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Pilot union's lax safety attitude doesn’t mesh with reality

52-year-old federal pilot Lynn Deibert, who died after falling off the Jacob’s ladder and into the Atlantic Ocean while trying to board a ship in 2007, was obese with chronic ailments. This according to a U.S. Coast Guard investigative report obtained by Professional Mariner Magazine under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, despite assurances by several pilot associations to strengthen safety policies, relatively little has been implemented to crack down on pilots physically unfit for the demands of their jobs.

"The pilots understand the physical demands of their job, and frankly there hasn't been a need to reinforce that or bring that home to them," said Paul Kirchner of the American Pilots' Association (APA).

Apparently, Mr. Kircher does not feel that the late Lynn Deibert and other pilots of questionable fitness pose a threat to their own safety.

Deibert was listed at 5-10 and 302 pounds in his physical exam taken six weeks before his death. The Coast Guard report cited him as having cardiovascular issues and regularly taking several prescription medications with side effects “causing dizziness, low blood pressure, fainting, slow heartbeat and drowsiness."

Boston pilot Robert Cordes was listed at 5-11 and 264 pounds with several medical issues, according to a Coast Guard report. In 2006, he was killed after falling off a Jacob’s ladder and onto a barge.

Andy Hammond, like Paul Kirchner, believes fitness is not the issue. Hammond is a member of the Merchant Mariner Personnel Advisory Committee who assists seafarers in license exam preparation. He feels that pilots know best the shape they need to be in and that they are capable of monitoring themselves without the need for outside regulation.

"Their livelihood is to be able to hop from the pilot boat and climb up the Jacob's ladder and climb up to the wheelhouse. So they keep themselves in good shape," Hammond said. "It's not a regulatory thing — it's self-imposed."

Both Hammond and Kircher believe that an unsafe Jacob’s ladder was completely to blame for Cordes’ death and that his physical issues did not play a role. Never mind the fact that boarding a large vessel in often very difficult conditions can be a physical challenge for even young mariners in prime physical condition. Never mind that in many places such as the Columbia River and Northern Europe, most ship boardings are done via helicopter instead of from a boat.

Though pilots and all mariners must pass physical exams meeting Coast Guard minimums, the agency, unions and companies often leave the decision to clear medicals up to contracted physicians. While there are no industry height and weight requirements such as with military physical standards, mariners are supposed to satisfy minimal exertion standards from tests to run in place or lift a particular weight a certain number of times.

Almost any mariner can cite numerous examples of crew members he or she has encountered who could barely climb a single flight of stairs without panting excessively. Not to mention so called “able bodied” seamen who refused to go aloft because they were not, well, able-bodied.

Read more about the two pilot fatalities here.


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