As many of you will be aware, the current Doctor availability in AvMed has become very limited and is likely to get worse. Currently we have one assessing Senior Medical Officer (Michael Drane) employed on a full time basis, with several other Doctors working restricted hours mostly off site. As a result we may not have a doctor available immediately for you to speak with. Please contact Ellen and she will ensure that someone will return your call as soon as available.
As you know, every year we have the medical application “bulge” before Christmas, and in the past we have had difficulties dealing with it. Over the last couple of years, with your co-operation, we ran our “Christmas Procedure” and it ran like a charm. Everyone was happy and able to fly over the break. We want to make this an annual procedure.
To ensure that applications are reviewed before the CASA Christmas shutdown (25th Dec – 2nd Jan) please tell your pilots, and have all medicals and documentation submitted to AvMed by the 5th December. We are unable to guarantee that any medical received after the 5th will be processed before Christmas. Obviously, this date applies to complete and uncomplicated applications. Where additional information is required, this may take longer.
I had the opportunity to attend the ICAO Medical Provisions Study Group in October.
There was an ICAO desire to try and include preventive medicine advice as part of the medical examination. While many of us do this as a part of normal consultations, having it as an ICAO standard would be problematic (there would need to be evidence of it being done, it would need to be auditable, etc). Therefore the suggestion is to require the regulators to implement a strategy for providing an emphasis on health education to applicants. Modalities and options are still to be determined.
As we prepare this Newsletter, Michael is attending the Fatigue Risk Management Systems Forum in Singapore. Michael is a founder member of this group from his time with Emirates, and it is encouraging to see the progress in regulatory and operational areas. The ICAO / IATA / IFALPA guidance document on fatigue management is being updated and due for release in 2015. The results of the largest airline fatigue survey to date were presented by Prof Philippa Gander. Details are available in the blue journal (ASEM Aug 2014). Aviation has a lot to teach medical practice about fatigue and safety management systems. Practitioners with an interest may wish to consider the 9th International Conference on Managing Fatigue in Fremantle, March 2015. Fatigue continues to be an important consideration in aviation and this forum provides an excellent example of the benefits of cross-industry initiatives to handle safety relevant issues.
I have decided that it is time that AvMed is led by a different leader. As we get a new Director, it seems appropriate that we renew this area of CASA as well. Accordingly I will be moving on from CASA in the new year. More details about the arrangements of CASA AvMed are being finalised and I will provide more details in the next newsletter.
The contact number for pilots and controllers is 1300 4 AVMED (1300 4 28633).
The contact number for DAMEs has not changed: +61 2 6217 1170.
Seminar and conference information
| Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| ASAM Annual Conference | 10-13 September 2015 | Adelaide |