Flying and Health — Page 108, Lesson 162

I want to walk you through a new topic now: flying and health. This is a practical, safety-critical area that covers how your physical condition interacts with flight duties. Let's start with some straightforward food and drink precautions that are standard for professional aircrew. First, the rule on food safety: only eat properly cooked foods. Drink water only from capped bottles or cans. Avoid ice cubes made from local water supplies — if you're in any doubt, avoid them altogether. These measures are about preventing food poisoning, which can incapacitate a crew member at a critical moment. There is also a specific crew discipline when eating together, whether on the ground or in flight: each member of the crew should choose a different meal from the menu. The reason is simple — if one meal is contaminated, you don't want the entire flight deck incapacitated at the same time. You should also allow about a 90-minute interval between eating and flying. This interval is chosen because it should be sufficient time for the first symptoms of food poisoning to appear before you are airborne. In addition, some airlines insist that this same 90-minute interval applies to meals of aircrew while in flight — meaning you don't eat a full meal during the flight itself within that window. Also on the avoidance list: local mayonnaise and ice cream, which are common sources of foodborne illness in many regions. Now, the simulator can be of great benefit when training aircrew to recognise and react promptly to incapacitation on the flight deck. This is a key part of crew resource management — practising what you do if a colleague suddenly becomes unable to perform their duties. Let's move to a specific medical condition: fits. A fit or seizure is usually referred to as epilepsy. This is not a specific disease but a set of signs or symptoms in response to a disturbance of electrical activity in the brain. Fits are often described as major or minor, although the distinction is not always clear. In a major fit, the sufferer may experience convulsions or uncontrolled movements. In a minor fit, there may only be a short period of 'absence' or loss of attention, similar to daydreaming. Many patients with epilepsy have an abnormal EEG tracing with characteristic signs. An EEG — that's an electroencephalogram, a recording of the brain's electrical activity — may be used in the initial medical assessment of pilots or applied to pilots who may have had a disturbance of consciousness. Here is the critical point for licensing: any fit, major or minor, is associated with an unpredictable loss of consciousness and is therefore an absolute bar to the holding of a flying licence. That means if you have ever had a seizure of any kind, you cannot hold a pilot's licence — it is a disqualifying condition. Now let's contrast that with faints. A faint is a common cause of loss of consciousness in adults. The basic reason is a sudden reduction in the blood supply to the brain. This can be commonly caused by several things: standing up quickly after prolonged sitting, especially when you are hot or dehydrated; a sudden shock or other physiological stressors; loss of blood after an accident; or lack of food. Here is the key difference from a fit: this form of attack has no sinister significance so far as future flying is concerned, as long as the cause is clearly understood. In other words, a simple faint with an identifiable and non-recurring cause does not automatically disqualify you from holding a licence — unlike a seizure, which is an absolute bar.