Drugs in the Cockpit

Is this an example of better living through chemistry, or does
chemically altered consciousness of pilots cause more problems than it
cures?



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AVflash Volume 10, Number 14b -- April 1, 2004
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"SMART DRUGS" ON THE WAY
A new generation of, uh, performance-enhancing drugs -- nicknamed
"V!agra for the mind" -- is in the works, and drug companies already
are looking at pilots as a potential market. According to a report in
theage.com, some in the industry are predicting these so-called "smart
drugs," which dramatically improve memory, could be on the market in
five to 10 years. "If [the drug] proves safe and effective, it could
ultimately be used by people who want to learn a language or a musical
instrument or even in schools," said Tim Tully, a professor of
genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#187000

....ALZHEIMER DRUG SHOWN TO BOOST COCKPIT PERFORMANCE...
Scientists already have experimented on pilots with drugs available
today, to see if they can make us better, more alert and more
responsive. Of particular note is a test done at Stanford University
in 2002 with donepezil, which is widely used to ease the memory loss
of Alzheimer patients. It found that pilots taking donepezil performed
better in tests in a Cessna 172 simulator than those given a placebo,
and that the drug-taking pilots were particularly superior at landing
and maintaining a scan of the panel.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#187001

....AS "GO PILLS" FUEL MILITARY PILOTS
Of course, drugs in the cockpit are nothing new. U.S. Air Force flight
surgeons frequently supply amphetamines to pilots for long flights and
in demanding combat situations -- a practice not without controversy.
Also known as "speed," and, in the military, as "go pills,"
amphetamines are considered essential by some in the military to
maintaining a top-notch fighting force. Their use was not publicly
well-known until the drugs were implicated in a friendly-fire incident
in Afghanistan in 2002, in which an American F-16 pilot mistakenly
dropped a laser-guided bomb on Canadian soldiers, killing four of
them.
http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#187002