Pakistan Air Lines President Blames Sleepless, Tired Pilots for Crash

July 29th, 2010

Smoking Hole in Pakistan. Courtesy of AP.

Yet another deadly “smoking hole in the ground” adds to the continuing trail of death left by sleepless and tired pilots being stretched beyond their limits by schedules designed to maximize profits for their employers. 

The worst air crash in Pakistan’s history of Airblue’s flight ED-202 from Karachi to Islamabad killing all 152 aboard may be attributed to pilot fatigue according to the President of Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (PALPA). Captain Sohail Baloch told a private news channel “The pilot may be suffering from accumulated fatigue because they are not given adequate leaves.” He added that the pilot was not in a no-fly zone and speculated that the plane was off course due to bad weather. The pilot had to ”resort to visual queues for landing” because communication with the control tower had been lost due to the weather.

The Hindu.com reports that the pilot , Pervez Iqbal Chaudhry, “had 35 years of experience and had logged over 25,000 flying hours.” Airblue official Raheel Ahmed was quoted in the same article explaining that the Airbus A321 was ten years old, had been used by them for the past four years, and was fully serviceable with no technical faults. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the aircraft at 2600 feet was cleared to land when it rose up to 3000 feet for no apparent reason and then disappeared from the radar. “The (control) tower did not receive any SOS message or report of a technical problem before the crash,” Malik said.  

Only nine weeks ago the world was mourning the loss of 158 people in an Air India crash in the Mangalore hills. That “smoking hole” left eight survivors. The experienced British pilot of that flight misjudged his landing so badly (2000 feet) that “senior pilots, including the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (IPCA) are already blaming pilot fatigue for being responsible for the major accident,” as reported in a China Post article. Two years before that “an Air India Express flight from Mumbai to Dubai overshot its destination by 350 miles after its pilots apparently fell asleep due to fatigue.” The ICPA in response to the Mangalore crash sent a letter to the Prime Minister complaining that “up to 78 percent of crashes were caused by fatigue-related human error.” Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) in India have not been changed since 1992 when they had no scientific basis for the regulations. Attempts were made in 2005 to change the FDTL but the rule changes were withdrawn under pressure from the “private operators.”

The flight and duty time restrictions worldwide reflect the lack of response from the FAA to the plethora of data now available regarding the effects of sleep deprivation upon mental and physical performance. Our rule changes were dropped in 1995 in response the airline industry’s complaints. Even the unions, strongly supported by then President Bill Clinton, wanted to drop the duty time hours from 16 to 14 hours. Andy Pasztor, in a Wall Street Journal article titled “Dispute Over Cost Delays Pilot Rules,” blames the delay in the rule changes on a dispute between the FAA and the White House Office of Management and Budget. Budget officials have told the FAA informally that “the proposal’s projected cost to airlines wasn’t justified by the anticipated safety benefits.”  Since the FAA is controlled by former air line executives and Washington is still held in the firm grip of powerful airline lobbyists like Linda Daschle we cannot expect the “change” promised by our President in the flowered oratory of his campaign.

The European Cockpit Association, a group of pilots unions with over 38,000 members, accuses the European Union (EU) of “ “endangering air safety by failing to act on the recommendations of experts who say cuts in flying hours are needed to curb pilot fatigue.”  The Air Canada Pilots Association, with over 7,000 members, has been asking for changes to Transport Canada’s regulations for years. Dave Ross, of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing pilot unions at six regional airlines, says, “It’s money. If you can’t fly as long as you do today, then that increases your cost.”

 The world continues to scream the alarms to the FAA. The FAA’s mission statement is “to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.” The FAA’s vision statement is “ to reach the next level of safety, efficiency, environmental responsibility and global leadership. We are accountable to the American public and our stakeholders.” The world waits, awake to the ever increasing danger of sleepless and tired pilots threatening our lives. The FAA, Congress, and the Administration continue to hit the snooze button while confined to the bedroom of the airline industry’s sleep inducing lobbyists.

The “smoking holes” of death and the smells of burning flesh are permeating the atmosphere of Obama’s flowery campaign rhetoric about cleaning up the halls of Washington. In 2007 newsmax.com reported on Mr. Obama’s lamenting the fact that “the disproportionate influence of lobbyists and special interest is a problem in Washington (and) in state capitals.” He admitted then that he was “swimming in the same muddy water” and that he knows the waters are muddy. He said “I want to clean it up.” The world is waiting for Mr. Obama, Mr. Babbitt (FAA Administrator), and Mr. LaHood (Transportation Secretary) to exit the bedroom of the airline industry’s sleep inducing lobbyists and go to work on new pilot fatigue regulations. The safety of millions flying the skies continue to see the smoke and to smell the burning flesh. The time has come for you to douse the flames.

Here’s a link to a very sad slide show of crash site photos, courtesy of AP and thehindu.com: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article538554.ece

Another link to a related article from thehindu.com: http://www.thehindu.com/news/article540335.ece

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

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Insomniac Spies in the Sky – Friendly or Enemy Eyes Lurking?

July 22nd, 2010

The Insomniac Eye in the Sky

Our insomniac spies have been operating for years in the skies over Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army recently surpassed the one millionth hour of flight mark for its unmanned aerial systems. The highly sophisticated eyes in the sky have revolutionized the battlefield. They have saved many lives by keeping pilots out of high risk “hot” enemy territories. They have provided sensitive intelligence for enemy movements. They have increased communication capabilities in areas previously blacked out by mountainous terrain. They even engage the enemy with high tech weaponry from their clandestine high altitude cover. Their insomniac eyes are able to see 24 hours a day and they are able to stay up for days at a time. They are friends while seeking our enemies on foreign soil, but now they threaten our friendly skies, our freedom, and the privacy protected by the US Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment guarantees “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” The insomniac eyes of the drones in our skies may guide the “friendly fire” that mortally wounds our freedom.

 These “search dogs” are being used by U.S. Border Patrol agents to watch the areas near the Mexican border. The Predator B can remain airborne for up to 20 hours without refueling. A helicopter averages only two hours of flight time. The Department of Homeland Security and other agencies, as well as state governments, are pressing the FAA to clear them for expanded use along the Canadian and U.S. borders to spot drug smuggling.  The X-ray, infrared, and laser equipped eyes in the sky are being proposed to support weather research to track tornadoes and storms, to aid energy companies wanting to monitor oil and gas pipelines, and to support U.S. Coast Guard and local law enforcement agencies in search-and-rescue operations. These operations paint a friendly shadow on the suspicious eyes, but the friendly shadow is already becoming dark.

 As early as 2006 a North Carolina county began using an unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with low-light and infrared cameras to spy on its citizens. The aircraft was used by law enforcement to track gatherings of motorcycle riders from just a few feet in the air. The drone was close enough to identify faces. In 2007 insect-like drones were seen hovering over political rallies in New York and Washington. The UPI.com in a January article reported that the United Kingdom is set to use drones developed by its military to spy on their citizens. Kent and Essex police plan on using them in 2012 “for routine monitoring of motorists, protesters, agricultural thieves and illegal dumping.” The drones the Brits will use are capable of up to 15 hours in the sky, but the technology by then will have been advanced exponentially.

QinetiQ's Zephyr

On July 20, 2010 Defencetalk.com reported QinetiQ’s announcement that their Zephyr solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) smashed a long-standing world record flight of 82 hours and 37 minutes set in 2008. The Zephyr had been flying for the past week over the Yuma, Arizona skies, has logged 168 hours, and is still flying. The goal for the Zephyr is to fly for another week and to prove that it is a “truly eternal” plane. The Zephyr is launched by hand. It weighs only 50kg. Its solar arrays covering its wings are no thicker than sheets of paper. They power the aircraft by day and transfer power to lithium-sulfur batteries that supply its power at night. It will be capable of spying for weeks or months at a time over set locations.Defencetalk.com 

The RQ-11B from AeroVironment, Inc.

In April of 2009 Defencetalk.com reported that the U.S. Army and AeroVironment, Inc. (AV) conducted a 30-hour surveillance demonstration using the RQ-11B Raven, a small unmanned aircraft system (SUAS) consisting of three aircraft and two ground control stations. The system can be carried in a rucksack and is capable of flying in high winds, turbulence, and rain. The 4.2 pound aircraft is powered by lithium-ion batteries. The Raven carries a daytime color electro-optical camera as well as a nighttime infrared camera. AV has delivered thousands of unmanned aircraft internationally.

The Phantom Eye from Boeing

Boeing, according to Defencetalk.com, buoyed by its success with the piston-powered Condor in the late 80s, is currently in production of its Phantom Eye. The Phantom Eye is a liquid-hydrogen powered high altitude long endurance (HALE) aircraft. It will have a capability of more than four days at altitudes of up to 65,000 feet carrying a payload of up to 450 pounds. They are also developing a larger HALE capable of 10 days and payloads of more than 2,000 pounds. The Phantom Eye is scheduled for its first flight in December.

 While the FAA provides cover for our government by citing safety concerns in the sky as a reason to slow the approval “process” for expanded UAV use in the U.S. we can safely assume that we are already being watched by an omnivorous, data collecting federal government. Their insomniac spies in the sky make no distinction between criminal and law-abiding citizens. Jerome Whitehead, in “Drones Over America: Tyranny at Home,” reminds us of a famous quote from James Madison:

           “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of  defence against foreign danger, have always been the instruments of tyranny at home.”

It is time for us to cast our doubting eyes on the ever-expanding surveillance and control of our federal government. It may be too late to ground her insomniac spies in our skies, but we still have the time to launch the defense of our liberty. Remember come November.

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

 

 

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Insomnia Cure Bred from Mother Nature and Israel

July 20th, 2010

Insomnia

Circadin® “not only improves the onset of sleep, but also improves the quality of sleep” says Nava Zisapel, company founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Neurim Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Zisapel, a Professor of Neurobiology at Tel Aviv University, reports that people who take the drug “have better daytime functioning and an improved quality of life.” The drug stimulates the body’s natural melatonin production. Her prolonged release formula of a mere 2mg dosage mimics the pineal gland’s production of the sleep inducing hormone. Melatonin production normally begins at dark, peaks at around 2am, and then gradually disappears at daylight. Dr. Zisapel began her work in 1992 and she received approval to market it in 2007. The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) at that time approved it for the short term (3 week) treatment of primary insomnia in patients over 55 years of age. The drug, unlike traditional sedatives, does not impair cognitive functions the following day, nor does it impair psychomotor skills. There are no abuse or dependency risks. Insomniacs, numbering nearly a third of the world’s population, will be cheered by the European Commission’s July, 2010 approval to expand the treatment duration from 3 weeks to 13 weeks. Circadin® is the first insomnia treatment approved for the extended length of time. It is currently marketed in Australia, Thailand, and Israel. US, Asian, and Latin American markets are in the registration process.

Insomnia, defined as the “difficulty to initiate or to maintain sleep,” affects almost all adults at one time or another. Transient (symptoms less than a week) insomnia and short term insomnia (one to three weeks) can occur as a result of jet lag, indigestion, shift work schedule changes, noisy sleep environments, stress, and recent medical situations. Long term (more than 3 weeks) or chronic insomnia is usually caused by psychological or medical conditions such as depression, pain, heart disease, acid reflux, asthma, sleep apnea, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, brain tumors and strokes. Delayed or untreated insomnia costs America $42 billion dollars a year in healthcare costs. The seriously sleep deprived insomniacs have been limited to prescription sleep aids with their risks of dependency and abuse, or to over the counter antihistamines with their residual drowsiness hazards. The FDA has consistently discouraged natural supplements since they have no jurisdiction over them. They have issued warnings against the use of the natural alternatives of valerian, melatonin, and kava.

Circadin® is now in use in over 33 countries. It is naturally preferable to prescription sleep aids and their over the counter competitors.  It’s time for the FDA to approve it for the sleepless and tired insomniacs of the USA. Everyone deserves a good night’s rest!

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

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Sleep and the Cell Phone: Insomnia Stimulant or Gateway to a Cure?

June 29th, 2010

The bedtime cell phone calls

A recent survey found that 82% of Americans don’t leave home without their cell phones and 50% of Americans sleep with their phones nearby. 56% of Americans regularly use the alarm clock feature. Globally 67% use the alarm clock feature requiring them to have their cell phones in close proximity to their beds. Texting has become the focus of communication for teens today. 87% of the texting teens admitted to sleeping with, or next to, their phones. With a third of US teen cell phone owners texting more than a 100 texts a day, many of these are occurring at night while in bed. Cell phone use has been found to reduce sleep. Its use at bedtime, according to research detailed by Geoffrey Lean in The Independent, increases the time it takes to reach the deeper stages of sleep and decreases the time spent in those valuable stages of sleep. Deep sleep deprivation “can lead to mood and personality changes, ADHD-like symptoms, depression, lack of concentration and poor academic performance.”

The study, funded by the Mobile Manufacturer’s Forum, embarrassed themselves with the scientists’ findings that “components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are adversely affected by exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals.”  The researchers believed that the radiation was activating the brain’s stress system making the subjects “more alert and more focused, and decreasing their ability to wind down and fall asleep.” Almost half of the people in the study also reported to be “electrosensitive” experiencing headaches and impaired cognitive functions.

A much larger study followed 1656 Belgian teenagers for a year. The research found that most of them used their phones after going to bed. Those that did so once a week were three times more likely to report feeling “very tired” than those who did not use them in bed. Those who used them in bed more than once were five times more likely to report feeling “very tired.” Dr. William Kohler of the Florida Sleep Institute said “Anything that disrupts the integrity of your sleep will potentially have adverse consequences in functioning during the day, such as grouchiness, difficulty concentrating, and in children hyperactivity and behavior problems.”

James Horne and his colleagues at the Loughborough University Sleep Research Center in England found that cell phone signals disrupted brain wave patterns “long after” the cell phones were turned off. The subjects in his study, as described by Douglas Field in Scientific American, also had difficulties falling asleep. They found that delta wave patterns characteristic of stage two sleep (50% of total sleep) were negatively affected for nearly an hour after the phone was shut off. His findings and those of others are stimulating additional research into electromagnetic radiation and its affect on mental behaviors. Sensitivity to such low level radiation raises concerns of mind control.

The cell phone, while exhibiting negative influences on deep sleep, is soon to become a critical tool to the sleep deprived. Dr. Phillip Low has found the way to link a single channel EEG to a SPEARS algorithm which is capable of mapping an entire night’s worth of brain activity. His company, NeuroVigil, uses an adhesive, wireless sensor or a head strap to monitor the brainwave activity. “NeuroVigil’s sleep monitoring solution streams and records the patient’s EEG data through their cell phone or smartphone.” Dr. Low, a 30-year-old neuroscientist is about to market his iBrain device (the size of two pennies) which, according to Daniel Heimpel of the Huffington Post, will “revolutionize the study of sleep, speed the diagnosis of disease, and tap into the multibillion dollar sleep and neurodiagnostics markets.” Until now, sleep tests have averaged more than $3,000. The cost has been prohibitive for the more than seventy million Americans suffering from sleep disorders. The sleep tests have previously required hook-ups to multiple electrode systems and overnight stays in uncomfortable strange laboratory environments not at all conducive to regular sleep patterns.

The data from the iBrain may unlock keys to cures and/or medications for sleep apnea, insomnia, and other sleep disorders. It will assist in the pre-market testing of pharmaceuticals of the future. The pharmaceutical companies, the Defense Departments, and the transportation industries are all knocking on Dr. Low’s door. They would all like a piece of Dr. Low’s brain as well as his company but he has decided to run his company on his own terms.

Dr. Low’s brain, the iBrain, and your cell phone may provide the keys to the gateway of your brain…and the solution to your sleep problems. A dream comes true?  

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

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Hollywood Sleeps in Obama’s Arms While Gulf Screams for Help

June 14th, 2010

One of the dead victims of the spill. Kemp's Ridley sea turtle was already endangered.

Now that their “messiah” from Chicago has been elected to the nation’s highest office, Hollywood is hypocritically silent. When Bush was in office, nary a week passed without our hearing passionate cries for his impeachment or vile insults upon his intelligence. Concerts, benefits, songs, commercials, and appeals for donations almost immediately followed worldwide disasters. The tribute to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack, only ten days later, raised more than $100 million. The concert telethon for the 2004 tsunami victims raised millions more. The “Shelter from the Storm” concert raised $30 million for Hurricane Katrina victims. “Hope for Haiti” raised $66 million for Haiti’s earthquake victims. Eight weeks after America’s worst ever environmental disaster, one which Obama compared to 9/11 (to the consternation of more than 2000 victims’ families), we have not heard from our Hollywood celebrities. They appear to be resting comfortably in the arms of their “messianic” President, fearing to breathe a word that might bring harm to his already tanking numbers.

The environment has been a favorite topic for our Hollywood celebs. They love to espouse the global warming theme popularized by Al Gore, another of their political heroes. The BP oil spill will go down in the record books as the biggest environmental disaster in our history. Approximately 100,000 barrels of oil have been spewing into the gulf every day. That’s the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every 2.4 to 3.5 days, according to Steven Wereley of Purdue University. Patrick Szabo  says the oil is “destroying the Gulf of Mexico and its beautiful ecosystem.” Tons of species will be affected by this disaster. Some may soon be in danger of extinction. North Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, famous for the sushi our Hollywood friends are fond of, may be in danger since their spawning in the Gulf of Mexico occurs from mid-April to mid-June. “Five of the world’s seven sea turtle species live, migrate, and breed in the Gulf region,” says Julia Kumari Drapkin, writing for Global Post. Sharks, marine mammals (whales, porpoises, dolphins), brown pelicans, oysters, shrimp, blue crab, marsh dwelling fish, beach nesting and migratory shorebirds, and migratory songbirds are all in jeopardy. Where are the pictures of our Hollywood celebrities cleaning off the oil-coated brown pelicans dying on the beaches?

Fishing in the gulf accounts for a billion dollars of our nation’s GDP, with $13 billion more in tourism, and $11 billion in oil, according to Charles Colgan of the National Ocean Economics Program. Florida has no state income tax and its economy depends on tourism. Many of the Gulf States are suffering the loss of thousands of jobs as a result of Obama’s suspension of all drilling operations in the gulf. The Department of Economic Development in Louisiana estimates losing “3,000 to 6,000 jobs in the next two to three weeks, and as many as 10,000 Louisiana jobs within six months,” as reported in mcclatchydc.com.  Even the fishing industries, devastated as they are by the BP spill, support the oil industry. Many boats tie to the rigs while dropping their lines. Grand Isle’s Dean Blanchard, one of the largest shrimp distributors in the country says, “We’re suffering enough without others suffering.” Governor Bobby Jindal is urging Obama to move quickly to remove the moratorium. Jeff Landry, running for congress calls the moratorium “nothing short of a domestic attack on our economy.”

People in the Gulf states are suffering and our President is not helping. Our Hollywood “friends” are hopelessly asleep in the comfort of his golf and basketball toned arms. Hollywood’s fundraising capabilities are unquestioned. Their successes have been well documented in the past. Today they dare not speak against their “messiah” …even if it means denying the screams of our American victims in the Gulf. The silence of Hollywood is deafening.

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

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Sleep Deprivation Pandemic Infects the Healthcare Industry

June 9th, 2010

Sleepy, stressed nurse

The pandemic of sleep deprivation is costing the national economy more than 56 billion dollars a year. These costs have been well documented and proven in many studies. The costs to the health of our doctors and nurses are only beginning to be disclosed. The costs to patients’ health and lives will probably remain clothed by the disinfected, sterile sheets used to cover our helpless and totally dependent bodies. The white code of silence in the health industry is more pervasive than the blue code of silence practiced by our law enforcement agencies. Legal consequences of sleep deprivation’s gangrenous effects in the health industry will keep the facts locked in the icy drawers of the basement morgue.

A recent study of 80 registered nurses conducted by the University of Maryland found that serious sleep deprivation was infecting the industry. The “common practice” of successive 12 hour shifts is increasing the risk of health problems and is increasing the odds of “making patient errors.” 12 hour shifts have been a trend since the nursing shortages began in the 70s and 80s. Jeanne Geiger-Brown, PhD, RN, and associate professor with the school of nursing at UMD, says that nurses often prefer the long shifts and the extra time off to normal 8 hour shifts. The problem with successive 12 hour shifts is that over 50% of those shifts last longer than 12.5 hours. When commute times and responsibilities at home are added to the long workday, there is very little time for sleep. Nurses reported an average sleep time of 5.5 hours between shifts and an even lower average of 5.2 hours for night shift nurses. They reported “extremely fragmented“ sleep. Fragmented sleep is not restorative and the resulting sleep deprivation takes its toll.

A study reported by Reuters in London found that people who work 10 or 11 hours a day have a 60% greater chance of an adverse heart event than those who work an 8 hour shift. One or two hours of overtime did not show an increased risk. Workplace stress by itself “may be as hazardous to your health as smoking, high cholesterol and other conventional risk factors for cardiovascular disease” according to a Wall Street Journal report on Canadian research. It is difficult to imagine a more highly stressed working environment than a hospital emergency room.

The negative effects of sleep deprivation are: a lack of focus and attention; slowed thinking and reactions (similar effects to drinking); apathy; weight gain; high blood pressure and heart disease; a weakened immune system; and depression. These effects can then lead to self-prescribed sleep aids at night and stimulants for work-time wakefulness. That combination can be deadly in the hands of those entrusted with our healthcare. The death of the infected healthcare providers will take time. The effects of weight gain, high blood pressure, heart disease, weakened immune systems, and depression take time to wreak their havoc on the human body. Nurses and doctors in a sleep deprived state have the immediate potential to accidentally take the lives of the patients entrusted to their care.  

Intern work hours were reduced in 2003 from 100 hours a week to no more than 80 hours a week. They are also “limited” to no more than 30 hours in a shift. Those shifts can be repeated every third day. Harvard researchers found that 84 percent of the more than 4000 interns surveyed reported (despite risk of career ending repercussions) work hours in violation of the standards. Their fatigue and lack of concentration is resulting in driving while drowsy car accidents, needlesticks, and scalpel accidents. They risk blood borne illnesses to themselves and associates, errors in prescription recommendations, early burnout from the stresses of the profession, and depression.

Researchers from the UCSD School of Medicine, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), found that the parietal lobes of the brain (responsible for arithmetic performance) are much less active following sleep deprivation. Gregory G. Brown, PhD., associate professor of psychiatry at UCSD, said “…there is not a brain system to come on line to compensate for the negative effects of sleep deprivation.” Arithmetic calculations are used countless times a day by doctors and nurses computing doses of medications and in the planning and execution of operational procedures. The following photos from the December 1999 issue of NeuroReport illustrate the findings.

Photos from the December 1999 Issue of NeuroReport

Sleep deprived brain activity, as shown on the bottom, compared to well rested brain activity shown on the top, certainly endangers the life of the patient. The red areas show least intense activity and yellow areas show most intense activity. The calculations might easily result in deadly mistakes. Jeanne Geiger-Brown cited a study of 393 nurses on 5,317 shifts that found “the odds of making errors by those who reported working more than 12 hours in shifts was three times greater than nurses who reported working 8.5 hour shifts.” She was co-author of an article called “Is it Time to Pull the Plug on 12-Hour Shifts?”

Those 12-hour shifts are not likely to end soon. The shortage of doctors and nurses is worsening once again. It is bound to get even worse as we get closer to the salary constraints of a government administered healthcare system. The white code of silence in the health industry will then be cloaked by a second layer of government cover-up of the life-threatening shortage of sleep deprived healthcare providers. Will there be enough drawers in the icy basement morgues for our future healthcare recipients?

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

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FAA and NTSB Sound Asleep. Pilot Fatigue Screams the Alarm Again!

May 30th, 2010

Time to Wake Up!

Despite a promise the Obama administration made in June of 2009 proposing “new limits on how many hours airline pilots can fly” the FAA, the NTSB, and air safety regulators across the globe continue to “sleep in” while the screaming alarms continue to sound. The crash of the Air India flight last week killing 158 people sounded the most recent alarm on possible pilot fatigue and pilot error. The reason I say “possible” is because the investigation for cause of that particular disaster has not been completed. It is doubtful that pilot fatigue will be blamed for the crash. Our air safety regulators choose to continually hit the snooze button and then to throw the alarm out the window. They will no doubt find a simpler cause to the crash. They do not want to confront the airline industry or the airline unions with the stringent new regulations necessary to protect our safety in the air.

Randy Babbitt, FAA administer, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, attended congressional hearings convened to discuss the crash of the Continental Connection Flight 3407 on February 12, 2009 near Buffalo, NY. The crash killed all 49 people on board as well as one person on the ground. The crash was caused by pilot fatigue. Babbitt told Congress and the media that he would propose a new rule addressing pilots’ fatigue related complaints dealing with multiple take-offs and landings (often described as more stressful than long flights) “in the next several months.” Mr. Babbitt, you can wake up now. It’s been well over a year now and we have not seen your new regulations. Babbitt assigned the Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) the task of drafting the new rule changes by September 1, 2009. The committee completed their task on time. An Aviation Today article detailing Mr. Babbitt’s promises described the ARC’s 18 members working together with unions, airline industry representatives, and the FAA. Mr. Babbitt said the group was examining “flight time, duty, and rest limitations; including definitions of rest, duty, fatigue, captain’s authority, and reserve. Scientists who specialize in fatigue made presentations about sleep opportunities, circadian rhythms and potential scheduling.” Wrapping up his speech Mr. Babbitt said, “I can’t say this any more directly than I am right now: We all have to take on additional responsibilities whether we’re legally required to or not. This is about safety, and safety is about saving lives.” The ARC finished up in September 2009, but Mr. Babbitt has been silent ever since.

Our administrators are not the only air safety regulators shunning their alarm clocks’ screaming cries. The European Cockpit Association, a group of pilots unions with over 38,000 members criticized the European Union’s “endangering air safety by failing to act on the recommendations of experts who say cuts in flying hours are needed to curb pilot fatigue. Here in the EU, pilot fatigue is the single biggest “hot potato” safety issue where neither the European Commission nor the European Aviation Safety Agency has shown any leadership to move decisively towards science-based EU rules.” The CBC in Canada has repeatedly reported on Transport Canada’s failures to respond to pilot fatigue issues. More than a dozen crashes linked to pilot fatigue have occurred since Regionnair’s flight 347 crash 10 years ago. Serge Gagne, the pilot of that flight had been working 30 days straight when he crashed in 1999. He was in his 18thhour of duty and was 60 hours over Transport Canada’s monthly limit. The Air Canada Pilots Association, with over 7,000 members, has been asking for changes to Transport Canada’s regulations for years. The regulations haven’t been changed since 1995, and before that, the changes last made were in the 1940s. Our own NTSB has been pressing for new regulations on pilot hours for 19 years. An FAA proposed rule change in 1995 was halted by the air industry. Pilot unions wanted to reduce the duty hours from 16 to 14, but the airline industry said no. Dave Ross, of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing pilot unions at six regional airlines, says, “It’s money. If you can’t fly as long as you do today, then that increases your cost.” Mr. Babbitt, Ray LaHood, the Obama administration, and the airline industries need to ask themselves “How much money is human life worth?”

 The Wall Street Journal recently chimed in on this issue with an article by Andy Pasztor titled “Dispute Over Cost Delays Pilot Rules.”   He attributes the delay of proposed changes to a dispute between the FAA and the White House Office of Management and Budget. He says that budget officials have told the FAA informally that “the proposal’s projected cost to airlines wasn’t justified by the anticipated safety benefits.”

Front row seats at the FAA, formerly representing the airline industry belong to:

  • David Weingart: FAA Chief of Staff. Six years with Northwest Airlines.
  • Hank Krakowski: Chief Operating Officer. 30 years at United Airlines.
  • Ramesh Punwani: Chief Financial Officer. Past CFO and VP of Pan American World Airways
  • David Grizzle: Chief Counsel. 22 years at Continental Airlines. Responsible for agency regulation, safety enforcement and compliance programs, and personal and labor law.

Joining these FAA administrators in affecting current air safety regulations and concerns are the following important lobbyists:

  • Former Senators John Breaux and Trent Lott, along with at least 17 former congressional aides and staffers now with Delta Airlines.
  • Sharon Pinkerton, former FAA Assistant Administrator, now with the airlines main lobbying group: Air Transport Association of America.
  • Linda Daschle, wife of former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, former ATA executive and former FAA deputy administrator and acting administrator in the 90s. Now she is one of Washington’s top lobbyists, paid more than $440,000 a year to lobby for American Airlines.

Regulators, airline executives, congressional representatives, and lobbyists are constantly exchanging places in the merry-go-round for money. While they ride their ever changing horses, air safety regulations will take the back seat near the toilets where we can listen to the constant flushes of empty promises disappearing into the thin air.

 In the meantime, we will continue to read frightening data, such as these, reported by Stephen Stock and the investigation team of CBS4 in Miami:

  • “1011 incidents nationwide since 1978 where pilot fatigue caused a safety concern on board the aircraft or an actual crash. 689 of those incidents happened in the last five years (2005-2009).”
  • “Data from the FAA, NTSB, and NASA shows the problem is growing. There were 189 incidents in 2008 which is up from 117 incidents the year before (2007). And in just the first 9 months of 2009 there were 104 incidents of serious pilot fatigue which is the same number as in entire years in the past.”

Their investigation team even found a brochure, published by the NTSB in 1990, “calling for the FAA to address fatigue immediately.”

 Randy Babbitt’s latest word comes from his statementbefore the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Aviation on Update: The Agency’s Call to Action on Airline Safety and Pilot Training. His complete statement can be found on faa.gov. He laments that, despite his direction for an aggressive timeline for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) by the end of last year to update the rules from the mid-1990s, it did not happen. He says, “However, with my continued emphasis on this topic, we hope to issue an NPRM this spring. Although this is slightly later than I originally hoped, it is still an extremely expedited schedule and I can assure you the FAA team working on this is committed to meeting the target.”

 FLUSH, FLUSH, FLUSH…

 RING, RING, RING…

 Anyone hear the alarm going off? It’s ringing! Daylight has arrived. No one hears it. Our sleep deprived pilots are on their radios airing their distress signals. The music of the flushing toilet, the carrousel, and the ride for money are drowning out the cries for passenger safety. When will our regulators awaken from their sleep paralysis?

 Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

Comments and discussion encouraged. Please click on the comments below.

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“Extreme Fear” and the Ultimate Choice: Panic or Focus?

May 26th, 2010

"The Scream" painting by Edvard Munch

The following introduction is reprinted from “Extreme Fear” with the permission of the author, Jeff Wise…

On June 3, 1970, shortly before noon, a British pilot named Neil Williams strapped himself into the harness of his blue-and-white Zlin Akrobat, a rugged but nimble single-engine airplane built in Czechoslovakia. The World Aerobatic Championship was coming up, and Williams planned to prepare himself by running through the sequence of maneuvers that he’d be flying in competition.

With a lantern jaw, deep-set eyes, and shock of dark hair swept back from a high forehead, Williams looked every bit a casting director’s idea of a daredevil pilot — and in his case, looks did not deceive. Williams was a veteran flyer with a vast and varied store of experience under his belt. In the course of his career he had flown more than 150 different kinds of airplanes and accumulated more than 6,000 hours in flight time. A retired Royal Air Force test pilot, and four-time winner of the UK aerobatic championships, he was, at 36, already regarded as one of the greatest all-around pilots that Britain had ever produced. But his skills had never been tested as they were about to be.

Rafts of fair-weather clouds drifted over the Royal Air Force base at Hullavington, England, as Williams lined up on the runway, opened the throttle, and roared into the air at full power. The wind aloft was gentle, and as Williams climbed he noted with satisfaction that there was no detectable turbulence — that meant he’d be able to carve his maneuvers all the more precisely.

Williams ran his sequence twice through without incident, then brought the Zlin back to level flight and prepared to practice his routine one final time. After only a few minutes in the air, he was already near his limit for fatigue. Competitive aerobatics is a uniquely demanding undertaking. As a mental discipline, it requires exacting attention to detail, the ability to think quickly and three-dimensionally, and to maintain one’s poise while rapidly moving through maneuvers that turn the plane upside down, or cause it to fall backwards, or spin like a top. As a physical discipline, it requires grit and superb fitness as the airplane’s abrupt changes of direction slam the pilot from one side of the cockpit to the other, with centrifugal forces at times pressing on the body with nine times its actual weight and at other times leaving him hanging upside-down from his harness straps. A four-minute aerobatic routine is enough to leave a pilot drained and soaked in sweat.

Midway through the third run-through of his routine, Williams was coming over the top of a loop, a high arcing figure in which his plane carved through the air like a high fly ball. As it reached the top, Williams was upside-down in his seat, the checkered farmland of southwest England arrayed above his head, the cloud-dappled sky under his seat. The plane continued its arc downward past its apex, and the horizon sank toward the bottom of his windscreen until all he could see in front of him was ground. His descent grew steeper and steeper until he was staring straight down.

Barreling earthward through 1500 feet, Williams hauled the stick toward his chest in order to pull the Zlin back to level flight. He clenched his abdominal muscles in anticipation of the resulting g forces, as gravity combined with the centrifugal force of the plane’s curving path would press him into his seat with five times his normal weight. Only by grunting and clenching his leg and stomach muscles could he prevent the blood from rushing out of his head and causing him to black out.

The plane was just coming level with the ground, 1000 feet up, when —BANG! A jolt shook the airplane. The Zlin started rolling left — all except the left wing, which stayed oddly level with the horizon. Williams instantly intuited what had happened: the force of the pull-out had broken the internal spar that gave the wing most of its strength. If that were the case, then the whole wing was about to fall off. He pushed the stick all the way to the right, but the plane kept rolling left. The ground was just 300 feet below and rising fast.

For most pilots, that would have been the end. But in the few seconds he had left before his plane cratered, Williams had an insight. He remembered the story of a Bulgarian pilot who had suffered a malfunction in a similar model of Zlin years before. The circumstances in that case had been different –- the Bulgarian had been flying inverted when a failure of a bolt in one of the wings had caused the plane to unexpectedly flip right-side up. But a detail of the story stuck out: once the Bulgarians plane was right-side up, the wing had snapped back into place. Maybe Williams’ situation was analogous, but reversed. If he went from right-side up to upside down, his wing might snap back in place, too.

In less time than it takes to form a complete thought, Williams threw the stick hard to the left until the Zlin was fully inverted, then pushed the stick forward. His face swelled and turned red as gravity and centrifugal force drained blood from his body into head. WHUMP! With a satisfying thump the wing settled backed into place. By now Williams was almost in the treetops, and for a moment he was sure he was going to crash. Then the plane began to climb.

Hanging in his harness, Williams coaxed the stricken craft skyward, eking out precious altitude foot by foot. He didn’t have much time: his engine, he knew, would only run for eight minutes upside-down. He weighed his options. Without a parachute, his options were stark. Should he try to crash land upside-down in trees? Find a lake to ditch in?

Just then the engine sputtered and died. A new potentially fatal disaster. Williams scanned the cockpit and quickly found the problem: in the initial jolt, he had accidentally hit the knob which shuts off the fuel supply to the engine. He flipped it back to the “on” position. After a few coughs, the engine came back to life.

Williams was running short on time. He decided his best chance for survival was to crash-land at the airfield. He guided the Zlin home and set up his landing approach upside-down. As the end of the runway passed above his head, he pushed the stick hard to the right and rolled the plane rightside up. Again the left wing folded up, and the plane careened sideways as it touched down. Williams curled into a ball until the plane  stopped moving, then broke open the damaged canopy and leapt free. The plane was a wreck, but he had survived without a scratch.

HOW WILLIAMS MANAGED to survive the catastrophic failure of his wing at low altitude is a mystery. In aeronautical terms, to be sure, the question of staying in the air was simply a matter of physics. But the psychology of what happened is another matter. By conventional understanding, Williams should have died that day. Under such intense pressure, with fatal impact a few seconds away, the surge of hormones should have been so intense, the neurons of his fear circuitry so overloaded, that Williams should have been barely able to function, let alone to come up with a creative solution in the blink of an eye.

Something extraordinary must have been going on in his brain. Some mechanism in his psychological tool kit must have somehow protected him from panic and perhaps even given him an extra dose of mental power to get him through the crisis. Whatever he possessed, it was a rare talent. Rare, but not unique. The annals of human achievement are peppered with stories of people who managed to survive lethal danger by thinking on their feet. How do they do it? What makes them different? And, most importantly, what can the rest of us learn from them?

How many professional pilots would have survived this test? Fear offers us the “opportunity” to choose. At times, the choice means life or death. Our choice can be panic, paralysis, and ultimately death. Our second choice is to take a couple of deep breaths, to refocus, and to energize a life-saving response. Seemingly insurmountable challenges to survival are documented in “Extreme Fear.” The read should be inspiring!

A review of “Frozen in Fear, Paralysis and Death, or Challenge to Action”, followed by a reading of “Extreme Fear,” guarantees future postings on one of my favorite topics.

Watch a Zlin 50 fly in this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPRXd-oJcjY&NR=1&feature=fvwp 

Special thanks to Jeff Wise for his reprint permission. Check out his blog at: http://jeffwise.wordpress.com/

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Air India Crash Leaves Smoking Hole at the End of the Runway

May 22nd, 2010

 

Mangalore Air Crash

An Air India plane carrying 158 passengers and 8 crew members overshot the runway, barrelled through the sand pit, and left a “smoking hole” on the side of a cliff. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation in India has been charged with solving this mystery. There were only 8 survivors of the crash: four with serious injuries, 3 with minor injuries, and one with no injuries. Both pilots, experienced in many successful landings at the Mangalore Airport, were killed along with their crew and 150 passengers. Is this another example of pilot fatigue and pilot error? Too early at this point to determine, but the conditions at the time of the crash eliminate many possibilities:

  • The winds were calm.
  • It was not raining, and the runway was dry.
  • The visibity was good at 6 kilometers.
  • There were no previous malfunctions in the aircraft’s history.
  • Both pilots had many successful landings at Mangalore Airport.
  • They were landing on the longer (8000 ft.) runway and not the shorter (6000 ft.) one.
  • There were no pilot trouble signals reported to the tower on the approach.

Praful Patel, India’s Civil Aviation Minister, told reporters at the scene that the runway was overshot by 2000 feet! His videotaped interview can be  found at ndtv.com and the Press Trust of India.

Will this tragic crash be attributed to the growing problems of pilot fatigue and sleep deprivation? Will more “smoking holes” and lost lives be required to address the world-wide problems? Only time will tell.

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

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Blue Light and Yellow Goggles: Essential Equipment for Sleep and Mood?

May 18th, 2010

Blue Light Box

 

Yellow Goggles

Blue light therapy and yellow goggles are becoming essential equipment for sleep disorders, for depression, and for seasonal affective disorder. Advanced sleep phase syndrome, delayed sleep phase syndrome, periodic insomnia, shift work sleep disorders, and jet lag are all related to circadian rhythm interruptions. Photoreceptor cells in the retina have been discovered that are directly linked to the “circadian pacemaker” of our brain: the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces melatonin which is the hormone responsible for our sleep-wake cycle. Daylight suppresses melatonin production and darkness stimulates its production, increasing sleepiness. Kate Le Page, in a recent article, traced the birth of light box therapy to the sanatoria of Europe in the 1870s. Sunlight was found beneficial to the treatment of bacterial diseases common at the time. Scandinavian countries, where the sun is in short supply for much of the year, have taken light therapy more seriously than the rest of the world. A light “shot” can be found on the menu in Finland cafes where you can drink your coffee while receiving your light therapy at the table. Sweden has equipped many cold war bomb shelters with full spectrum lights for therapy purposes. Russia is using light therapy to reduce worker sick days and to increase productivity. Their research has found a link between light therapy and an increase in the body’s ability to cope with pollutants and to boost immunization effectiveness.

Steven Lockley, Charles Czeisler, and George Brainard have done extensive studies on the utilization of blue light to combat sleep issues. They have found that blue light contains more energy than white light and it can be more efficient utilizing less time and energy to alter the sleep-wake cycles. Lockley, in the Harvard University Gazette, suggests that blue light “may be a powerful countermeasure for the negative effects of fatigue for people who work or study at night.” Blue light proved more beneficial than green light in reducing sleepiness, speeding reaction times, and focusing attention.

Dr. Joshua Gooley, in Annals Academy of Medicine, details more specific prescriptions:

  • For later sleep-wake times and phase delay shift:
    • Evening bright light therapy before bed, dim light after wake time.
  • For earlier sleep-wake times and phase advance shift:
    • Morning bright light therapy after wake time, dim light prior to bedtime.
  • For entrainment of sleep-wake cycle and phase advance shift:
    • Morning bright light therapy after wake time, when sleep episode occurs during night.
  • For adaptation to shift work and large phase delay shift:
    • Bright light therapy in evening/night, dim light after work, strict adherence to regular sleep-wake times.
  • For jet lag, eastward travel, and phase advance shift:
    • Morning bright light therapy after wake time (home time), dim light prior to bedtime.
  • For jet lag, westward travel, and phase delay shift:
    • Evening bright light therapy before bedtime (home time), dim light after wake time.

Blue light boxes are available from many sources. The time required to affect a shift should be 15 to 30 minutes over a period of a couple of days. The light source should be placed 1 to 2 feet above the subject and not directly in line with the eye. The photoreceptors linked to your circadian pacemaker detect the light from the bottom of the retina. During dim light periods yellow goggles should be worn for 1 to 2 hours in order to filter out the blue light spectrum.

The best information I found on light therapy for treating depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) comes from psycheducation.org. Light therapy was proven to be as effective as antidepressant medication therapy with far fewer side effects. Its use, however, for depression and SAD should take place under a doctor’s supervision. Treatments were initiated at 30 minutes a day and decreased to 15 minutes for maintenance through the winter months. If you are a night owl, your treatment should occur as late as 8 or 9 am. If you are a lark, your treatment should occur as early as 5 am. The therapy works best when applied 8 to 9 hours after the onset of melatonin secretion. The time will be relative to your particular circadian rhythm. An excellent quiz to help determine your rhythm and optimum treatment times and durations can be found at cet-surveys.org.

Get ready for the blue lights and the yellow goggles. Before too long they will be mandatory equipment for our sleep deprived and depression plagued world. Until then, enjoy the sun and the natural cheer it brings!

Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.

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