A 10-year retrospective review of airline transport pilots aged 60 to 63 in Japan.
BACKGROUND
On May 14, 1991, the Japanese Ministry of Transport issued an official notice allowing medically certified airline transport pilots aged 60 to 63 yr old (aged pilot) to work on non-scheduled flights. Since September 24, 1996, the official notice was revised to allow them to work on scheduled flights. The regulation requires pilots to pass both routine and additional aviation medical examinations.


METHODS
Ten years have passed since the first regulation, so the medical records and the present status of aged pilots were reviewed and summarized.


RESULTS
By the end of October 2000, 159 pilots had undergone their first additional examination. Two pilots failed due to coronary ischemia, two due to brain infarction, and one due to complete right bundle branch block (CRBBB) on ECG. One pilot failed the examination at the age of 62 due to coronary ischemia and another at the age of 62.5 due to atrial fibrillation. Thirteen pilots retired prior to the age of 63 for unknown reasons. At the time of review, 44 pilots had reached the age of 63 and retired. Subsequent flight time as aged pilot was 83,872 h in total (617 +/- 483 h; mean +/- SD) with monthly flight time of 41 +/- 27 h. Japan Aircraft Accident Investigation Commision reported 323 accidents, including 27 airtransport accidents in the past 10 yr. There were no accidents involving any of the aged pilots.


CONCLUSIONS
The review suggests that the aged pilots who are deemed medically qualified by the official notice criteria are flying safely without mishap incidence.
Miura
Yasuhiko
Y
Japan Aeromedical Research Center, Tokyo. ymiura@aeromedical.or.jp
Shoji
Masaaki
M
Fukumoto
Masakatsu
M
Yasue
Kouji
K
Tsukui
Ippei
I
Hosoya
Tatsuo
T
D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D005080:Exercise Test; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016272:Occupational Health; D010808:Physical Examination; D014792:Visual Acuity
D008055:Lipids