Medical Requirement Update

[kscessnadriver]

"it eliminates people who have serious mental problems"

It absolutely does not. The AME's are not trained mental health professionals and no part of the 3rd class exam examines mental health.

Sure it does. How many people do you know flying with ADHD? Or Schizophrenia? Or clinical depression? Or, are you going to pretend that the 3rd class medical doesn't catch that.

[dewi8095]

Guys - debate the ideas, not your opinions about the people who present them. This thread has gone over the line - let's bring it back.

Some are in favor of the exemption, some opposed, some think it's feasible, some don't. THAT'S a good discussion to have.

The proposal intends to exempt medical certification for sport and recreational flying and private air travel (with specific limitations) and does not extend to medical certification of occupational flying or any flight under instrument flight rules.

Aside from flying, what other recreational or travel activities in the United States require physical examinations every two to five years? Maybe high school and college sports which require a seasonal physical exam, but I am at a loss to name others. To my knowledge, boating does not and it is probably a much larger-based activity than flying. I don't think snowmobiling does, bicycling, no, nor does any federal agency require that motorists take a physical exam to drive private vehicles as a non-occupational activity. My point is that federal medical certification for recreational and travel-related private flying appears to be an anomaly, and I doubt that our society will be subjected to unbearable risks if an exemption to the 3rd class medical is granted within the limits of the current proposal.

My sense is that the time to give the exemption a fair trial is at hand. Let's hope the FAA leadership agrees.

Don

[Bill Berson]

But it's very clear to me that this issue isn't one that people want to have a discussion from both sides on. They want their opinion to be the law of the land and organization, and to hell with the other guy.

You did not provide any logic to support your inflammatory opinion in the first post.

If you are worried about the public hearing harmful reports about pilots without medicals, my experience is they never heard of medicals.
My passengers usually only ask me if I am talking to a Control Tower at my rural field. I say no, the chatter they hear on the radio is private pilots self announcing.
They never ask about medical issues.

[martymayes]

Sure it does. How many people do you know flying with ADHD? Or Schizophrenia? Or clinical depression? Or, are you going to pretend that the 3rd class medical doesn't catch that.

I've applied for and received >50 medical certificates from 1st to 3rd class. I have NEVER been tested for ADHD, Schizophrenia or depression.

[kscessnadriver]

I've applied for and received >50 medical certificates from 1st to 3rd class. I have NEVER been tested for ADHD, Schizophrenia or depression.

But you did list if you were on prescription pills. Which all of those, when treated with medicines, would be disqualifying.

[David Pavlich]

Don...you just brought up a good point about boating. Anybody can walk into a Fountain Powerboat dealer and buy a 40' go fast boat that has twin 575hp Mercs and capable of 90mph on the water. No physical, no certification, no nothing! Pretty scary stuff, but it's out there!

David

[Hiperbiper]

Sure it does. How many people do you know flying with ADHD? Several...a local Platipuss jockey that can't remember his sqawk or freq till the third or forth repeat. Or Schizophrenia? As long as their're flying twins I'm cool... Or clinical depression? CD can be overcome by not looking at the fuel flow gauge during climb out... Or, are you going to pretend that the 3rd class medical doesn't catch that.

I'm not pretending anything...a third class medical will catch a jumpy thumper and the inability of the patient to be able to fog a mirror with his breath.


JMPO and YMMV;

Chris

[steveinindy]

How many people do you know flying with ADHD? Or Schizophrenia? Or clinical depression? Or, are you going to pretend that the 3rd class medical doesn't catch that.

I do know of pilots who have those histories (well, ADHD and depression at least) and have skated through by various means (usually lying). The system isn't perfect but then again if it were perfect, it would be focused on things that actually have a demonstrable statistically significant effect and are not based off of fear, myth and supposition. The major problem what that is that they have their "phasers set to kill" with regards to the clinical depression and other easily treated and alleviated or often transient mental conditions. The schizos and- to a lesser extent- the severe ADHD cases (since I don't know many of us on here who wouldn't light up the DSM criteria for ADHD while at Oshkosh), yeah, I of course can see grounding them. But a guy who was transiently severely depressed years ago- say because of an abusive home life for the sake of having a transient option to argue- and doing fine on or off medication will likely not get his third class since the FAA considers him a flight risk. The attitudes towards mental health and related medications at CAMI are positively draconian with very little nuance for the actual conditions which can vary widely from one person to another. You want to stick a VFR only sticker on his medical because of some pie in the sky fear of spatial disorientation with a patient on newer generation antidepressants, go for it. But if you have a person who is stable and functioning just fine, there's no more risk with that than them giving a special issuance to someone who previously had a heart cath but came back with clean coronaries.

I often wonder how many professional pilots have untreated mental illnesses (or physical conditions) for fear of losing their livelihood. THAT would be what I would be concerned about.

Sorry...didn't mean to post that much. I was actually talking to one of the folks I know down at CAMI about this over on LinkedIn so a lot of this is kind of front and center in my mind.

[steveinindy]

They want their opinion to be the law of the land and organization, and to hell with the other guy.

Actually my stance is show me a reason (scientific preferably) why the law of the land should be the law of the land beyond "we've always done it this way" or "when I got my pilot's license".

I mean, with regards to that last option, when Jim and Marty got their pilots licenses, it was still socially acceptable to take a couple of swigs from a whiskey bottle before flying. But then again I think if I had to see and avoid pterodactyls, I would be drinking too.

(Sorry guys, couldn't resist).

[Bill Berson]

The medical does nothing to weed out older impaired pilots. The physician does not test for old age impairments, as far as I know.
Every pilots airmanship ability is determined by his instructor and the check ride examiner.
And every two years thereafter by the instructor doing the flight review.