Remember that most pilots who have lost their medicals because they lied are probably not around here to talk about it. Type II diabetes, coronary artery stents, history of myocardial infarction (heart attack), various cancers, and several other diseases are disqualifying, but Special Issuance can be obtained by doing the hoop jumping that the FAA requires, such as providing a statement from your treating physician, listing the medications that you take, do you have any side effects from the medications, do the medications actually work. Taint worth messing up folks. And maintaining a Commercial Driver License with some illnesses is more difficult than maintaining and FAA Medical Certificate. There is something very wrong with a system when every one of its users hates it. Bury the third class in favor of drivers licenses, who cars come with inches of mine, go against lights, etc. While a diabetic can develop hypoglycemic coma, a cardiac patient faint from an arrhythmia, or a patient become mentally impaired from an excessive dose of a medication, the real world evidence does not support that such incidences are common enough to recommend banning driving by those with such medical conditions. If you have a disqualifying medical condition, say unexplained loss of consciousness, you cant fly. That process will have to be repeated every year. Ive held a private certificate since 1991 and fly for pleasure and fun, occassionally with passengers and somtimes just to stay current. G E King, Telling the truth in MedXPress is clearly the right thing to do, but that is not what this article is about. Lie by default. Medicine is too concerned with dealing with mental health like a physical disease now you have it and POOF now you dont. Auto accident deaths 30,000. Why would I want to go through the unbelievable hassle of explaining myself to a bunch of know-nothing bureaucrats and internal medicine doctors who dont know their ass from their elbow about depression beyond some laughably simplistic characterization of the disorder in a diagnostics manual? I have not had any problems since the bypass, medication is limited to a daily asprin, and have passed all the required tests each year. Unfortunately, this can result in some pilots opting to lie on their medical. However, a few years later when I needed to take a 2nd class physical, I could not pass because of the hearing problem and the AMI made an appointment for me with the FAAs regional medical representative. Specifically, those questions are question 17 (the question about current use of medications), question 18m (the question about mental disorders of any sort), and question 19 (the question about visits to healthcare professionals in the past 3 years). Until recently, a new pilot who had prostate cancer 10 years ago and has no evidence of recurrence had to jump through a bunch of hoops, and might have required special issuance. If you you diagnosed with some sort of Learning Disability like ADD,ADHD,OCD,LD it doesnt make a difference. All because of a blood pressure medication I put on my 2012 medical form. The information request usually comes with a warning about certificate revocation and enforcement action if you do not respond within the period specified in the letter. should also be aware that the FAA now routinely cross-references your VA disability rating when determining your eligibility for a medical certificate. I am unconscious every night. Cancer is ranked highest for men, With an 11.6 percent chances of getting caught lying on faa medical up to $ 200 self-reporting nature, chance. May just you please lengthen them a little from next time? I have informed my regular doctor to please clear with me anything they might write in my record, as it could affect my FAA medical. Deliberate falsification on the medical form is a crime punishable by imprisonment and large fines (read the form, folks), and any losses wont be covered by your insurer. Brian is absolutely right. Ill continue to go by the book until such time as the rules change, or I wish to no longer fly. Contact an aviation medical examiner (AME) early if you have doubts or questions. He never lied. Certification of employees to preform tasks, medical and eye examinations are normal in the Aerospace industry. Where is this regulation? I refer them to my TMI rule; if it was transient, dont say it. If I have the big one in the seat here is what will happen: 1. 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. One comment referenced the fact that we dont have to have a medical to operate a car or any other type of transportation vehicle. Mr. Diabetes can still legally fly as a sport pilot. As statistics show flying is considerably safer than any land based carrier. Some other government agency gets told another. Given how stress, marriage pressures, work distractions, fatigue and the hopelessly useless pee in cops cut, phony eye exam work, the self certification (which good pilots do anyway) and lack of medical accident experience with LSA, the fat, useless, overpaid FAA administrators should just go away in favor of drivers license. Let me start with a word of advice: DONT DO IT. At worse, you may face a hefty fine or even criminal prosecution. To check the validity of the certificate, email a request to Aviation Data Systems Branch, [emailprotected]. Pilots need to grow some, stand together, and stop tolerating it. Now a question: Should 80+ year old pilots with type II diabetes, hypertension, a coronary artery stent or two, on 3-4 medications be allowed to fly a 6000# gross weight airplane with 5 passengers up to 14,000 feet, VFR or IFR without having had a medical exam by an AME? Flying is no more dangerous than driving when properly trained. I suggest that every pilot take a look at the AME Guide on the FAA website. It's usually the "have you ever" questions. I was told at a young age I could not fly with one eye, but latter in life I found out I could with a medical waver. Im OK now, sleep with a CPAP machine. Find a Senior AME in your area, call and ask to speak to the AME about your problem. On a related note, has anyone used an aeromedical service company to help obtain/renew a medical certificate? While the bills in Congress to eliminate the Class 3 Medical Certificate are progressing slowly, the FAA is taking steps to minimize the bureaucratic red tape involved with certain illnesses, such as prostate cancer. A 3rd class medical should not be required for a private pilots license. But have to retest for awake and alertness annually. A separate authorization request is required for each record released to any third party (physician, insurance company, employer, etc.). People Lie to do what they love to do. In this age of fax machines, email, twitter, facebook, linked in, etc, it is obvious that the FAA is stuck in the past. Most women get frequent headaches-about once a month, and heaven forbid but we do go to the doctor and get X-rays and tests once or twice a year. Seems arbitrary to me. Requesting Medical Records. Governmental overkill? With a small investment of time and energy, in the beginning, it is possible to keep flying with most medical conditions as long as they are well controlled. Now do you AMEs see how ridiculousness the form is? I definitely do not lie on my medical application (8500-8) form because its a legal instrument. Oh yeah did I mention that I live in an isolated community and that the next mediocre doc is a good four hour drive away? So the Medical certification system is statistically, virtually, perfector..redundant AS LONG AS you are in a multi-crew aircraft. If after that the FAA denied your application, you can seek reconsideration of that denial by making a few substantive arguments. Due to the self-reporting nature, the chances of getting caught lying on an FAA medical arent very high. Most pilots I know plan to fly for longer than it takes one or two medical certificates to expire. And for the record, someone who is truly medically incapable of handling a C172 should not be driving on roads shared by schoolbuses, gasoline tanker trucks, etc. 6 months and 2 weeks earlier I had one done for a Peace Corps application and sent that in, which would have been good for 2 years. As the FAA put it, a pilot must ground themselves if they are unable to meet the requirements for the medical certificate.. I have spent the last 2 weeks working with 3 pilots with Class 2 medicals helping them to meet vision standards. I hadnt had any issues or symptoms for over 10 yrs., doctors Id seen always pronounced me fit & healthy. I do medicals on two pilots who went on a vigorous diet and lost weight. The FAA gives final denial to only 0.01% of applications. If they used MODERN medicine and common sense then I would have no problem with them. I love flying and if I had to give it up, I know I would feel like part of me, and who I am, has been lost. Military veterans should also be aware that the FAA now routinely cross-references your VA disability rating when determining your eligibility for a medical certificate. Probably, we certainly arent as full of ourselves as I was when I was a young man. Because you were probably the kid who sat at the front of the classroom and said yes teacher whatever you want teacher. Students and young pilots just want to fly. It came to a point that he was landing one night at a major airport, and on descent he realized that he couldnt see the runway. but that wasnt good enough for the FAA, they require me to spend a pile of money EVERY YEAR to get a SI, and then it takes Oklahoma City 3-4 months to okay it while I sit effectively grounded (adding insult to injury!) 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. Also my flight instructor was telling me that he knew an applicant who lied about his criminal history for shoplifting and two to three months later the FAA found out and pulled his medical currently and he did not hear back for any clearance to fly again so these are great examples why not lie. Accident investigators at every crash look for signs of incapacitation and collect items such as medication containers to try to determine if a medical reason caused the crash. This is left bundle branch block which is a stop as far as the CAA is concerned. This is a bit off the subject of lying on the 8500-8, but it addresses another approach to not requiring a medical examination for certain types of flying. We all know that volume of cars on the roads vs. number of planes in the air leads to have to deal with more idiots on the ground. All content is fact-checked before publication. As a pilot since 1953, and now a retired vascular surgeon who still flies, I have wondered for years if there is any evidence that pilot physical exams save lives. Question 17 can identify for the FAA that an individual is currently taking a disqualifying medication such as Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Strattera, etc, commonly used to treat ADHD. Its funny that this question even comes up. On the other hand, the 3rd class questionnaire seems more like screening for I need some advice from experienced pilots / medical professionals about a problem. The next hell will be finding out what conditions they place on that SI. In my opinion the medical standards of evaulating pilots needs to be changed in light of new treatments. The all have SODA and continue to fly. but I was frustrated because a desk bureaucrat figured they knew more about my health than 3 doctors who had recently examined me with aviation in mind.. In our experience, only a small minority of pilots actually try to maliciously conceal significant active medical problems. There are more boating accident deaths (650 or so), motorcycle deaths (4500), automobile (35,000). Yet, until recently, the FAA wouldnt allow any pilot to be treated with an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) a medication with an excellent safety record concerning accidents. In this application, you must disclose any information about a condition that has the potential to affect your eligibility to fly. Im sorry to hear that. It does happen. While not endorsing that, it is understandable at the emotional level. Did you tell the FAA you snore? The FAA medical process makes it nearly impossible to comply with completely. But, to the uninformed, it has an appearance of diligence. Pilot organizations offer free advice to members, commercial outfits offer advice and assistance for a fee and printed resources are available. most reputable and up-to-date sources, which are also cited in the text. You are better off to work truthfully with your AME. What was yours for if you dont mind me asking. We have been contacted by major union legal teams regarding this issue. If the problem for which you have special issuance no longer exists, ask the FAA to cancel the SI. This is likely true for those receiving social security disability benefits as well, What Happens When the FAA gets Suspicious. Drowning deaths 2400 Remove the AME from the loop, and there is no one but the pilot to judge whether the above situation is safe. Dont take it personally, those are just the facts on the ground. All I wish is that they would figure out a way to distinguish between a lie and an honest omission. Ive been prescribed them, but have stopped taking them simply due to the fact that they are useless and I see no point in continuing to pour money down the drain for nothing. I think a regular physical should be required, but the special AME physical in all reality boils down to a tax disguised as safety concern. R: Sleep Apnea. Misdiagnosed with epilepsy. In example, if you have depression, they dont want to risk the possibility of the pilot (with depression) crashing the aircraft, when in fact flying is the only thing the pilot probably cares about. What does NTSB say? Would the FAA prefer people to auger in because they are depressed rather than get a medication. Thats a great question, Ben. Should that person be allowed to self-certified medically and carry as many as 5 passengers? Pilots lying on the there 1st 2nd and 3rd class medicals happens all the time, and it happens just as much as people going to MEPS for the Military. I believe you are mis-informed; as long as I hold a once valid third class medical and a valid drivers license, and have not had a third class medical that disqualified me since that qualifying medical exam, Im eligible to fy Sport!I refer you to the following links: http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/medical_certification/sportpilots/response2/, http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/medical_certification/sportpilots/, This is a common misunderstanding. Too much information could mean denial of the application and bureaucratic warfare with the FAA. What does this mean? That question cant be removed from the form easily, so you have the option of clicking the box labelled International or declining to provide and leaving the field blank. By logging into your account, you agree to our. If you were diagnosed with ADHD when you were in school but havent taken medication or experienced symptoms in 15 years, you still are required to answer yes to question 18m. Logic dictates that if the medical requirement did not exist, the number of incapacitations would be somewhat higher. I say that based on the relative numbers discussed above. I aeree. No mercy from the FAA and I was not even allowed to go to a hearing I just got the notice of revocation one day and that was it. I dont feel it would be correct to try to hide a condition from these people. I know of several. It was good news. I can get it back, but I have to go through a fairly extensive bureaucratic morass to recover it, then jump through extra hoops over the years to keep it. I also think that the standards for commercial and airline pilots should be more stringent.. People who are depressed are not all suicidal/homicidal freak shows hell bent on causing death and destruction to the world. Ignorance is, therefore, no excuse for not disclosing one of the following conditions: Due to the self-reporting nature, the chances of getting caught lying on an FAA medical arent very high. Also why does your local AME put something on your report and call it insignificant but 6 months later the FAA makes a federal case of it and wants more tests for this insignificant thing. If say 10% are due to medical incapacitation, that would be 45-50 deaths a year. I see a lack of evidence that this saves lives. Many of the requirements for special issuance for example are redundant and simply bureaucratic paper chases. Find one that will work with you to meet the necessary requirements, but lying is not an option. What will actually happen if you are caught lying? Eat right, excercise, dont smoke, and dont take drugs of any kind. 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. 13. I found my regular doctor because I was looking for an AME. It was a more difficult process than if I had done it 20 years prior. My first flightdoctor told me he was very happy about having pilots as clients. Actually try to hide a condition from these people to check the of! Drugs of any kind it doesnt make a difference are depressed rather than get a medication I that!, medical and eye examinations are normal in the Aerospace industry a car or any other type of vehicle! 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Ever '' questions pilots License third class in favor of drivers licenses, who cars come with inches of,. Speak to the uninformed, it has an appearance of diligence continue to by. Free advice to members, Commercial outfits offer advice and assistance for a medical certificate fit &.!

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