FAA Medical Division Status

[Joe LaMantia]

Does anybody know if the recent shutdown of the FAA affected the AeroMedical Div in Oakie City? I know that they kept ATC and some inspectors working but the various articles written on this subject were not clear as to what parts of the FAA were actually shut down. I got the impression that this was hitting all the NextGen construction and the FAA support group. I'm waiting on this years renewal of my 3rd class medical Special Issuance which was submitted back in June! Some years it goes quickly and some years it takes months! The shutdown just gives them another excuse to delay!

Joe
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[FlyingRon]

According to the docs over on the AOPA forum both the Joklahoma city medical staff and the RFS groups were on the job.
Have you made the three non-consecutive day calls?

[Joe LaMantia]

Ron,
Thanks for the info, I did call last Monday and got the phone tender who looked up my info and said it was "under review", which is the standard answer for a first call, I'll follow-up again and see if I can get some estimate of their recent process time. I've been doing this since 1996, some years things go through in a couple of weeks and some years well......there are pages on the calendar that get torn off before I get the ticket.

Joe

[FlyingRon]

I think you're missing something. You need to call on three non-consecutive days to get your priority upgraded to "interested airman."

[cookie]

I have a special issuance thrid class medical that will expire in October. This is my first time for renewal, do I need to get that thing in now, if it can takes months for it to get approved? The first time took 6 months, and that was with me calling in almost a daily basis for weeks and weeks. I thought the second time would go smoothly...

[FlyingRon]

Depends on what the SI is and what the rules for renewal. You need to read that letter that came with it. If it just says you need to see your AME with whatever additional documentation, it probably can be issued in the office. If the SI itself is expiring, then you probably need to go through the cycle in Johklama City. I'd recommend if you have specific questions you try the Medical Matters forum over at forums.aopa.org (if you are an AOPA member). There are several well-versed AMEs and some FAA types there.

[Joe LaMantia]

Ron is giving you good advice. Mine is a cardio SI and my 5 year letter expired, so I'm stuck with Oakie City this year. Last year my AME signed me off a few days before expiration. My paperwork still had to be reviewed by the Oakie City boys, but I could continue to fly, I got the official clearance about a month later. I think they all want your evaluation to be current, that is within 60 days, but ask the experts at EAA or AOPA, their both great resources.

Joe

[gpinnell]

Contact Sue Sedlachek at EAA at 920-426-6112. We can make many of these delay problems go away quickly. If you have specific questions or concerns you can either write me at gpinnell@charter.net (to keep it confidential) or call 989-245-4494. Thanks, Greg (EAA's Aeromedical Council)

[Joe LaMantia]

I've been on vacation for the past two weeks and found my "ticket" in the mail upon my return. I'm good to go until next year and have the paperwork to allow my AME to issue directly till 2017! I will still have to have all the usual tests and paperwork for him to review, but that has kept me in business without the delay in the past. Thanks to all the responders and advice hope this post has informed others in the "Special Issuance" class to be patient and keep working the "system"!

Joe

[Jim Hann]

I've been on vacation for the past two weeks and found my "ticket" in the mail upon my return. I'm good to go until next year and have the paperwork to allow my AME to issue directly till 2017! I will still have to have all the usual tests and paperwork for him to review, but that has kept me in business without the delay in the past. Thanks to all the responders and advice hope this post has informed others in the "Special Issuance" class to be patient and keep working the "system"!

Joe

:thumbsup:

[jobti]

Before I decided that at 70 years old I just wasn't going to climb up on that treadmill any more, I had an SI because of the heart problem. I knew what was coming, so every year, about a month BEFORE my medical expired I went to the cardiologist office for a stress test. The results of that went in with all the rest of the paperwork and it worked just fine. Now it's light sport only, but that's OK. Like I said, I don't have to do the treadmill thing any longer!!!!!

[Bill Greenwood]

I was at a aviation conference a few years ago and the head medical person of the whole FAA, Dr. Silverman spoke. He's seems a pretty honest guy,and he freely admitted that actual medical causes were only a tiny percent of all fatal accidents. Of all fatal accidents, medical causes are about 1/2 of one percent. Of that half, about 60% involve drugs or alcholol; thus only a about 40% x 1/2 of one % = about .2 are actuall accidents where a medical condition, not a bad habit like drinking or flying on drugs is the real cause.
Despite this admission, the FAA medical people continue to focus a lot of effort and expense and manpower on these medical issues. For some people they cause a lot of extra expense and effort just to fly as a private pilot.
There are at least two big flaws in the FAA's current approach. First, as I wrote above. medical issues as a true and absolute cause of fatal accidents are about as a rare a "man bites dog". I haven't made this up, if you doubt go look up AOPA Nall report or FAA statistics. What kills most gen av pilots is flying into bad weather; and it is not always contingent on whether or not they have an instrument rating. Sometimes the IFR rating and a lot of techno gadgets in the cockpit just seduce a pilot to fly into worse weather than they might otherwise; like the corporate jet that crashed here a few years ago on an ifr approach.
Most warbird and acro type accidents are less likely to be weather related, the main cause of these types is some type of hard manuevering or acro flight near the ground with loss of control and a crash when there is not room to recover.
Just plain bad flying, like stall spin on landing or takeoff can take some of any type gen av or private pilot also.
So the FAA approach does nothing to really address these causes of fatalities year after year. My insurance co makes me do an IFR recurrency check with an instructor every year, just to maintain my insurance. I flew not one hour of real IFR this year, no significant practice sessions, but I was able to pass my IFR test. So I am all current and legal, and can load up 5 passengers in my plane and fly an IFR departure and approach here at Aspen in real IMC conditions,surrounded by 14,000' mountains. Not too smart and not something adressed in a meaningful way by any FAA policy or reason. I have an acro competency card, good down to 800' for rolls even with a passenger. Even without the card I can go out and do loops and even stalls and spins as long as it is above 1500 feet, even with a passenger, even in something like a T-6 or a P-51 that is not so forgiving and needs a lot more margin. All FAA legal, not very smart , not as much margin for safety as we might have. By the way you can't fly in an airshow with a passenger, but can do the same stuff with one or more passengers just outside the show.
The FAA focuses very little on ability and even less on judgement in these situations.

2nd. the other big flaw in FAA thinking is that somehow flying is a huge physical stress for pilots and they need to be in athlete shape to fly a plane safely. Thus things like a stress treadmill. Have you ever seen or flow a private gen av plane big enough to run around in? It's nonsense.
For me, and most of us I am sure, flying is relaxing. It is what I do for fun, to relieve or offset stress. It is not the cause of stress.
I am more likely to have stress doing my income tax or trying to renew a mortgage or on hold with the bank or credit card company, not in flying.
Of course I try to lessen any stress by flying in good weather on nice days.

Think of the better results if resources of the FAA and gen av pilots were spent on meaningful pilot training, but skill related and judgement related, than the focus the FAA has now on medical issues.

One other example, for years the FAA allowed commuter airlines to hire pilots with a s little as 500 hours total time; while forcing experienced pilots to retire at age 60. Bureacracy protects its own iterests and changes very slowly. Thankfully they have changed on these two issues.

[Joe LaMantia]

Thanks Bill!,

You are right on in your assessment, the whole medical issue is political in that our congress just wants to cover their a_ _ es if there is ever a crash, the press loves those stories. The airlines are really where the rubber hits the road on this, since the flying public needs all these safety reassurances. The FAA is a big organization and in the public view along with the rest of the govt when it comes to $ so this medical division is under staffed and under funded. You are right on slow changes in bureacracy, this is true in both govt and the private sector it only takes place when facing "going out of business" becomes a reality. What we get out of politicians is always some short term fix to calm down the public that doesn't actually solve the root causes of a problem. Your post is based on facts rather than BS which is what runs Washington.

Thanks Again,

Joe