Airline pilot disability: economic impact of an airline preventive medicine program.

The current economic crisis facing most major United States airlines has forced a close examination of airline-sponsored activities. The effectiveness of one airline's pilot preventive medicine program was estimated by comparing disability experience of its pilots against the experience of a larger population of airline pilots. The preventive medicine program at the studied airline was shown to reduce disability experience by one-third, while saving the airline better than $6 million annually. This program yielded the airline better than a 6-1 return on investment during the years studied.