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A summary of Fly safe Fly well has been posted onto the website by our webmaster because I was having technical difficulties with my blog. These are now resolved.

The EC finalised our thoughts and plans for the project at our meeting in Malta in February. We are grateful to Dr Alfred Bonnici for his assistance in arranging the meeting, and to him, and his wife Elda, for their generous hospitality during our stay.
The project will shape the content of ECAM 2014, in Bucharest, and we look forward to meeting both old and new friends at the congress.

The new EC (except the President) will be elected this year, by electronic voting, and announced at the General Assembly on 11th November. The present EC thought it would be a good idea to outline the roles of the different officers of the EC, for potential candidates, along with some competencies (not all of which are serious!!) Vice-Presidents. Provide support to the President and deputise on official duties when the President not available. May take on specific tasks or responsibilities as decided by the EC. Sombre clothing choice to avoid clash with President essential.

I have just returned from the EC meeting in Budapest. Whatever the guide books say about the origins of the city’s name (Buda and Pest etc.) I believe the true origin must be ‘Hot Oven’ as the temperature was in the 40s during our stay! I decided this was outside my functional temperature zone, as I wilted during supper on Saturday night. It was a relief to return to 17 degrees in Luton airport.
If only it would stop raining………………….I am seriously thinking I should build an ark.

The unusual spell of exceptionally warm weather (for the UK !) seems to have come to an end, and a rainy day gives me a chance to blog about the AsMA meeting, held in Atlanta,Georgia, in mid- May.

The Executive Committee held a very successful meeting in Naples over the weekend of 18-19th February. We are grateful to the inimitable Paulo Tosco for his impeccable organisation of the weekend, not least for the sizeable discounts at the various restaurants we used.

We were joined at the meeting by Patricia Jung, standing in for Andreas Adrian, and Lars Tjensvoll and Anthony Wagstaff, who presented their work on EASA safety groups.

A new year has dawned.....so it is time for the first blog of 2012.

And what a year it promises to be. Olympics in the UK in the summer (I have tickets!), the third European Conference of Aerospace Medicine in November, the wedding of my daughter in June.......and I become President of ESAM. It is difficult to know which of the latter three events is the most scary!!

I have just returned from a fascinating visit to the Interstate Aviation Committee medical meeting in Moscow. A delegation from ESAM of Elena Cataman, Ries Simons, Uwe Stuben and myself attended from 24th to 28th of October. The warmth of the welcome, and generous hospitality, of our Russian hosts more than compensated for the cold Moscow climate.

During the meeting I gave a presentation on the history of ESAM and its future strategy, with a translation into Russian by Elena, who did the same for all our presentations. Uwe gave a presentation on the use of hair analysis in the detection and monitoring of substance abuse in Lufthansa cadet pilots, and the Lufthansa medical services. Both generated much interest and many questions. Ries’s presentation was on pilot fatigue and fatigue risk management. This again was well received and prompted many questions.

As the UK enjoys weather only matched by that experienced in Bucharest at the ICASM conference, it is time to write a blog. Sorry that this blog is a little overdue, not helped by a short stay in hospital, in fact it's written from my bed. I am on the mend!

The ICASM conference was informative and enjoyable, and I must congratulate our Romanian hosts for their excellent hospitality and organisation.

I am returning to the UK from Seville, on a Ryanair flight, as I write this blog. The Executive Committee (EC) had a very productive meeting on Saturday 18th.

Many of us took the opportunity for a couple of extra days in the beautiful and sunny city of Seville, where the temperature touched 38degC at times. We were joined by representatives of Soframas (Patrick Rodrigues) and SEMA (Maria-Jose Martin Utset), as observers, for parts of the meeting. They were able to witness at first hand, the hard work we are doing on your behalf. If you would like a representative of your Society to attend a future meeting, particularly if we are meeting in your area, please make contact with Roland Vermeiren to arrange an invitation.

The proposed changes to the ESAM statutes are now on the website.

The Executive Committee have decided to make the final version of the proposed changes to the statutes available on the website in advance of our next meeting in Seville on 18th June.

I am sitting in the sunshine in Wiesbaden, staying with friends following my return from the Aerospace Medical Association meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, from 8th to 12th May. This was a very successful meeting, attracting 1300 delegates, of whom over 400 were international.

There was the usual diverse mixture of stimulating scientific sessions, many social gatherings, and of course the opportunity to meet with friends, both old and new, in the aerospace medicine domain. Navigating the often perplexing mixture of sessions on offer was made easier this year by the use of an 'app' for the iPad.

In a lull before the Christmas celebrations get into full swing, it is time to reflect on the second European Congress of Aerospace Medicine, held in Athens in November. The 20 degree rise in day time temperature was most welcome to those of us from northern Europe, in the grip of arctic weather. This was matched by the warmth of welcome from our Greek hosts, who should be congratulated for volunteering to host the meeting at a time of great financial challenge, both for the Hellenic society, and Greece as a whole.

Dear friends and colleagues,
2010 has been a very busy year for ESAM and 2011 promises to be the same !

ESAM got a new membership from the Danish Society of aerospace medicine, and we have elected a new Executive Committee at out General Assembly in November, after our 2th ECAM Congress hosted by the Greek Society.