FAA Orders Apnea Testing For Overweight Pilots, Controllers

Enlarge this image toggle caption Cliff Owen/AP Cliff Owen/AP

U.S. pilots and air traffic controllers who are deemed overweight will be screened for obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, a condition that could cause them fatigue on the job, endangering the lives of air passengers, a new FAA order says.

In a recent memo, the Federal Aviation Administration's chief medical officer, Dr. Fred Tilton, has ordered physicians to calculate the body mass index of pilots and controllers. Anyone with a BMI of 40 or above will need to be evaluated by a sleep specialist.

"OSA inhibits restorative sleep, and it has significant safety implications because it can cause excessive daytime sleepiness, cognitive impairment, cardiac dysrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, personality disturbances, and hypertension, to cite just a few," Tilton wrote.

"Untreated OSA is a disqualifying condition for airmen and air traffic control specialists (ATCSs), and it is a concern for the other modes of the Department of Transportation. It has also been a hot issue at the National Transportation Safety Board for several years," he said.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said in a statement: "The updated sleep apnea guidelines that we plan to implement are designed to help airmen and aviation safety by improving the diagnosis of unrecognized or untreated obstructive sleep apnea."

The Experimental Aircraft Association, or EAA, has expressed strong objection to the policy shift: