The European Aviation Safety Agency on Tuesday published a set of proposals to the European Commission for an update of the rules concerning pilots’ medical fitness as part of a so-called action plan following the March 24, 2015 crash of Germanwings Flight 9525. The co-pilot, who had a history of mental illness, intentionally crashed the Airbus A320 in the Alps, killing all on board. Released in a document known as an opinion, the proposals include strengthening the initial and recurrent medical examination of pilots by including drug and alcohol screening, comprehensive mental health assessment and improved follow-up in case of medical history of psychiatric conditions. The opinion also calls for improving the quality of aero-medical examinations through enhanced training, oversight and assessment of aero-medical examiners (AMEs). Finally, it calls for a more systematic approach to preventing fraud by mandating aero-medical centers and AMEs to report all incomplete medical assessments to the relevant authority.
The proposals address safety recommendations made after the Flight 9525 accident by the EASA-led task force as well as by the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA). Highlights of the task force’s recommendations included maintaining the principle of two people in the cockpit at all times, a requirement for psychological evaluation of pilots as part of their training, systematic drug and alcohol testing, “strict oversight” of AMEs and a need for “an appropriate balance” in national regulations between patient confidentiality and the protection of public safety.
The EASA opinion also includes a broader update of Part-MED, aimed at keeping the rules current with latest developments in the field of medicine and filling any gaps identified through operational experience. More specifically as it relates to the Germanwings accident, the opinion calls for a new requirement for a comprehensive mental health assessment and drug and alcohol screening as part of initial class 1 medical examination.
Separately, training of AMEs to better recognize mental illness in a license applicant would involve a change from so-called compliance-based rules and aero-medical audits to an assessment of AMEs’ performance in practice. Evaluations of AMEs by medical assessors should include recording the number of mistakes he or she makes, an analysis of the severity of the mistakes, conclusions based on the analysis and individual recommendations for the improvement of the AME’s work.
EASA also recommends the establishment of small AME peer support groups (PSGs) that involve contacts both via email and telephone and through holding three to four group meetings a year. According to the agency, such groups enhance the professional education and competency of AMEs as well as trust among colleagues.
The EASA opinion will serve as the basis for a legislative proposal by the European Commission toward the end of this year. To support the implementation of the new rules, EASA has prepared draft guidance material (so-called Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material - AMC/GM) annexed to the opinion. EASA expects to publish the final AMC/GM when the commission adopts the new rules.