel my NTSB participation, especially when I learned that a memorial
service and celebration of his life was scheduled for the
same day-in fact, at the same time as my talk.
Then I had another idea. I decided to attend the
forum and make the most of the opportunity. The
faculty at NTSB headquarters was world class and,
frankly, I felt intimidated joining this distinguished
group. Data were presented on how common loss of
control is, and on causes and contributing factors-
including VFR flight into IMC, questionable pilot
judgment, lack of training, and abusing substances as
obviously sinister as alcohol or as seemingly innocent
as cough medicine.
For instance, diphenhydramine is widely present in many over-the-counter medications and after
one dose, a pilot should avoid flight for at least 60
hours depending on age-nearly three days. Never

30 | AOPA PILOT February 2016

mind the fact that if you are even slightly unwell, or
sleep deprived, you should not fly-period. We have
addressed this in the pages of AOPA Pilot, in our newsletters, and in webinars, yet pilots still fly while ill or
fatigued.
Some speakers discussed how technology might
play a larger role in preventing accidents. Should
angle-of-attack indicators be more prevalent? What
about automatic ground collision avoidance? And technology the friend also could be foe, as when aviators
rely too much on devices that could mislead them-
such as satellite weather systems that might display
what was happening 15 minutes earlier.
And of course, training: Why not use simulators
more widely, teach unusual-attitude recovery, and
have pilots fly the circular pattern favored by the military to avoid making configuration changes while
banking at sometimes dangerous angles when low and
slow? It all resonated.
Making the wrong kind of impact has three phases:
avoiding getting into the situation in the first place (go/
no-go decisions); ascertaining when things do not go
according to plan and preventing the next shoe from
dropping; and, finally, recovering-which, of course,
demands that the pilot and airplane in question can
recover.
Changing behaviors necessitates changing beliefs.
Yes, it can happen to you. It can happen to me. It happened to my friend. So when I gave my talk, I begged
the chair's forbearance and started off by telling the
audience about this accident. I dedicated my talk to my
friend and I begged the NTSB, faculty, and audience to
do everything we can to prevent any other family from
going through this torment.
Why did this accident happen? That is not for me to
discuss. The experts will review everything and draw
their conclusions, but here is mine: As cruel and brutal as
this was, it will be much worse if it turns out to have been
avoidable. I propose an open-source approach, for we all
are responsible for solving the trauma of GA accidents.
In my friend's name, let's continue to consider every
possible resource to help all of us to do what we love-
and to do so as safely and sensibly as possible. Let's have
a collision of the best minds and make a real impact on
aviation safety.
AOPA
EMAIL jonathan.sackier@aopa.org

http://www.aopa.org/pps http://www.aopa.org/pps

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2016