Are Doctors Bad Pilots? - Air Facts Journal

Dear Hunter:

The paragraph ending sentence,”I have concluded that an airman’s personality and character better define the risk profile for flying than does his/her occupation.” is a very accurate summation of Dr. Mendenhall’s article regarding physician pilots.

I have been training residents for twenty-five years and I am chairperson of our medical center’s Physician Health and Wellness Committee(PHWC). I have learned that physicians represent a group of rugged individualists who are not the best team players. They attain their goals by individual effort initially in their undergraduate training to gain entry to medical school. They continue this concept of “having to excel” in order to obtain the residency of their choice during the yearly matching program. During their orthopedic residency we immediately identify character flaws and personality traits that on occasion can and does affect their willingness to accept constructive criticism and heed our warnings. We have made mistakes by allowing the “risk taker” and the insecure resident to finish our program. The culmination of these personality issues does not reach a serious point until the end of the third year and it is very,very difficult for our staff to make the decision to terminate their training and suggest another specialty.

The same personality issues and character flaws exist in the physician who eventually is directed to the PHWC following events that occur in the OR,ICU and on the clinical floors. The surgeons with their “stronger personalities” seem to be the largest offenders regarding making insults to staff personnel in the ORs and the ICUs. They seem to be unable to grasp and understand that ” people forget what you may have said, but they never forget how you made them feel.” We have saved the careers of many physicians by redirecting them to anger management classes, behavior modification classes and occasionally to mental health centers.

These personality flaws, combined with the ability to make large six figure incomes and the desire to “take on another challenge”, end up seated next to a flight instructor whom initially assumes the student understands that becoming a safe and careful pilot is a journey, not a destination. I admire the commitment of every CFI whom I have had the pleasure to work with since I completed my training in 1985. Each CFI, whether they teach as an avocation enroute to “fly for the majors” or as their full time vocation, takes pride in what they do and can teach at every phase of training. They are tasked with the same dilemma we have when we realize a resident is not studying or more importantly listening to their instructors in the ORs and clinics. The cockpit is the laboratory of a CFI where the student must learn the importance of using a check list, conducting a detailed pre-flight inspection, performing pre-flight planning, learning communication skills and fully understanding the weather conditions at the departure airport, the enroute weather and the weather at the arrival airport. When these factors are not followed, tragic events can and do occur. We have a saying called the six “Ps”, PROPER PRE-0P PLANNING PREVENTS PROLONGED PROCEDURES”. There is also a 7th “P”, which is the pee running down your leg when you do not do the first six. IMO this also applies to every airman.

I liked Mr. Heath’s comment in his bio where he stated that on occasion “he reluctantly drives “. I do the same and have rented a car and driven home. When the weather improved I flew back and retrieved my airplane. I am constantly reminded of the saying, “It is much better to be driving and wish you were flying, than flying and wish you were driving.”