FAA Sleep Apnea Policy Would
Set a Dangerous Precedent
Acting swiftly on the heels of major
opposition to a recently announced
FAA aeromedical policy on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a bipartisan
bill was introduced in the House of
Representatives that would require
the measure to undergo a formal
rulemaking process with an opportunity for public comment before
being implemented.
EAA joined other general aviation
organizations urging an immediate
and indefinite hold on the FAA's justannounced aeromedical guidelines
on sleep apnea.
The protocol, announced by Federal
Air Surgeon Dr. Fred Tilton, would
initially require all applicants with
a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or
greater and a neck size of 17 inches
or greater to be evaluated by a
sleep specialist prior to receiving a
medical certificate. Those who are
diagnosed with OSA would need to
be treated prior to issuance. Tilton
said that OSA is "almost universal"
among this group.
"The FAA has not presented nor have
we seen any evidence of aeronautical hazards or threats based on sleep
apnea in general aviation," said Sean
Elliott, EAA vice president of Advocacy and Safety. "To enter into the
realm of predictive medicine based
on no safety threat or symptoms—at
a significant cost to individual aviators and the GA community—is not
only a reach beyond FAA's mission but
a serious hurdle to those who enjoy
recreational aviation…
"We are joining in the call for
an immediate suspension of this
policy and thorough review of its
need and justification," Elliott said.
"There has been no evidence of
sleep apnea as a cause or factor
in more than a decade of general
aviation accidents…"
The new policy grew out of a
2009 National Transportation
Safety Board recommendation
that the FAA change the airman
medical application to include
questions about any previous diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea
as well as the presence of risk factors for the disorder.
EAA strongly supports the House
bill and urges its quick passage. A
measure subjecting a similar rule in
the commercial trucking industry to
rulemaking passed both chambers
unanimously and was signed into
law last month.
NTSB Supports Less
Draconian ECi Cylinder AD
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has filed
comments on a proposed AD that would require thousands
of ECi cylinders on big-bore Continental engines to be
retired from service before the end of their normal life. The
NTSB told the FAA that the board has no data to support
the proposed requirement that thousands of ECi cylinders
with fewer than 500 hours or more than 1,000 hours time in
service be removed.
The NTSB points out in its comments that the board
has investigated and studied the failure history of ECi
cylinders for many years. The NTSB issued a safety
recommendation in February of this year that ECi cylinders produced between May 2003 and October 2009 be
retired once the cylinders reach their normal recommended TBO life.
The proposed FAA AD and the NTSB's research divide
affected ECi cylinders into two groups based on serial
number. The NTSB notes that Group A cylinders are
already flying under an ECi mandatory service bulletin
that demands repetitive inspections for cracks every 50
flight hours after the cylinder accumulates 500 hours.
The NTSB commented that cylinder head cracking in this
group of cylinders could cause loss of compression but is
unlikely to result in a cylinder head-to-barrel separation.
The FAA's proposed AD would affect many more cylinders
than NTSB testing and data collection indicates is necessary.
Read the full NTSB comments on the proposed ECi AD.
Continued on Page 9
EAA Experimenter
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