SocialFlight Live! - Dr. Brent Blue: FAA Medical Tips & Changing the FAA's Approach to Mental Health

[@jmags2586]

I'm relieved to see Dr. Blue's realistic take on the issue of mental health among pilots, but am very discouraged by the FAA's antiquated and binary policies surrounding mental health issues such as ADHD, anxiety and depression. If you experience acute anxiety or depression (which 99% of people do), this should fall under self-evaluation rules where you simply take time off until you feel better. They seriously have to see a 5 year window pass after a depressive episode like having a parent die? 5 YEARS?! I feel very strongly that amateur pilots should not have to get a 3rd class medical to fly. There are pilots flying around safely every day under Sport Pilot rules who don't need a medical to fly and should be extended to private pilots who do not intend on flying professionally. Anecdotally, I have over 250 unlicensed hours from my A&P and student pilot days, and am now afraid to go back and pursue my PPL due to a temporary diagnosis. One rejected medical and my dreams of flying GA as a hobby are dashed. I am stuck trying to make Sport Pilot work. A quick trip through social media provides plenty of anecdotes about pilots who fly with untreated ADHD as flying seems to lend itself to the intense stimulation that helps ADHD'ers focus. Pilots I know simply take time off when feeling anxious or depressed, unless their livelihoods depend on flying, then they self-medicate with booze and cigarettes.This disconnect between policy and reality is a major source of frustration.

[@jasmineartis5754]

They’ll change it in 2 years. Certain anti depressant medications are allowed a Psych eval has to be preformed on the person. The Meds I’m on aren’t listed that’s what’s stopping me.

[@Sam-be4fl]

Is there any information with getting a FAA Medical and being misdiagnosed in mental health area from years ago?

[@harborgirl8877]

My 23 year old Nephew has been hired by a large commercial airline. He will be going straight to the big jets with this company. Unfortunately, he has had an aggressive malignant sarcoma removed from his arm. They are now doing radiation therapy on his arm (25 treatments). My question, which I cannot find an answer to is; does he have to disclose this to the FAA prior to his training date in late winter? He will have completed his radiation therapy by then. The tumor was removed. My thought on this was he needs to disclose this to the FAA or he could risk losing his first class medical. I realize he may lose it temporarily, but wouldn’t honesty be best?

[@donduffy6463]

Great show ... very informative ...

[@MuhammadAli-bp6iq]

Thanks 🙏🏽

[@josephkaminski1857]

Basic Med is illegally restricted by the FAA to ONLY class III medical passing People. You can't get basic med unless you first pass a class III . this makes basic med the same as class IIi. The legislation that enacted basic med was NOT supposed to do that. If you can drive you can fly was the original intent. The FAA juggled the language, in the drafting of it on the retroactive section to pull off this trickery. Basic med as a result is not doing what it was supposed to do. You cant get basic Med if you cant first get a class III. The FAA scammed legislators, because the legislation violated the law by not going to a review that was required. .HERE is proof and the FAA should be sued for how they Broke the law enacting this law. They broke the Federal law enacting it so that they could Modify the intent and get away with it. PROOF >>>> The following is what the FAA wrote to justify going around the administrative act...to approve this legislations wording. ______________________ B. Administrative Procedure Act The Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B)) requires an agency to conduct notice and comment rulemaking except when the agency for good cause finds (and incorporates the finding and a brief statement of reasons therefor in the rules issued) that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. The FAA finds that notice and the opportunity to comment are unnecessary and contrary to the public interest in this action because the FAA has simply adopted the statutory language without interpretation and is implementing that language directly into the regulations. The FAA further finds that delaying implementation of this rule to allow for notice and comment would be contrary to the public interest as to do so would delay the new privileges Congress sought to provide. ---------------------- However If you read the administrative procedure act. the FAA was NOT entitled to the exception, for this particular legislation. First of ALL, the law of giving notice and hearing for public comment was Statutory required to follow, because it effects public PROPERTY, Airports and planes as well as the FAA managing ATC , See section (2). §553. Rule making (a) This section applies, according to the provisions thereof, except to the extent that there is involved- (1) a military or foreign affairs function of the United States; or (2) a matter relating to agency management or personnel or to public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts. Secondly the FAA was NOT entitled to use the exception under (5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B)) to public notice and hearing or comment. BECAUSE because IT WAS REQUIRED BY STATUE as mentioned above section (5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2)) which applied to this particular type legislation. THEREFORE, The EXCEPTION the FAA relied on did NOT APPLY TO THEM because (a)(2) required them by THIS statue to apply this whole section. and it says so. Except when notice or hearing is required by statute, this subsection does not apply- (A) to interpretative rules, general statements of policy, or rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice; or (B) when the agency for good cause finds (and incorporates the finding and a brief statement of reasons therefor in the rules issued) that notice and public procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. As you can see the FAA pulled a fast one illegally to run this legislation under the door, in a way that allowed them to modify its contents and intent. and get away with it. The AOPA is nothing but dead weights who could have and should have done something to make sure Basic Med was passed the way it was intended to be. Now the FAA has hoodwinked everyone and you still must pass a class III at least once to get Basic med and that was not the intent.

[@bryancobb]

BasicMed was never a "drivers license to fly" program. The Sport Pilot Program was a "drivers license to fly" program. BasicMed was a program to essentially accomplish the same result as an FAA Class III Medical, in a much simpler, much cheaper way. The FAA still wanted any reasons for Special Issuance to to be identified and evaluated by a flight surgeon, prior to passing the baton to the family doctor. Ex. I got a special issuance Class III in 1991, following a suicide attempt. Over the next four years, my class was incrementally upgraded by OK City, until 1995, when I was given a Class I under a cover-letter that said, my local AME could issue future medicals directly to me. The only restrictions were that I ground myself during periods when I took a medication for the depression. From 1995 through 2017, I kept a Class I or Class II without reporting periods requiring medication to the FAA, by adding the "NOTE: No change since last reported" on my application for my medicals. The cover letter that OK City sent me informing me that my local AME could issue my medicals, was PART OF THAT MEDICAL CERTIFICATE. That letter did not require me to report periods taking meds, it only required me to ground myself. Thus, "NOTE: No change since last reported" was not a lie. To fly under BasicMed, the FAA really needs and wants this info to be in my file. In my case, it was. If I had only started flying after 2017 instead of in 1978, there would have been no way for the FAA to know I had attempted suicide without requiring me to get a one-time Class III before starting BasicMed.

[@josephkaminski1857]

@@bryancobb The FAA is currently trying again in a roundabout way to create an include a pivot pilot license that needs no Class III medical. Under the new light sport aircraft regulations proposed they will change light sports to light aircraft and set the definition on stall speed not weight. 54knts or lower. this will move many existing certified planes into the new light aircraft category. And that new revised category will not need a class III medical. Currently I have been waiting on a special issuance since I took my medical in February. To be fair the data they subsequently requested was sent in May. It is for a CABG that was done two yrs ago, and I passed all the tests they wanted with the equivalence of a 40 yr old. But they simply are taking too long to get to these files. When I sent the data 4 weeks before deadline they did not scan it in before the deadline. so they sent me a letter My application was denied. OMG . then they scanned it and found they had it but didnt scan it so the denial was reversed. Now if they can look for data that does not show up on deadline of 60. Why cant they review the data in 60 day? Because this is taking more half a year. I have heard horror stories from my doctor of a guy who got his authorization two weeks before the two yr expiration, and he had to do it all over . I just want my Class III so I can convert to basic. Because I had not flown in a long time and did not qualify unless I had at least one special issuance. I was told to lie by many people even AME who offered to process a regular class III so I can convert. , But I can not break the law, I just cant. . I had to do it the right way, and I spent more than a year preparing for the testing before even applying. Even got my medical data knowing I would need it a year later. boy it seems like punishment for doing it right. I called the FAA well before sending it to make sure I did everything right. .It has not helped. It is sad. It is very demotivating and hurtful. I want to fly my plane to visit my son in ND who is in airforce. ITs not going to happen. He will be out in November. I cant even get insurance on my plane because of no medical. Im afraid to complain to them because I fear my application will go in the never look at pile. I tried to help and asked what can I do to help this process. There is nothing. Here is the problem I see with that. If I needed My health insurance to evaluate a special request for prior authorization and all medical records for it , it will be done in about 2 days. they get about 100 thousand such requests a day. Every day all year long. They have 40 million customers. The FAA gets maybe 6000 special issuance requests per year, with thousands of employees to process them. Do the math. They need to go see what the HMO are doing and take some of their ideas. I sent them everything they asked for. Every test was prefect. There shouldn't be any need to go deep into review, unless something was out of a range and required more testing. But nothing did. Not one thing. Plus I am more than 2 yrs past the procedure which is considered a cure in the Medical field. Im not like most who apply only 6 months after or a year after, where the stability of the procedure is not proven over time yet. My cardiologist says im in the statistical top 1% of near perfect outcome. I have waited patiently for many months. ALL of my family who were excited, are deflated on the issue. everyone gave up hope Ill get medical. I think many former pilots at airport I keep my plane at who where looking at me as a guide to if they should do a special issuance also see me as an example of why they shouldn't even try.