Report: Diabetic Pilots OK For Airline Jobs

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Pilots are not allowed to fly commercially in the U.S. if they have insulin-dependent diabetes, but a recent 18-month study of insulin-dependent commercial pilots flying in the United Kingdom found that no incidents were reported of pilot incapacitation due to blood sugar that was too high or too low. The study, conducted by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority and the Royal Surrey County Hospital, analyzed monitoring records from the 26 insulin-treated pilots flying for U.K. airlines, covering 4,900 flight hours. The pilots’ average age is 41. The records showed that 96 percent of the 8,897 readings were in the safe “green” range, and 0.2 percent, or 19 readings, were in the “red” range. Besides the U.K., only Canada and Ireland allow insulin-dependent pilots to fly commercially.

“A growing number of insulin-treated pilots have successfully applied for commercial pilots’ licenses in the U.K. and most recently Ireland,” said Dr. Julia Hine, who reported on the study’s results at a recent medical gathering in England. “To date, the CAA protocol has [been] shown to work well in the cockpit, with no reported safety concerns, and without deterioration of diabetes control.” The CAA protocol mandates that pilots must show they have their condition under control, and then record regular blood glucose tests in the cockpit, to ensure that any variability in blood sugar is detected and can be corrected early. “If pilots are unable to test their blood sugar due to operational demands, the protocol dictates that they should consume 15 mg of carbohydrate as a precautionary measure and then test within 30 minutes,” Hine said. She added that the American Diabetes Association is working to develop recommendations to share with the FAA that would enable officials to identify diabetic pilots who are at no greater risk for incapacitation than any other pilot.

The ADA says its position is that “individual assessment of people with diabetes is the appropriate approach to determining whether a person is qualified to perform certain activities, and the FAA’s blanket ban is not medically justified.” The Association is developing recommendations to share with the FAA that it says would enable the FAA to identify pilots who are at no greater risk for incapacitation than any other pilot.

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