Petra Illig, M.D.
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| Dr. Petra Illig | ||
| Dr. Art Tilgner | ||
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Aviation Medical Services
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In 1998 she became the first Regional Medical Director of Aircrew Health Services for Delta Air Lines. Although her primary role was as a flight surgeon, she also had oversigh of passenger medical emergencies. She was instrumental in developing the airline's in-flight medical emergency response system, which is in effect to this day.
Dr. Illig is currently in private practice in aviation medicine in Anchorage, Alaska, flies a home-built tail wheel aircraft, and is in her second term on the board of directors of the Alaska Airmen's Association. She has recently finished writing a chapter on passenger health for a textbook on civilian aviation medicine and is currently working on a book on this topic for the lay public. Passionate about the development of commercial space travel, she strongly feels that similar issues must be faced early on by the fledgling space tourism industry. She has been active in the Aerospace Medical Association's "Task Force on Medical Guidelines for Commerical Space Travel", and keeps in close contact with the FAA and the Russian space agency on this subject. She is a proponent of self-regulation, and is interested in assisting the developing space tourism industry in establishing medical guidelines for evaluating commercial space travelers. On the local scene (in Alaska), Dr. Illig is a regular speaker for groups, such as the Alaska Air Carrier's Association, local Certified Flight Instructors (CFI), University of Alaska (UAA) School of Aviation Technology, King Career Academy, and the medical residency (physician) program at UAA. Dr. Illig is highly experienced in processing not only routine FAA medical certificates quickly and efficiently, but also Special Issuance applications for disqualifying medical conditions. If an airman has a medical problem that causes the loss of his or her medical certificate, and she feels that a pilot is safe to fly, she will work hard to get their medical certificate back. Her primary concern is aviation safety. She always tries to teach pilots good health practices, so that they can be safer pilots by taking good care of themselves. Whether a pilot comes in for a routine flight physical or requests aeromedical consultation, keeping pilots healthy and flying safely is her top priority.
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During her tenure at Delta, she became acutely aware of the problems associated with passenger health, and brought attention to the airline's management that continued neglect of these critical issues would bring significant liability concerns. By participating in various committees as the national level, she has helped bring passenger health issues onto
the FAA's radar screen. She co-authored a publication in the journal of Aviation, Space, and Envrionmental Medicine on passenger medical emergencies, and gave presentations at various aeromedical meetings on this topic in the United States and in Russia.
