Due to the self-reporting nature, the chances of getting caught lying on an FAA medical aren't very high. While I share our concern about pilots going unconscious in flight, I have as much concern about FAA going unconscious while on the job. You can mail or fax your request for aircraft records or Request Copies of Aircraft Records online. Should I mention this to my AME? I really want to fly but Im not sure my passion, not to mention my wallet, will be enough to get me through this process. However, I also think that the standards for commercial and airline pilots should be more stringent. You get caught lying on a medical, they'll do a lot more than just bust your balls. ANY RESPONSE WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED! If you have a medical issue, may god be with you as you try to figure out exactly what you have to do (e.g. There, see you did lie on your medical didnt you. 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. The application states once hired you must obtain a class 2 medical cert Wreck an 18 wheeler and how much property could you damage and how many people could be injured on a busy interstate? Lesson learned here is that not all Air Physicians are the same when it comes to evaluating pilots. May just you please lengthen them a little from next time? no? If I have the big one in the seat here is what will happen: 1. The real question is; Do you trust you AME? https://airfactsjournal-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/06180933/doctorlargesquare1.jpg, https://airfactsjournal-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/06142440/Air-Facts-Logo340.jpg, COPYRIGHT 2011-2023, SPORTSMAN'S MARKET, INC. All Rights Reserved. Type 2 diabetes, with oral medication, receiving a special issuance every year, until this last one, when the FAA generously determined my AME could recertify me, annually, for five years. I am very curious. :). Nope, they requested an entirely new one. Thank you for the post. If its temporary, shaddup about it. If I remember correctly, being off antidepressant medication for 6 months or longer makes the problem that required the medication no longer an issue. I went to my own doctor who advised me it was nothing to worry about. Over forty years I have watched the change from Aryan superman standards to wheelchair/ limbless PPL pilots. From a practical standpoint, it makes the most sense. Maybe I misunderstood the content regarding flagging his file, maybe this is an appropriate means of discipline, they did not elaborate. Again, Im not arguing against the need for medical certification, but the process needs some serious streamlining. Get thorough guidance on how to proceed. (BTW, I am a member of both.) Most pilots I know plan to fly for longer than it takes one or two medical certificates to expire. Yes, they do. 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. Sorry for apparently differing from the crowd on this, but I think people are nuts if they are lying. And, actually, the FAA is making Special Issuance less of a problem for certain diseases. Hell no. However, if you do get caught, at best you will lose your license. Its only a matter of time. In order to understand how likely it is the FAA would catch you lying, it is important to understand how they would catch you. Thus, agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Federal Bureau of Identification (FBI), for example, will most likely still be able to see your expunged records. (No misprint.) How do we know that health issues rarely cause flying accidents? Youd think somebody in the FAA would be ashamed of being this dumb and show a little initiative and courage to fix such obvious issues instead of burying their tiny little heads in the sand. How is THAT not a red flag to someone??? I am working on my private pilot license and I was honest and admitted to an episode of seasonal depression treated with medication (which I no longer require or take). Period. Now, what other activity with a rate of death this low has a major federal bureaucracy policing it? 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. This is likely true for those receiving social security disability benefits as well, What Happens When the FAA gets Suspicious. I do not lie on my medical, but would love to be able to fly a 172 using a drivers licence in lieu of a class III medical. Risk is inherent in everything humans do whether they are operating a car, a boat, an airplane or a train. The all have SODA and continue to fly. The med examination wasnt any different from the third class but the vision requirements are different. Since I asked to have myself tested for apnea, and found it was a problem, and now use a Constant Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) machine, FAA dogs me annually. Obviously, many do. I have all kinds of things happen to me and I can not possibly put them all down or even remember them. FAA needs to justify their man hours.with scapegoats. Never happens! Died of a massive heart attack. I lost my 2012 medical cert in Istanbul, and make the mistake of sending the FAA form requesting a duplicate. It does nothing to me other than help prevent the gotta go right NOW urges. Anyone who would report this immediately loses their medical and has to wait a year. The FAA would, if it could, ban all general aviation to create a perfect safety record, and thus avoid any potential criticism from the press and Congress. No pill makes that any different no weekly conversation with an over-paid, disinterested asshole makes it different either. Lie and get caught, you will lose your ticket, get fined, and possibly go to jail. The absurdity of these medicals resides in the tiny number of casualties from medical incapacitation, compared to most other activities requiring no medical. Also, if you are too young for that, they can check other insurance companies and, apparently, a company, McKesson I believe, that gathers and compiles statistical data from and for insurance companies. We only use the You know what, I think we should drown the FAA in paperwork in protest. Think about what the FAA is likely to be interested in: Onset of chronic disease, like high blood pressure or type II diabetes. Legally, it does have to be the original. 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. An aircraft is just another machine. My understanding is that the FAA cannot see your personal medical records without your permission so how are guys getting caught. However you have never been treated or taken medication so probably if you disclose it the FAA would require some sort of doctors evaluation which says you are OK and that will be the end of it. Anonomous, It is a good thing that there are no sport airplanes to rent in your location. They will also review how your current application compares to the ones you have submitted in the past and your driving record. Not just surprise test changes from the FAA but the FMCSA again wanting to reduce truck drivers hours of service due to fatigue despite the lack of evidence published on the FMCSAs own web site. Also remember Ronald Crews 16 months in jail flying with Cape Air back in 2006 for lying about his diabetes on question 18k and then he had a diabetic seizure in flight but luckily there was a student pilot there to land the plane. AMCD will consider much more than the information you submitted in MedXPress and your AMEs exam findings. The FAA medical certification process has at times made me feel that I was in actual hell. One change I would like in the current procedure for the special issuance is to have my AME rather than those in Oklohoma City decide if I am healthy enough to fly. Any deviation from general standards of health found would/should require a more intense examination/(s.). Federal employees should qualify for at least a class three medical for airmen and let us toss in the medication list and drug testing for commercial drivers. I fly a Cirrus, my wife knows how to pull the parachute. I was just having so much fun and I didnt realize just how difficult it was going to be. If you do have heart disease, you would have to continue to see your Cardiologist as well as your AME to maintain your medical. The flight surgeon is not my friend. Told the truth, The FAA took my license. And yet still I do not feel I can speak freely to them. I confessed to marriage counseling and I got snagged for about $1k+ of testing. Id rather be flying but I dont require the FAAs approval for my activities. When learning to fly originally I was not even made aware this nor the NPPL was available. Then, I initiated actions to get tested, never dreaming that FAA would punish me for being conscientious and wanting to be fully alert. If you cant pass the physical you need to find another way to fly. Is the time and expense involved worth it? A quick examination of the many truthful and honest individuals that are truthful during their AME exams and are no barred from ever becoming a pilot! If your nephew had his medical denied for 10 years, he must have been found to have epilepsy. And, apparently, if and applicant for a first medical certificate with student certificate has had epilepsy, he/she can be deferred even if seizure-free for more than 10 years. I am not an AME but am a flying physician with long experience chairing and serving on the EAA Aeromedical Council. :-) However, since I do really like flying, it does make one avoid looking too hard for problems. Flying is no more dangerous than driving when properly trained. My first flightdoctor told me he was very happy about having pilots as clients. Because the measures necessary to achieve it would make life intolerable dull and stifling. I am hoping that they do the right thing when it comes to my health assessment. Im due for a flight medical soon. You have to be careful what you ask for. Fortunately with the airlines, there is always a second pilot capable of flying the plane. Now then, back to your question do pilots lie about medical conditions to their AME naaaaaaah! If you don't disclose it the likelihood that they find out about it are pretty slim, though. It is also very much a question of freedom. In my opinion the medical standards of evaulating pilots needs to be changed in light of new treatments. I asked him why I had to jump through all these hoops if I could get a waiver. In the FAA world view you are not telling the truth. That is approximately the same magnitude as deaths from lightning strikes, or falling out of bed (literally). Consider the following tabulations on the number of deaths per year in various activities: Motorcycle deaths 4500 Thank you for allowing me to share. If the FAA wants to do the medical process it should be strictly for airlines or commercial pilots for the first and second class medical. I mean no offense, but other adults telling another adult whether or not to disclose something on a medical just doesn't seem right. Let me repeat that, every single one, no exceptions. SOO going by the statistic that YOU pointed outof very few incidents and the comments that have been made that alot of piolts tell little white lies to an AME to keep their medical . Who would you send them to? In-case if you ever get into an accident the FAA/NTSB will look through all your medical history and do a thorough check on that pilot meaning they want to look at every doctor visit and all medications you have been on. Telling the truth in MedXPress is clearly the right thing to do, but that is not what this article is about. According to Pilot Self-Grounding Requirements (CFR 61.53), pilots have the duty to ground themselves and report to the FAA any changes in their medical condition before they are able to fly again. NO. Port St. Lucie, FL 34988
I lost my younger years flying and now the hoopes I have to jump through is unbeleveable.I really love flying but the government can take the privelage away its not right. Before treatment, when I was sleepy, FAA wasnt concerned. I did not disclose my name or address when I created this account. '[T]here is probably some justification for that,' he acknowledged in a 1998 interview, noting that the FAA is 'extremely conservative' when it comes to medical matters. If they say that you have a condition that requires you to be grounded, then fill out an 8500-8 medical form. If you didnt say yes then you lied. Ill continue to go by the book until such time as the rules change, or I wish to no longer fly. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Question 18m. I stopped learning to fly as I did not have the additional funds to have the CAA medical. Help is only a phone call away! It is a scam, a make-work project for administrators, and btw, doctors who make a practice of the bulk of business, which is 3rd class. I hope the AOPA and the EAA will also move quickly, and I want to thank both organizations for this effort. Thats out of tens of millions of flights. He showed no regard for the safety of others, nor did he feel guilty about lying, just relieved he passed. I do think that the First and Second class medical criteria should be more stringent. What will actually happen if you are caught lying? In this age of fax machines, email, twitter, facebook, linked in, etc, it is obvious that the FAA is stuck in the past. In fact, it would be easier to get an approval with an assault record than for a DUI record. One may invoke Fifth Amendment rights, but not outright lie. I am a rental pilot as well, and unfortunately, there are no sport rentals available, and they are too expensive to buy. 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