Mulvey John R
Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2018 Nov 1;89(11):1002-1004. doi: 10.3357/AMHP.5083.2018.
In September 2004 a new pilot certificate, sport pilot, was established, which enabled pilots to fly with a valid driver's license in lieu of a valid third-class medical certificate. In 2016 Mills and DeJohn published a paper in which they demonstrated that sport pilots had a higher accident rate than private pilots with Class 3 medical certificates. They concluded that this privilege should not be extended to a broader range of pilots due to the higher accident rate. They failed to investigate why these pilots crashed. This short communication aims to fill that gap. The NTSB database was reviewed for the entire period that sport pilot has been available, and reasons for the accidents were determined, both for sport pilots and private pilots with Class 3 medicals. Sport pilot accidents were caused by medical incapacitation 3.7% of the time. Private pilots with Class 3 medicals had accidents that cited medical incapacitation 2.5% of the time. Medical incapacitation represents either a probable cause or contributing factor in aviation accidents less than 5% of the time. There is a slightly higher rate of this incapacitation among pilots not receiving regular aeromedical evaluations, but the difference was not statistically significant.
2004年9月，一项新的飞行员执照——运动飞行员执照设立，该执照允许飞行员凭借有效的驾驶执照代替有效的三级体检合格证飞行。2016年，米尔斯和德约翰发表了一篇论文，他们在论文中表明，运动飞行员的事故率高于持有三级体检合格证的私人飞行员。他们得出结论，由于事故率较高，这项特权不应扩大到更广泛的飞行员群体。他们没有调查这些飞行员坠毁的原因。这篇简短的通讯旨在填补这一空白。对国家运输安全委员会（NTSB）数据库中运动飞行员执照可用的整个时间段进行了审查，确定了运动飞行员和持有三级体检合格证的私人飞行员事故的原因。运动飞行员事故中因身体失能导致的占3.7%。持有三级体检合格证 的私人飞行员事故中因身体失能导致的占2.5%。身体失能在航空事故中作为可能原因或促成因素的情况不到5%。在未接受定期航空医学评估的飞行员中，这种身体失能的发生率略高，但差异无统计学意义。
