It seems to have been missed by this thread but, the aopa reported this week that the joint aopa/eaa proposal forPrivate pilot medical self-cert will be presented to the FAA March. EDGEFLY
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It seems to have been missed by this thread but, the aopa reported this week that the joint aopa/eaa proposal forPrivate pilot medical self-cert will be presented to the FAA March. EDGEFLY
Since the FAA recently denied a similar proposal and said that there needs to be more evidence; I hope EAA/AOPA took a very close look at the FAA replay and is building a strong case: safety, economic, American freedom, regulation, oversight, etc to clearly show that the FAA should change their position.
In the end; I don't think trying to get an agencies to change its way works well. I think they need to submit their proposal to the Congress and have them pass a law to force it to happen. That is how we are getting Pictures on licenses, changes to the hours for ATP, etc.
Here is the FAA response: http://www.avweb.com/pdf/3rd_class_denied.pdf
Ylinen, I don't recall the exact specifics, but as I recall, in general, the EAA/AOPA request while for the same ultimate end, was proposing a different bureaucratic process that would make it far simpler for the Agency to process and approve it. I think that a previous post by AOPA spelled out the mechanical details. I don't think that the denial issued to this individual is going to sink the EAA/AOPA proposal simply because it seems to be a different 'animal' even though the end request would be the same...that is, driver's license in lieu of a 3rd class medical.
Don't give up yet!
I have not seen anything on the status for months. Is this still in works? Seems to have just disappeared.
Yes so far as I am aware but welcome to dealing with a bureaucracy. Not hearing anything for months at a time is completely normal. For example, applying for a research grant from the FAA can lead to hearing nothing for nearly a year unless they need something more from you. Calling them and pestering them seems to just slow it down even more as a couple of researchers I know from out in California learned the hard way (theirs was the very last program funded for the year and the money wasn't disbursed until two months after everyone else's because of some "clerical mishaps"). Acting like a spoiled, impatient child in a professional setting seldom gets the response you want.
People need to remember the nature of process like this before jumping to conclusions about things being abandoned etc. It might sound more interesting to put forth grandiose ideas of something being "too important to wait" but it doesn't normally work quite like that. Personally, I hope the exemption gets passed because the medical certification process is a joke that does effectively nothing to advance safety....and that is coming from someone who works as an aviation safety researcher.
Here's an update you may have missed from a month ago - there's very little to report while we wait for a response from the FAA:
http://eaa.org/news/2013/2013-01-10_FAA-still-reviewing-medical-certification-exemption-request.asp