NTSB Most Wanted List 2016
Medical Fitness would be the first on my list. My greatest fear in this industry is granting someone with a position that they're not fit for. As unfair as it may seem in certain situations, I believe that pilots should be medically tested for any illnesses or disorders that can effect him during any flight. Some pilots unfortunately do suffer from impairing medical disorders and should not be at the controls unless they have received medical treatment that mitigates the risk to the public. An example of this would be the accident of Germanwings flight 4U9525 when a depressed pilot was suffering from a mental illness. Other airlines such as Japan Air, SilkAir, Air morocco and EgyptAir all had fatal accidents due to pilot illness. (Shina 2015). Had this pilot been medically tested, he probably wouldn't have been in control of that flight. Second that would be on my list would be Fatigue Related Accidents. After our visit to Kalitta Air and being able to ask a pilot about his experiences taught me that the industry really does push pilots to their limit. "In so called crash pads, stacks of triple-decker bunk beds are crammed into apartments within blocks of most major airports, part of an underground world that is secret only to the public." (Lieberman 2011). Prevent Loss of Control in Flight would come third on my list. There are so many things that can cause loss of flight control so I would leave it up to the company itself to address these issues if it were a shipping company for example. Aircraft loading of course has many regulations but at the end of the day it comes down to how these rules are carried out. For this exact reason is why I would put Reducing Distractions fourth on my list. The issue with this is is the fact that pilots have devices that can take their attention away. The best way to address this would be by regulating it and forbidding use during any critical moment in any flight. Such as taxiing or during engine run up, final approaches and take offs. Text messaging is an issue in and out of aviation. So this is a personal issue that I believe all of society should try and tackle together. I think most pilots would agree with me when I say Cockpit Image Recorders would be last or not even on my list if possible. The black box is something that already does the exact job that the camera would. I agree with the other pilot unions that think camera footage can be misused by investigators, prosecutors and media. Another worry of this issue would be that "cameras may be doubled for routine monitoring of pilots, or that the costs of installing such technology are too high" (Linshi 2015).
Of all of these items on the list, I think either reducing distraction or cockpit image recorders should be taken off the list. If I had to choose between those two, Id have cockpit image recorders removed. Black box's have been doing just fine for investigators for many years now as long as they are found and recovered in any accident site. They provide the perfect amount of information to be able to determine what exactly happened at exactly what time. One thing that I would like to see on the list would be something that is discrimination related. As a Muslim Arab-America I can testify that today's society discrimates way too much based on the image of a person. All this is the after math of how main stream media portrays people. I am afraid that sometime in the near future, if things were to get worse with all of this terrorism going on in the world that one day it may be difficult for me to get a job as a pilot simply because I am a Muslim.
Of these items, I feel that the FAA is most likely to respond to Medical fitness tests. This is a concern not just for pilots but for the public as well. Its simply is not safe what so ever to allow someone to operate and be in control of a flight while being at risk of danger from an illness he or she is suffering from. With the issue of cargo pilots being dragged through long journeys and lack of fatigue, some of those pilots could even be suffering from an illness that was never medically examined. There has to be a way to start evaluating each pilots physical ability on what he or she can handle. I have a friend who is in the flight program at EMU who had to put his training to a stop because one of his lungs collapsed. This was due to all of the cigarette smoking her does. There are countless amounts of pilots who smoke probably just as much or even more than he does and could even suffer from this as well. After he was treated by Henry Ford hospital they advised my friend to put his training to an end. Even if it isn't an illness that the pilot can be suffering from, it could be a drug or alcohol in their system and having a random medical exam that also tests for these would prevent having pilots under the influence taking control of a flight.
References:
S., Sinha. (2015, March 26). A History of Crashes Caused by Pilots’ Intentional Acts. Retrieved January 25, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/26/world/history-plane-crashes-pilots.html?_r=0
Linshi, J. (2015, May 4). Why Some Airline Pilots Don’t Want Cameras in the Cockpit. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://time.com/3845234/cockpit-video-camera/
Loss of Control. (2015, November 28). Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Loss_of_Control
LIEBERMAN, D. (2011, June 6). Many Airlines Go Radio Silent on Pilot Fatigue: Study. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/airlines-radio-silent-pilot-fatigue-study/story?id=14009295
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