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Les Abend who is a Boeing 777 captain for a major airline with 30 years
of flying experience. He is also a CNN aviation analyst and senior
contributor to Flying magazine. The opinions expressed in this
commentary are solely his and his picture is above:
He speaks: I glanced at the map display on my side of the passenger jet's instrument panel. A small blue circle within 100 miles of the magenta line that defined our course identified the airport in Gander, Newfoundland. This would be our best alternate if our medical problem became an emergency.
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He speaks: I glanced at the map display on my side of the passenger jet's instrument panel. A small blue circle within 100 miles of the magenta line that defined our course identified the airport in Gander, Newfoundland. This would be our best alternate if our medical problem became an emergency.
We were just shy of two
hours into our flight from JFK to London when the flight attendant call
chime sounded and I picked up the intercom handset. A woman in business
class had fainted and was vomiting. A retired physician was attending.
The flight attendant promised to keep me updated.
With the handset still to my ear, I contemplated the situation and asked, "Has anyone determined whether the woman has a fever?"
Silence.
"Uh -- crap. No. Good question," the flight attendant said.
A couple of months ago
this would have been a matter of deciding whether we needed a
diversionary landing. But this trip was flown just last weekend, and at a
time of rampant Ebola paranoia. Fortunately, the story had a happy
ending for all concerned. The woman had apparently overmedicated herself
before the flight, and had mostly recovered by the time we parked at
our arrival gate at Heathrow Airport.
Even so, I conveyed the
details to our dispatcher while en route, and every step we took was
cautious. Paramedics met the aircraft. Passengers were not allowed to
deplane until a determination was made as to the status of the ill
passenger. Our flight attendants, exhibiting their professionalism,
followed the appropriate medical protocols, accessing the in-flight
medical kit, and our "Grab and Go" kit, which contains items such as
latex gloves and clothing to protect responders from contagious bodily
fluids.
A recent article in The New York Times
detailed how Ebola paranoia has indeed permeated the cockpit.
Apparently, few pilots are willing to fly Ebola patients out of the hot
zones for treatment; one director of an air ambulance service said he
knew of only two such pilots in all of Europe. These pilots work for air
ambulance or med-evac companies, flying mostly corporate-type jets.
Compared with an airliner, these airplanes have more confined cabins and
cockpits.
I get it.
Pilots are a skeptical
bunch. When there is room for doubt, we don't necessarily believe the
information provided by, say, health officials on subject matters
outside our field of expertise. We deal in a world of black and white,
where training prepares one to handle contingencies. Our personalities
lean toward the control freak side of the scale.
Controlling an engine
fire is a systematic procedure practiced on almost every recurrent
training cycle. Controlling a deadly disease is out of our realm and out
of our comfort zone.
But pilots are also
reasonable. If someone wants us to fly Ebola patients, education and
training first would be paramount. Credibility is important: Involve a
respected medical professional in the education process and you will
have a pilot's attention. Be honest about the risk for cockpit crews,
especially if they will have frequent contact with symptomatic patients.
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A pilot procedure for
the transportation of Ebola patients has to be determined right down to
the movements and position of the crew, from takeoff to landing. Should
crews be required to wear protective clothing? Masks? Goggles? Be doused
with chlorine? Remain quarantined for 21 days after each evac trip?
Once the standard
procedure has been established, then contingencies need to be considered
in the event of an in-flight emergency, whether it be mechanical or
with the ill patient. In other words, give pilots a checklist to follow
-- they are a pilot's bible. They don't cover every circumstance, but
they provide a structured guideline.
And finally, the air
ambulance companies that contract to provide Ebola patient
transportation need to compensate their pilots appropriately for the
risk. More importantly, it must be mandatory to provide medical
treatment if the worst occurs and Ebola infects an employee. The company
must accept both the medical and financial responsibility.
Regardless, air
transportation employees, flying for hours in a cylinder with an
infectious patient, are at risk more than the general public. Until more
is understood about the source and initial containment of this
dangerous disease, most likely my air ambulance colleagues will maintain
their apprehensions, and just say "no."
As for U.S. airlines,
the procedures in dealing with the Ebola risk are left to the individual
carrier, and the Centers for Disease Control has provided guidance via a
linked website.
It's more or less common
sense, with most of the information educational for managing a
potentially infected passenger once airborne. The website also covers
the legality of denying boarding to passengers with serious contagious
diseases: "U.S. Department of Transportation rule permits airlines to
deny boarding to air travelers with serious contagious diseases that
could spread during flight, including travelers with possible Ebola
symptoms."
Of course airline personnel would need to know about such an affliction before they could deny a passenger boarding.
It's a life and death
detail, and one that has been -- and will continue to be -- a
deal-breaker for most pilots during a time of Ebola.
Source; CNN
