Capt. Henry Skillern, 63, was suffering a heart attack.
The in-flight emergency
Thursday night that began somewhere in the skies between Houston and
Seattle prompted the 737 to divert to Boise, Idaho. Air traffic
controllers radioed the plane's first officer who updated them with the
captain's condition.
"We got a man down, chest compressions going on right now," the first officer said. "I'm not sure too much right now on status."
Once it was on the
ground, first responders boarded the airliner and rushed Skillern to
Boise's Saint Alphonsus hospital, where he later died.
The tragedy threatens to
reignite the debate over FAA age restrictions for commercial airline
pilots. In 2007, the mandatory pilot retirement age was raised from 60
to 65. At that time the FAA said five pilots -- their ages ranging from
48 to 57 -- had died in-flight since 1994 when the FAA began following
that statistic.
When that the FAA was
considering changing the rule, then-administrator Marion Blakey
underscored the value of pilot experience, calling it "an added margin
of safety."
"Foreign airlines have
demonstrated that experienced pilots in good health can fly beyond age
60 without compromising safety," she said.
Former Department of Transportation Inspector General Mary Schiavo
doesn't believe Thursday's tragedy alone will fuel a new debate over
whether pilots should retire at age 60 or 65. But she says it does point
out the importance of careful pilot screening.
"People die everyday
from unanticipated heart attacks, but in many cases you can find
problems when you do a rigorous physical," says Schiavo, who's now at
the law firm Motley Rice, where she specializes in aviation.
The FAA has already shown signs that
it's looking more closely at what prescription and over-the-counter
medications pilots may be taking and what effect they may have on pilot
performance. "I think the FAA will probably revisit whether they're
monitoring pilot health stringently enough," Schiavo says.
Current FAA regulations
call for a medical examination every year for commercial airline pilots
under age 40 and every six months for those over age 40. To pass the
exam, they must not have an established medical history or diagnosis of
coronary heart disease that has required treatment.
All airline pilots are required to get EKG heart checks at the age of 35. For those age 40 and older, annual EKGs are required.
And airline pilots are required to report any heart disease to the FAA, regardless of when they learn about it.
It wasn't immediately
known whether Capt. Skillern was piloting the plane at the time he
became incapacitated. Typically, there are two pilots in the cockpit so
that during an emergency, either pilot can quickly take control of the
aircraft.
Flight 1603's passengers
waited at the Boise airport until United flew in another pilot from San
Francisco, before they were able to continue their journey to Seattle.
Story, Video and Comments/Reaction: http://www.cnn.com
No comments:
Post a Comment