Year: 2020

A pilot should not fly an airplane or helicopter within 72 hours after a blood donation or transfusion due to the lowering of oxygen carrying capacity of blood following a blood donation or transfusion.

Spatial Disorientation can be a killer. An extremely dangerous situation occurs when a pilot unintentionally flies from visual flight rules  (VFR) into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). While these accidents represent a small number of the total crashes every year, they also represent a disproportionate percentage of the fatalities. Early indications are that the helicopter crash…

General aviation pilots should regularly assess their recent flight experience, training, and pilot certification to develop personal minimums for wind, ceiling and visibility, and instrument approach minimums. For instance, a pilot should not attempt to takeoff or land when the wind speed and crosswind component exceed their capabilities.

Due to the unique characteristics of helicopters, they are used in a variety of missions that can test both the skills of the pilot and the helicopter’s performance. Since helicopters can fly low, slow, hover and land vertically they are ideal for  law enforcement, search and rescue, news, and sight-seeing. On the other hand, these…

Garmin is a company that makes avionics for airplanes. The company recently introduced an emergency one-button “Autoland” system on certain airplanes. When pushed, the system takes over and engages the autopilot, announces an emergency on the radio, evaluates weather and terrain and then flies the plane to the nearest suitable airport where it not only…

A pilot’s primary responsibility is to avoid a loss of control (LOC) of the aircraft. Loss of control in-flight (LOC-I) is a leading cause of fatal general aviation accidents in the U.S. and commercial aviation worldwide. The FAA defines LOC-I as a significant deviation of an aircraft from the intended flightpath. This often results from…

There have been a lot of questions about helicopters flying in clouds and fog. A term used frequently by pilots, and recently by the media, is IMC conditions. IMC stands for Instrument Meteorological Conditions. When Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight suddenly enters into IMC, the likelihood of a catastrophic outcome increases dramatically. One reason can…

Physicians, surgeons and other health care providers owe a duty of care to their patients. They must obey the rules and standards of the medical industry to look out for the best interests of their patients. Unfortunately, thousands of hospitals and medical providers breach this duty to engage in acts of malpractice that ultimately harm…