Senior AME offers tips to protect yourself from coronavirus
Dr. Brent Blue, an AOPA Pilot magazine contributor, FAA senior aviation medical examiner, and airline transport pilot with more than 9,000 hours of flight time, offered several measures to help keep pilots and passengers safe in general aviation aircraft during the coronavirus pandemic.
GA is not immune to the effects of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus that prompted the World Health Organization to declare a pandemic on March 11.
He also suggested that if a pilot transports a person “who is sick or becomes sick shortly after a flight,” it’s important to wipe down the aircraft’s interior surfaces “including headsets and mics. If they have a foam mic cover, it should be taken off the mic and rinsed in a 10 percent Clorox solution and dried thoroughly before reinstalling.” He also reminded pilots to clean the underlying microphone with a disinfectant wipe, and any touch screens, too.
Blue said to be mindful that altitude can adversely affect sick people. He said to thoroughly clean or discard oxygen masks or cannulas if a sick person used one of the devices, because “the virus is attracted to lung tissue.”
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