According to my AME EASA require an initial ECG and then the requirement become less stringent. I probably phrased it badly. After 40 you needed one every two years (class2), that is no longer a requirement. I think after the age of 50 the rules are also less strict. I was only listening with half an ear. The shouts of joy that came from my wallet sort of filtered out most of the conversation there after so sorry if I have mislead anyone.
I think the point I was really musing on was that should you die in the air it could have some serious consequences, especially in the congested SE. But as PiperArcher points out you could die at the wheel of a car and so forth - dying in the air just seems a little more sinister. Anyhow, they say wine is good for the heart so I think a glass or two are now in order. :-)
Like for example at the age of 80, the CAA mandate you must always fly with a safety pilot. Even if you can get a Class 2 medical?
I believe so. One pilot I know who is now over 80 and still has his class II, and SEP ratings revalidated says that in the UK he is considered a liability, whereas he often travels to Spain to fly GA aircraft and there he says he is considered a hero. Whether his apparent 'hero' status allows him to fly solo in Spain over the age of 80 I am not sure if I am honest. This is just an anecdote he shared with me once.
I was only listening with half an ear
That sounds like an instant removal of a class II ;-) Just kidding though.
My last annual EASA Class 2 Medical in November 2012 did not include an ECG. I was over 71. Previously I had had one annually. I think it is now biennial even over 60.
An ecg is only as good as a car MOT....ie on the day it is done.
A friend of mine had just had his class 1 medical, flew for Ryanair and taught rotary for fun. He and his business partner had just ferried an aircraft in to the UK and on climb out at Oxford he had a massive heart attack and the aircraft crashed, killing the other pilot too.
Yet only a couple of days before he'd been flying his "day" job for Ryanair.
Although a bit dated (since its publication "the over-60-rule" has now become "the over-65-rule"), it is still one of the best studies of the effects of aging on our piloting skills....
Abstract: Unlike professional pilots who are limited by the FAA's age rule, no age limit is defined in general aviation. Our overall goal was to examine how age-related cognitive decline impacts piloting performance and weather-related decision-making. This study relied on three components: cognitive assessment (in particular executive functioning), pilot characteristics (age and flight experience), and flight performance. The results suggest that in comparison to chronological age, cognitive assessment is a better criterion to predict the flight performance, in particular because of the inter-individual variability of aging impact on cognitive abilities and the beneficial effect of flight experience.
From "Cognitive aging and flight performances in general aviation pilots" by Mikael Causse et al., in AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION Volume: 18 Issue: 5 Pages: 544-561 (2011)
My wife (flying a lot with me) took a COPA "Partner-in-Command" programme. In the program she learned how to use the LVL button, move the pilot's seat to the back to take his feet from the pedals, set the AP into heading mode (after syncing it first) and how to communicate over the radio and make clear her intensions. Since we fly the Cirrus, she would then ask for support to steer the aircraft to an area without houses and obstructions and pull the chute. In the training-program they even practise pulling the shute (well in a simulator situation). She did the "Partner-in-Command" program now twice: once with the Avidyne system and now last week at the COPA meeting in Bornholm, Denmark with the Garmin Perspective.
A friend of mine had just had his class 1 medical, flew for Ryanair and taught rotary for fun. He and his business partner had just ferried an aircraft in to the UK and on climb out at Oxford he had a massive heart attack and the aircraft crashed, killing the other pilot too.
I don't know if this was the same accident but I recall an AAIB report on a crash out of Oxford, and the post mortem on the pilot showed that he had advanced heart disease. It was thought unlikely he would have not been aware of it during normal activities, but evidently it didn't show up on an ECG and if he did know about it he didn't report any problems to his doctor. Edit: BBC report AAIB report
I think the biggest problem with say doing an IR when one is say over 50 is that it has been more than 30 years since you had to study for an exam. Most educated people in their twenties think nothing of just another 14 exams; they have just spent 3 years doing a load of what seems like irrelevant garbage at university.
And this is a real problem because very few people under 50 have both time and money to get these "piloting entitlement" papers and actually fly somewhere afterwards. I didn't start learning till 42 which is quite early, but I have a business which back then was generating enough cash to keep the whole show (ex wife, 2 kids, 2 houses, etc) on the road.
The conclusion from the AAIB report into the Navajo accident reads:
"The pilot held a current Class One medical certificate. However, there is evidence that such medical examinations are not necessarily successful at detecting coronary heart disease."
