I have a comment regarding the recent FAA rule regarding sleep apnea.
I am a senior aviation medical examiner, a board certified family doc, and a
IV-P turbine builder and pilot.
During the evaluation of patients with sleep apnea, I have encountered people
who have arousals (mini wake up episodes) as often as 30 to 60 times per hour.
This could mean that the average length of restful restorative sleep amounts to
one or two minutes at a time throughout the night. This condition is generally
associated with low oxygen levels in the body. As aviators, we do know the ill
effects of hypoxia on the body systems. These individuals typically awaken
with marked fatigue; often feeling just as tired when they wake up as when they
went to bed.
Morbid obesity [BMI (body mass index - a mathematical ratio of weight vs height)
> 40 - not just those of us who need to lose a few pounds] has a strong
correlation with sleep problems.
As a passenger on the flights that I am not able to take my Lancair, I would
like to hope that the pilot is at his best, having had more than a 1 minute
stretch of sleep throughout the night. Typically I do not have the option to
check out the pilot and choose to stay behind if I wanted to.
The FAA primary mandate is to try to assure the safety of the public. Though not
all morbidly obese people have sleep apnea, obesity is a significant risk factor
- particularly for the morbidly obese with a BMI > 40. It does not seem
unreasonable to me to apply some screening process to consider evaluation for
pilots who may be at risk.
It is my understanding that this rule was presented after a commercial crew (the
captain did have a diagnosis of sleep apnea that was not treated, the first
officer just was tired, but without sleep apnea) BOTH went to sleep and overflew
the destination by 25 miles before they happened to wake up.
Though none of us appreciate the government poking its nose into our business,
in my opinion it is very logical to assess the morbidly obese pilot for a
condition that may well be very critical to the safety of all aboard the
aircraft.
Doug Owen
Sent from my iPad
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