We should not be subjected to this inquisitional questionnaire in the first place. I know this Pilot who has type 1 Diabetes which requires insulin injections daily, drinks alcohol every night, takes an antidepressant, and every afternoon gets the shakes. The real problem was that I also am prescribed anti-diarrhea medication and I take it as needed. If you have a FAA medical denial for ADHD, call your aviation attorney at The Ison Law Firm for a consultation. The entire aeromedical FAA staff can go kill themselves for all I care. FAA sets up high-level alerts for missed airline inspections, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Under the new regulation, when the first class privileges expire after twelve months, the first class medical lapses to a third class medical. And the Medical Flight Test needs to be taken only once and the SODA is good indefinitely. The Third Class is an absolute joke. I say that based on the relative numbers discussed above. I am working with a private party who specializes in this sort of thing and he cant really give me definitive answers either; just educated opinion and guidance. However, if you do get caught, at best you will lose your license. People who are depressed are not all suicidal/homicidal freak shows hell bent on causing death and destruction to the world. However, if you do get caught, at best you will lose your license. no? They yanked my 3rd class one time, because my personal physician mistyped a statement on his annual letter to the FAA. Due to the self-reporting nature, the chances of getting caught lying on an FAA medical aren't very high. If your application passes AMCDs scrutiny, the certificate your AME issued will remain valid for a period of time determined by your age and the type of certificate you applied for. His career was essentially over with that arrest and he killed himself because of it. Managing a flight department or want to offer a premium service to your club members or students. Just like the annual inspection on the aircraft, when it was signed off everything was supposed to be airworthy, what happens after that is anyones guess. Justify their positions by educating and hammering self certification, not for two or five years, but every flight. Both asked for, and received, removal of their Special Issuance. Now I prefer Wingwalking. No further action by AWP-300. Bottom line, you are better off disclosing to the FAA if you want a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd class medical certificate. The most recent was a year and a half ago. Governmental overkill? Yet there is no medical requirement for any of these. I got my license back about 10 years ago. How is that fair? You are assumed to be lying. They are issued by states. It was less rigorous than a regular over 40 physical, so I took one of those too. Tell them what you will be it will be you that is on the bench because you failed the medical. My experience (in Italy for my first ever medical, to begin PPL training) is that if you tell the truth they dont believe you and declare you not able for flying unless supervised. With over 20,000 hours of real world experience, much of it in Cessna 172s and P210s, Collins wrote about safety, weather and air traffic control from first-hand experience. Should that person be allowed to self-certified medically and carry as many as 5 passengers? The system does work though. Hell no. He was flying with ryanair and was due to move to emirates. He passed his 3rd class every time. Bury the third class in favor of drivers licenses, who cars come with inches of mine, go against lights, etc. What Dickie did was tell on someone for lying. If you do have heart disease, you would have to continue to see your Cardiologist as well as your AME to maintain your medical. While I share our concern about pilots going unconscious in flight, I have as much concern about FAA going unconscious while on the job. Your family and friends consider you more important than any flying you may do. While not endorsing that, it is understandable at the emotional level. You tell me how can a lighting designer be daltonic? Why would you need to report that? It sometimes gets people injured and sometimes gets people killed. Furthermore, any standard of medical concern for pilots is lost because it allows the FAA to turn a blind eye to a medical condition. In the latest installment of The Great Debate, Richard Collins asks you to weigh in on whether pilots are truthful when they visit the AME. The states set the standards for driver licenses and the Feds set the standards for pilot medical certificates and pilot certificates. Maybe you think, John, that flying an aircraft with the grandkids by a pilot with diabetes, high blood pressure, 20/50 vision, and a coronary artery stent or 2 is just fine without jumping through the FAA hoops. And even if you assume not, an investigation will cause a demand to produce documents and then the liar is cooked. Some records reviewer in OKC can not guarantee those in my aircraft a safe journey only I can do that. Thank you for the help. there would be no one to fly these jumbo jets. The same diseases that the FAA uses to ground pilots should restrict driving. In short, the FAA doesnt check medical records unless they have a reason to i.e. Are they going to question my patriotism or mental stability? Period. The FAA medical process makes it nearly impossible to comply with completely. Yes, all my discussion was only applicable to private, recreational pilots, not airline or large freight liner pilots. Where is the limit to government infringement? ASMEL, CFII, AME, Hi, Im currently a student pilot I finally saved up the money to go after my dream. I served 6 years with the U.S. Secret Service, protecting POTUS and his family. I refer them to my TMI rule; if it was transient, dont say it. If you have vision with only one eye, you can get a Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA) by taking a Medical Flight Test. But knowing that the FAA has little humor, we all put no. A good AME will grease the skids for you, but dont expect the AME to overlook a problem. In this case, you can cast doubt on the original diagnosis and attempt to avoid further evaluation. A pilot might reason, for example, that the antidepressant he's taken for months hasn't caused any side effects and actually makes him more mentally fit to fly, a safer pilot. The FAA has panels of civilian medical experts for each speciality who meet regularly to review the FAA medical regulations and recommend changes based on new research. Telling the truth has cost me nearly 2 years of no flying due only to a late reply by my doctor and now I am walking away from my favorite form of relaxation, anyone want to buy my plane? Wouldnt tell you if I had a peg leg and a glass eye. I need some advice from experienced pilots / medical professionals about a problem. I have been flying with a special issuance 3rd class physical for 15 years. We have a very good AME in our area. I will follow that up with a word of warning. It may be that some of you folks are not involved as subcontractors to the Airframe manufacturers. Ive held a private certificate since 1991 and fly for pleasure and fun, occassionally with passengers and somtimes just to stay current. Often it is not a case of pilots intentionally lying or withholding information that can get them into trouble, but ignorance of what they need to report. see you in the cockpit!! There is no such thing as a good faith mistake. I have a perfect driving record,clean medical history,and also a clean criminal history. The FAA gives final denial to only 0.01% of applications. He went on to training pilots via simulators. Its only a matter of time. Still there are occasional exceptions where a commercial or airline pilot dies in the cockpit. Global misunderstands that Procedure codes, diagnosis codes and pharmacy codes were denied protections under to ACA of 2010. I know a pilot who lost enough weight for his sleep apnea to disappear. Unfortunatley I have seen too many accident reports where the pilot was on prescription medications (found during the toxicological examination)many of them disqulifying, and none of them were reported on the medical application. Pilots aged 50 and older also have an intermediate visual standard measured at 32 of 20/40 or better in each eye separately. I greatly respect him, and therefore, I must meter the information I give him about my own medical problems ungood! You want to make it more difficult? This applies to ANY wildcat actions, including slowdown, work-to-rules, withdrawal of enthusiasm (WOE), sickouts, etc. Make no mistake: Form 8500-8 is a legal instrument, unlike many other documents. There are hardly any crashes or incidents related to pilot incapacitation and if there were the FAA or NTSB would have expressed grave concerns. Water under the bridge now 19 years later. If you think your AME charges too much, find someone else. If its temporary, shaddup about it. Now I am only minutes away from completing my first flight medical form without any worries! Out of those, the number of GA deaths from medical incapacitation is tiny. The FAA Medical requirements need revision and made more rational instead of simply being a procedural nightmare for pilots. Stay up to date with the latest articles and selections from our archives. I did years later and got totally cleared. I suffer from multiple personality disorder, but all of the voices affirm they are qualified pilots. Avoid Medical Certification Delay. They yanked my 3rd class one time, because my personal physician mistyped a statement on his annual letter to the FAA. On the part of most pilots here its not lying. The AME will then be required to report any changes to the FAA, If not, there is no need to report to the FAA. Regardless of whether they lie or not, the system seems to be working there seem to be very few (if any) crashes or incidents related to pilot incapacitation that they FAA/NTSB can point to a problem that should have come in a medical. Ultimately, a yes response to 18m. There are are more decisions that have to be made while driving than flying. We train for emergencies and stalls etc. Age is only a number. There shouldnt be different standards. However, my pilots do. Then we really would have a pilot shortage, now wouldnt we. He was a commercial pilot flying 727s. However, I also think that the standards for commercial and airline pilots should be more stringent. The other crewmembers will consult the seniority list to see how they fare after my death. He showed no regard for the safety of others, nor did he feel guilty about lying, just relieved he passed. His response was that the FAA wanted to ascertain that I was aware of the disability and take necessary actions to overcome it, In this case to use other senses to monitor the aircrafts actions, i.e. One may invoke Fifth Amendment rights, but not outright lie. Aside from that, I think that few pilots lie but, as Huck Finn said of Mark Twain, there was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth., See my comment about the unconsciousness question. It was a more difficult process than if I had done it 20 years prior. I reported controlled hypertension on my questionnaire. Yes its very rare for someone to have heart attack or neurological brain seizure in flight. They leave that up to you, but just make sure you read their minds so that your interpretation matches theirs that they dont tell you. Those are hard to fake. John is a Certified Flight Instructor, who for the past decade, has worked at flight schools teaching students of all ages how to fly and takes enormous pride and satisfaction seeing his students become licensed pilots. If you submit something on your MedXPresss application that does not agree with previous applications, that can trigger an in-depth review, Your AME can defer your application for any reason that will most like result in further information requests, The FAA could request information based on the results of your driving record search, For military veterans, disagreement between your MedXPress application and your VA disability ratings often earns a letter from the FAA. Pilot medicals are in the news again, with a proposal by EAA and AOPA to let more pilots use a drivers license for their medical. Needless to say, I have never taken a $100 Hamburger flight. PER your admission the need for a medical is a mute issue I drive there for I fly. Certification of employees to preform tasks, medical and eye examinations are normal in the Aerospace industry. If you didnt say yes then you lied. I just wonder why? I know of several. A wise man once said to me that the more you tell them the more you with have to sit through. Thus the FAAs excessive emphasis, on the potential hazards of medical conditions and medications, serves only to reinforce its own bureaucratic authority. I think that increasing the value of a worn out C150 to about $100K (which would happen the day they were included in the category) would take most of the trainer fleet out of circulation and the already paultry number of students would dry up completely. Aviation medicals protect your lifeand a periodic physical is smart. For Uncle Sam, though, this is anything but a judgment call. If he admits it and is taking an approved medication, there are a few extra steps but he will maintain his medical. Every child at some point decides to spin around and around until they are dizzy and fall down. Make the FAA do a special issue for every single pilot in the country. How did the terrorists that crashed into the twin towers pass a medical that I failed for COUNSELING??! It is none of their business. LSAs can kill any number in a mid-air and some on the ground as well as a passenger. Does anyone really believe that this is also not true for pilots and in fact is probably much higher, given the hard working conditions. During an FAA medical, a urine test will take place that checks sugars and protein levels. Id rather be flying but I dont require the FAAs approval for my activities. Friend of mine had a partner in his business who owned a beautiful Cessna 182. I hesitated to contact the FAA as I didnt want to deprive this man of his dream to be a pilot but the risk of harm to himself and to others was greater than His Dream so I sent a detailed letter. If the FAA finds out that you failed to disclose something that you should have disclosed, not only does it mean that you can lose your license, but you may also face a hefty fine or even criminal prosecution. Of course they do. Lie, definitely not. On a related note, has anyone used an aeromedical service company to help obtain/renew a medical certificate? The whole thing is about safety but the FAA has never proven the need for the medicals, especially the third class, it was just randomly instituted one day a long time ago. Well, I believe we should have to have a medical to operate a car, a motorcycle, a truck, a bus, a train or any type of machine that is exposed to or involved in transportation.