Medical Reasons for Loss of License in Norwegian Professional Pilots

The aim of this study was to quantify causes of medical disqualification (groundings) of Norwegian commercial pilots for the period 2006-2010, and to compare our findings with former Norwegian studies on the subject to reveal possible changes in the disease spectrum over the last decades. We compared our data with previous studies for the periods 1982-1997 and 1997-2001, respectively.

The material was collected from the aeromedical section's archive. Files on all grounded pilots have been reviewed and classified by age group and diagnosis and grounding rates have been calculated.

From the study population comprising 12,552 pilot-years for the years 2006-2010 inclusive, 85 pilots were permanently grounded, i.e., an average grounding rate of 6.8 per 1000 pilot-years.

Compared with previous data there is a significant decrease in the disqualification rate due to cardiovascular conditions, while the disqualification rates due to ear, nose, and throat conditions and neurological conditions have both increased significantly.Høva JK, Thorheim L, Wagstaff AS. Medical reasons for loss of license in Norwegian professional pilots. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(2):146-149.