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Pre-Flight Check

Your health, your medical, your say

Every pilot's career depends on a valid medical. This short survey asks how that shapes the everyday decisions pilots make about their health: seeing a doctor, taking medication and talking to their designated aviation medical examiner (DAME).

I'm Jake Abel, a 23-year-old Capetonian and final-year Aviation Management student at IU International University of Applied Sciences, and this survey is the heart of my bachelor's thesis, supervised by Prof. Dr. Jakob Funkenstein. Aviation has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I hold a private pilot licence (PPL), and as the first intern at a well-established ACMI airline in South Africa, I learned from experienced crew who had joined after some of South Africa's best-known airlines closed their doors. Many conversations with pilots led me to this topic.

This survey is completely independent. It has no affiliation with any airline or operator, the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), any DAME or medical clinic, or any other party that could use your information against your career. None of them will ever see your individual answers.

To my knowledge, this is the first survey of its kind among South African pilots. Your answers will help show operators, SACAA and pilots themselves what would make it easier to seek care early, and a summary of the findings, including the answers to a short quiz on SACAA's medical rules, will be shared with the pilot community. If it helps even one pilot look after their health, and makes South African skies a little safer, it will have been worth it.
Flight computer screen showing a flight plan from Cape Town to Johannesburg
• About 10 to 12 minutes on your phone or computer, with most questions answered in a single tap or click.
• The questions cover your age, gender and work, your views and experiences on seeing doctors, taking medication, talking to your DAME and support at work, and a short quiz on SACAA's medical rules.
• Taking part is voluntary. Apart from the two eligibility questions and the consent ticks, every question is optional, and you can stop at any time by closing the page.
• Some questions ask about decisions that may not have met SACAA's rules. Answer only what you're comfortable with; honest answers are the most useful.
• Your answers are saved only when you press Submit, or when the first two questions show the survey isn't for you. As the survey is anonymous, a submitted response can't be found and withdrawn.

How your answers stay private

• The survey is anonymous: it doesn't ask for your name, employer or licence number, and your IP address isn't recorded. Please don't add anything that could identify you or anyone else, including in the optional text box at the end; anything identifying is deleted.
• Your answers are stored by Tally in Europe and evaluated anonymously by the student. The raw answers are deleted within a month of the survey closing and are never shared with your employer, SACAA or any DAME.
• Only anonymised results are published, in the thesis and in a summary for the pilot community, and may include short anonymous quotes from the text box. IU receives no personal data about you.
• Responsible for your data: Jake Abel, the student, jake-lionel.abel@iu-study.org. IU has no influence on how your data are processed. Legal basis: your consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a), and Article 9(2)(a) for answers about your health and medication; POPIA).
• You can ask the student for access to your data or a copy, for its correction, deletion, restriction or transfer, or object to its processing. You can also complain to a supervisory authority, such as South Africa's Information Regulator (inforegulator.org.za).

Someone to talk to

Feeling like you’ve lost communication?
Worried about your health, your medical, or both? You’re never out of range. Confidential support, 24 hours a day:
Contact Mayday-SA 012 333 6000
Peer support for aviation licence holders. Ask for Mayday, or email support@mayday-sa.org.za

SADAG Cipla Mental Health Helpline, toll-free: 0800 456 789 or SMS 31393
SADAG Suicide Crisis Helpline, toll-free: 0800 567 567
LifeLine National Trauma and Crisis Line: 0861 322 322
In an emergency: 112 from a mobile phone, or 10177 for an ambulance

Reach out

Questions about the study
Student: Jake Abel, jake-lionel.abel@iu-study.org
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jakob Funkenstein, jakob.funkenstein@iu.org

Concerns about how the study is run
IU Ethics Committee: ethikkommission@iu.org

Ready? Tick both to begin

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