Aviation Medical Cases

In the United States, you must hold a current FAA airman medical certificate in order to serve as a pilot or air traffic control tower operator. The exceptions are that glider and balloon pilots may self-certify that they have no known medical defects which would make them unable to pilot one of these aircraft, and a sport pilot candidate is not required to possess an FAA airman medical certificate but may use a valid U.S. driver’s license as proof of medical fitness. Any restriction on the driver’s license becomes a medical restriction for exercising sport pilot privileges. 

If the previously mentioned proposed Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2 is enacted into law, those relaxed medical certification standards now in place for sport pilots will be expanded to cover all pilots operating aircraft with a maximum certified gross take- off weight of no more than 6,000 lbs with no more than 5 passengers or 6 occu- pants (“covered aircraft”), at or below 14,000 feet above mean sea level and at an airspeed not to exceed 250 knots, whether IFR or VFR, as long as no passenger or property is being carried for compensation. This proposal is intended to help re- verse the current steeply declining number of active U.S. general aviation pilots.

The FAA’s scrutiny of applications for medical certification is heightening with increasing accumulation of medical and related data on individuals in computer data banks of various government agencies and increasing cross-matching of this data between agencies. For example, in order to obtain an FAA medical certificate, you are now required to give the FAA written permission to access your driving record file in the National Driver Registry (NDR) database of traffic violations. NDR data is routinely cross-matched with information you provide on your application for an FAA airman medical certificate. Other data in the possession of federal agencies has also been cross-matched with FAA airman medical certificate application data and used for enforcement purposes. This trend is likely to grow in this new era of big data. Aviators who are unaware of this process and the potential consequences frequently succumb to the temptation to be less than candid on applications for medical certification, with immediate and catastrophic results to their aviation careers. Personal, financial, or employer-imposed pressures may also lead a person who is not fully cognizant of the possible consequences to act as a pilot or required crew member at a time when medically disqualified. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure that you have a practical working knowledge of how to analyze various aeromedical problems and dilemmas and arrive at the best solution or course of action.

I often see a classified ad listing an aircraft for sale that tells a tale of tragedy of Shakespearean depth encapsulated in the succinct phrase: Must sell, lost medical.

It’s not often that I’m moved almost to tears by Trade-A-Plane but that one gets me every time. I always want to call the seller up and say, “Wait! Before you sell your aircraft, are you sure you’ve done everything possible to get your medical certificate back?” You see, you don’t always have to take no for a final decision.

Sometimes the FAA can be persuaded to change its mind and reinstate your medical and in some circumstances the NTSB can order the FAA to issue or rein- state your medical certificate. We will now examine how the medical certification process and appeal procedure works. The procedure is very different from that of enforcement cases in important respects.