Stealth Pilot wrote:
On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:57:04 -0700, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

Others have stated that the occlusion mentioned may not have been that
impacting. But I don't think it justified Phillips claiming that it
"showed no blockage."

in your entire life you've never told a lie in a situation of great
duress????????

I've only told a lie twice in my life. Uhhh, three, if you count now.
Uhhh...four? :-)

We're not talking a mere "lie," here, we're talking about a criminal
act. Lying on an FAA medical is good for a quarter-million-dollar fine
and/or a five-year prison sentence.

you wouldnt be human if you hadn't.

And I'm not catching the "duress" here. Phillips had nine months after
his angioplasty to decide what to say on his next medical. He did not
fly for hire; his livelihood did not depend on retaining his medical.
He didn't even *have* to take the medical... he could have let it expire
and continue to fly as a Sport Pilot.

So there was no "great duress." His option was to commit a felony, fly
without a medical, or not fly.

I don't want to come over all priggish here; there's probably a good
chance I'd continue to fly, with the same sort of conditions. The
difference would be that I don't think I'd commit perjury to do it, and
I wouldn't risk a passenger's life. There's a lot of peace of mind, in
flying a single-seat airplane....

From another posting...

so the term "acute mixed drug intoxication" just means a situation
that hadnt occurred for a long period. it doesnt mean that he had a
huge mixed drug intoxication problem, just one that had occurred at
the time.

I'm not a medical person...you may be right. A guy on the POA forum who
claims he's an MD said that the levels of Vicodin was in the "high toxic
to low lethal range," and the codine was "at the top of Therapeutic and
approaching Toxic." One would hope this wasn't a daily occurrence.

The accident occurred in late October as Phillips and his wife were
coming home from their cabin in the mountains of Utah. It's possible,
given the lateness of the year, that they had been closing out the cabin
for the winter. Phillips may have overdone it; he may have thrown his
back out and started chugging pills.

Ron Wanttaja