title: The value of experienced medical personnel during the investigation of general aviation accidents.
abstract: A multidisciplinary approach to accident investigation is routine in commercial aircraft accidents. A medical team is usually assigned to assist with the investigation. As far as general aviation accidents are concerned, in a majority of cases, these resources are not available to the investigator-in-charge. We describe a general aviation accident to illustrate the scope of medical and human factors information that can be determined by professionals who assist the authorities with the investigation. Following the example, we suggest a method of identifying available expertise. Voluntary contributions from trained specialists need to be utilized to assist general aviation accident investigators and help promote aviation safety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aerospace Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45401-0927, USA. farhad.sahiar@wright.edu
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sahiar
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garrison
authors.forename: Lee D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Lehman
authors.forename: Stephen J H
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Véronneau
authors.forename: Dennis V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Canfield
mesh_terms: D000060:Accidents, Aviation; D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D006077:Government Agencies; D006801:Humans; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D014481:United States