Canada AM 07:43:30 Eastern Time August 1, 2002
US Pilots Stay Up Taking "Uppers"
Related ResourcePERFORMANCE MAINTENANCE During Continuous Flight Operations A GUIDE FOR FLIGHT SURGEONS - NAVMED P-6410 - 1 JAN 2000 -- Intermittently since Vietnam up through Desert Storm the Air Force has used both amphetamines and sedatives in selected aircraft for specific missions. USAF pilots during Desert Storm stated that 5 mgs of dextro-amphetamine (Dexedrine) helped maintain alertness without causing other changes in mood or perception. |
Good morning to you, Mr. Pike. PIKE: Good morning.
LaFLAMME: Is there possibly a relationship between pilots on uppers and Canadian soldiers dead?
PIKE: Well, I don't know. There is certainly no information directly connecting them. But I would have to say that the initial reports that we had suggesting that the pilot was acting in an unusually I would say almost inexplicably aggressive fashion, my immediate thought was that maybe he'd simply been taking too much speed. Now we have had subsequent reports suggesting that the air controllers simply didn't even know that the Canadians were there. So I think it's too soon to say whether there is any connection here. But I think it's a very important question that we don't have an answer for yet.
LaFLAMME: It's interesting to me that your first thought was, Oh, I wonder if they were taking too much speed. As if was a matter of course. How common is this among pilots?
PIKE: Well, it's uncommon for pilots that are flying short missions because normally a fighter pilot is only going to be going out a few hundred miles, up in the air for a couple of hours. On the other hand, for very long-duration missions such as they are flying over Afghanistan where they have to fly down the Persian Gulf from Kuwait, you're looking at eight, 10, 12, 14-hour missions. And under those circumstances I think the use of amphetamines would have to be routine simply in order to make sure that the pilot doesn't fall asleep at the wheel.
LaFLAMME: Well, what about military doping policy? It seems to me that the military is endorsing this then.
PIKE: Well, absolutely. I mean this is standard medical procedure because the aviation medical community recognizes the necessity of a pilot in a single-seat airplane remaining awake to be able to conduct the mission and in order to be able to land safely. It's routine, for instance, for astronauts on the shuttle to use amphetamines in order to reduce the effects of space motion sickness. During the Gulf War many of the pilots, and almost all of the pilots that were flying frequent long-range missions, were using amphetamines. But I think it's generally regarded as being part of the normal medical procedure under those circumstances.
LaFLAMME: So describe for us the cycle of dependency as laid out from the military.
PIKE: Well I think the concern that you would have to have, No. 1, is that somebody who's going to be on speed, using these amphetamines, is basically going to be in the mood of someone who has had their third or maybe fourth cup of coffee that morning. There is a possibility that they're going to be unusually irritable, easily provoked, maybe a little tinge of paranoia, overly concerned about threats to their well-being. I think there also has to be some concern about the use of both amphetamines to help the pilots fly long missions and then combine that with the use of sleeping pills to help them get to sleep when they come back. You get on that sort of roller coaster cycle and there is certainly the risk that rather than taking the prescribed dose they might wind up taking a bit too much and start behaving in irrational ways.
LaFLAMME: So they are self-regulating then on the amount of Dexedrine or whatever their taking?
PIKE: No, normally this is something that's going to be provided by the doctor for the squadron or for the wing. But one of the reasons why it has to be supplied by prescription is that these drugs are habit-forming and there is the potential for abuse.
LaFLAMME: So, this report says that these pilots are responsible for at least ten friendly-fire deaths. They may well have been on drugs. So how far back are we looking? And what do we do now to find out if the same is true for the Canadian victims?
PIKE: Well, I think the first thing is to ask the question. And frankly, I'm surprised that it's taken this long for somebody to ask this very obvious question. This is the sort of thing I think they're going to be looking into in the investigation of this particular friendly-fire incident. I would hope that it would provoke a review of these policies by the Air Force because on the one hand you certainly want to make sure that the pilots are able to stay alert and fly safely, but you also want to make sure that the use of those medications is done in a responsible fashion.
LaFLAMME: John Pike, very, very interesting and frightening information. Thanks for this this morning.
PIKE: Thank you.
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