Aviation Medical Examiners, like any other type of medical specialist, are very different. There are some who, when confronted with a pilot who doesn’t have a perfect health history, will walk over to a phone, call a doctor at the Aerospace Medical Certification Division in Oklahoma City and get approval for that pilot right there […]
News
Nall Report shows jump in accidents
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation’s just-released 2006 Joseph T. Nall Report shows a jump in the total accident rate for GA pilots in 2005 to 7.2 per 100,000 hours of flight time, up from 6.5 in 2004. The rate for fatal accidents also increased slightly, rising to 1.4 per 100,000 hours, compared to 1.3 in […]
WHAT ARE THE DISQUALIFYING CONDITIONS?
Certain medical conditions are considered disqualifying for pilots. But if those conditions are “adequately controlled,” the FAA will issue a medical certification contingent on periodic reports. Those conditions are: • Angina pectoris • Bipolar disease • Cardiac valve replacement • Coronary heart disease that has been treated or, if untreated, that has been symptomatic or […]
Veterans Airlift Command makes first flight
The Veterans Airlift Command, a network of volunteer private pilots, flew its first mission in November, carrying an injured Marine from Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C., to his home in Florida. Last June, while serving in Iraq, Cpl. Christopher Brink was injured in a bomb blast that killed two others. While still recovering from his […]
When a pilot goes LASIK: Cirrus Design’s Alan Klapmeier tells us about his LASIK surgery
“I’ve worn glasses since about the first grade,” said Alan Klapmeier, co-founder of Cirrus Design Corp. of Duluth, Minn., which makes the Cirrus SR20 and SR22. “I remember thinking I wouldn’t be able to fly.” Klapmeier has done a lot of flying since then, as we all know, but decided to have LASIK eye surgery […]
Lockheed graduates TSS specialists
Forty-six Flight Service Specialists recently graduated from Lockheed Martin’s Flight Service Academy in Prescott Valley, Ariz., including John Lockheed, great-grandson of company founder Allan Loughead. Each of the 46 will be assigned to a Flight Service Station operated by Lockheed Martin. Students at the Flight Service Academy undergo 10 weeks of stringent academic classes, according […]
A century of aviation: At 101, John Miller has seen most of it
John Miller, whose 101st birthday was last month, didn’t see the first Wright brothers flight in 1903 but he has been part of, or at least witnessed, most other important events in aviation’s 103-year history. When he was 4, he witnessed the prize-winning flight by Glenn Curtiss from Albany to New York City in 1910. […]
World War II bomber pilot Col Hector Santa Ana dies
Air Force Lt. Col. Hector Santa Ana flew 35 missions during a 17-week blitz over Germany during World War II and 127 Berlin Air Lift missions. He also taught hundreds of Air Force pilots to fly before his retirement. A long-time resident of Millersville, Maryland, he died Dec. 9 of pneumonia at Dover, Delaware. Santa […]
A life in motion:Bill Milliken’s autobiography is a wonderfully entertaining book
“Equations of Motion” isn’t the catchiest title on the shelves, and seems to belie the fascination of the book. At first glance, the subtitle may seem more apt: “Adventure, Risk and Innovation.” Far from being the engineering or physics treatise it might sound like, it is the autobiography of William F. Milliken, now 95 and […]