This piece is based on a post by Brian Abraham Few pilots are better qualified to discuss the dangers of alcohol than Lyle Prouse, the Northwest Airlines captain whose fall from grace made national headlines 11 years ago. On March 8, 1990, Prouse and the other two members of his Boeing 727 flight crew were …
Drunken pilot reporting for duty (1) may have made headlines, in turn setting various fora abuzz with strong public opinion ranging from strong action against the pilot to the need for a sympathetic view. Indeed, if one looks at this incidence from the perspective of aviation safety, the pilot, if he had gone unnoticed, was …
Drinking occasionally or regularly by the pilots, but restricting it to couple of small pegs, remains a matter of individual choice and social acceptance. But aviation safety and alcohol do not go together. In an interesting instance at Heathrow Airport, a Delta Airline pilot forgot what his destination was! His blood alcohol levels were found …
One of the often neglected but vital predisposing physiological factors in aviation is sleep, rather lack of sleep. The commercial pilots are governed by their duty schedule and the military aviators have the uncertainties of the operational deployment to blame for the loss of sleep. Although there may be regulations and guidelines, including FDTL to …
The CIS Interstate Aviation Committee has released the final report on the crash of the Polish TU-154. This Russian built aircraft, piloted by Polish Air Force pilots, crashed while attempting to land in poor visibility conditions at Smolensk North Airport in Russia on 10 Apr 2010. The report found that ‘pilot error’ was the cause …