Pilot's Fight To Return To The Skies

Elizabeth Kaledin Tells Of First Air Force Pilot To Fly With Artificial Heart Valve

(CBS)  Lt. Col. Tony Carrelli had dreamed of being an Air Force fighter pilot since he was a boy.

And he was living that dream flying A-10 Warthogs for the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.

"Flying's been — been my life," Carrelli told CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin.

But a few years ago, after a six-month tour of duty in Iraq, he developed an alarming chest pain that could have brought his career to an end.

It turns out Carrelli was a heartbeat away from disaster. He had a badly damaged aortic valve and a hugely swollen blood vessel known as an aneurism.

Dr. Joseph Bavaria of the University of Pennsylvania Health told Kaledin that it was "incredible" that Carrelli flew for six months with the condition and didn't die.

To repair the heart, Dr. Joseph Bavaria used an experimental new valve known as a "Toronto valve" — so much like a natural heart valve that Carrelli wouldn't need a transplant or a lifetime of medication.

But would it allow him to fly again? That was the big question.

The A-10 Warthog is a single person fighter jet and that was the main concern. If anything happened to Carrelli's heart while he was in the cockpit he'd be totally on his own.

Fighter pilots have to be in perfect physical condition — none had ever flown before with any kind of artificial heart valve. But Bavaria knew this technology was good enough to withstand the so called G-forces of fighter jet flight.

But he had to convince the Air Force to let Carrelli fly. "We had to come in and nail it," he said. And, he added, "We nailed it."

After being grounded for 30 months and subjected to a battery of tests, the Air Force finally cleared the way for Carrelli to be the first fighter pilot ever to fly with an artificial valve.

Carrelli's boss calls it a victory for the Air Force.

"It's a win-win for the medical community as well because literally he is — he's better," said Col. Paul Comtois, "The condition that he's in now — he's actually better than what he was."

When Carrelli was asked if he was ready to join the war effort overseas if called, he said, "Absolutely ready to go."

Anyone in doubt just needs to watch Carrelli climb in and take off to know that this is one pilot whose heart is really in his job.

[alphaa10-2009]

You wonder how Carrelli dodged being grounded for all that time-- apparently a flight physical is one of those things that can be put off, ignored or "negotiated" for a time.

For those interested, the A10 Warthog is a ground support aircraft, not a fighter plane, proper (unless any armed, single-seat aircraft is considered a fighter plane). The A10 was heavily involved in Falluja because it is well-armored, has extreme firepower and bomb load, can linger for much longer over a battlefield, and can take tremendous punishment. The A10 also can take off and land on primitive strips no fighter jet pilot would consider.

As military aircraft go, the A10 is a perfect example of a very effective design, well-suited to its service environment. Yet the Pentagon wants to buy more high-tech aircraft to do the same job, at a huge increase in cost. And the future of the A10? Spendthrift generals have decided to junk all these worthy assets as "primitive". Your tax dollars at work.

* Can't they find somebody at the copy desk who can spell "skies"? Or was this outsourced to Mumbai? (Come on-- 'fess up!)

[ecoology]

Elizabeth Kaledin tells an interesting tale of how Lt. Col. Tony Carrelli got his flying provileges back after a heart valve replacement. The story goes much deeper; how the FAA uses arbitrary and unfair rules to prevent many pilots from flying. In my case, after cancer surgery, an unsupported and erroneous 4 word statment on one of many pages of surgical report resulted in te FAA cancelling my airman's medical certificate. The "diagnosis" originally stated "possible mild inferior ischemia." Someone wrote "ischemia" and that was enough for the FAA. I survived cancer, but not the FAA.

[alphaa10-2009]

I can sympathize about the seeming aburdity of the situation, particularly after having read the story about the co-pilot who was (finally) grounded one day as he exited his airliner, clearly intoxicated. Who knows how many other times he flew in that condition? The Biblical phrase is "strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel"-- your review apparently strained at a gnat.

The followup to Carrelli is how much blowback his base medical officer got from the discovery one of his men flew in that condition-- presumably, with his hog fully fueled and armed, as well. You get the impression base medical officers are too lax, and the FAA is illogically strict.