Prediction 2011 – Medical

I think it is a great idea and long over due. Anybody that is normally mobile with a normal heart beat could get (not pass) a III class medical anyway. Incapacitation is the least cause of aviation accidents.

I agree with Babbit 100%. Very large vehicles on the nations highways are by far more of a threat to public safety than a pilot flying a private Acft. And there are no requirements for physicals for private operation of these large vehicles on the public highways. Reduce government restriction on our private lives. Not to mention huge financial cost to private citizens to the operation of their private vehicles.

Doing away with the medical certificate doesn’t do away with the dangers that it currently filters out.

I don’t want to read NTSB reports like this:

A diabetic was comatose at impact because he forgot to bring some hard candy along with him on the flight and his insulin levels droppped

A well documented depression patient on several medications decided to fly his Cessna into his ex-girlfriends house

Pilot with documented heart disease, past infarction or that has had heart valve replacement patient has heart attack during take-off climb and plows into neighborhood killing several on the ground

Man’s pacemaker fails during a quick flight to see grandma – family of four dead.

Opiate user doubles his dose because he’s “extra stressed” right before takeoff, 30 minutes later he’s so “out of it” he ignores ATC and flies into a TFR and ends up getting shot down.

All of these incidents have at least one qualifier that would prevent the person from getting a medical at ANY class. However, without having that third class medical requirement, every one of them would “slip through” – all resulting in at least one death.

There are no police in the sky to stop a DUI, or a swerving diabetic, or to perform a PIT maneuver on a mentally unstable pilots airplane…

If you want to fly and can’t get a third class medical, go LSA. It’s limiting, but at least you still get to fly!

I think there was a time when the 3rd class medical was something you would expect to go through; I also remember when you couldn’t fly for the army if you wore glasses; just as absurb. Getting rid of the medical isn’t getting rid of the flight training and testing requirements. I’m a Private pilot, 3rd class, with a medical waiver for an artificial leg and I just turned 58. So I’m in that catagory of Pilots that will from year to year wonder if they will be able to pass the next medical. I own a plane that I fly for pleasure and I spend a lot of money for training, parts, gas, oil, maintenance and pilot stuff. Having a 3rd class medical requirement effectively gets rid of the most experienced pilots which are the people that have the most money to spend. For those that don’t know; it’s the small guy/gal that spends their money on a small plane instead of a boat or mortorcycle that keeps General Aviation and small airports open (actually all airports). Not the airlines and not coorperate aviation (although they do their part)but the small airplane owner/user/renter that pays the full tarrif/tax on everything they buy to fly. That money goes directly and indirectly into the local and national economy. Most of the people I fly with are older then me; they all have something that threatens their flying future; not one of them would fly alone if they thought they were not medically capable. I feel safe flying with any one of them.

In addition to being the right thing to do, removing the medical requirement will have a positive effect throughout GA. Keeping more pilots flying will benefit every aspect of the business. Likewise, a stake would be driven through the heart of the motorhome business were medicals required of our altitude-challenged friends, lumbering down the freeway, towing their F-150, while peering through the spokes of the steering wheel.

We all know some very competent pilots who have been grounded for reasons not connected to safe flight, including those who are now afraid to even take a medical for fear of failure.

I’m 62 and passed my medical but FAA sent me a letter saying that I have to send them a current M.R.I because I had a brain injury in 2001. Until I do that ($2,000.00) I can’t fly. Crazy because I already had passed the medical. I also have a CDL drivers lisc. So I’m pissed!

Is it true….we finally have a Common Sense Administrator in the U.S. Government? Been asking this med question for years. Thanks!

Back in 1973, Magnum Force,the second in the series of “Dirty Harry” films, starring the “ageless” Clint Eastwood, “Callahan” made a comment during one of the last scenes,”Man gots to know his limitations”. AND PILOT’S TOO!(I put this up on my bulletin board)
As an AARP member and in my “68th” year, I personally have NO PROBLEM
with retesting at a “certain age”,say 75+, not only for flying but for motor vehicles as well. Does anyone REALLY think they have the same reaction time and cognative skills that did even at 50? The reality(dirty word)is this; as we age, which is a natural process which we realy don’t have much control over, we resign ourselves that there are certain things,ie driving OR flying, that it’s not only in our best interest, but ALSO in the interest of others to know when to quit? Isn’t this really the “unselfish” thing to do? Of couse, more of us will remain in denial than not. Ive seen my stepfather, now deceased, thought he was still competent to drive at 93. He and my mother were out for the evening and got into a small “fender bender” about 30 miles from home. He couldn’t even remember where he was! So what’s the moral of the story? Perhaps the hardest thing in life is to accept reality for what IS rather than what SHOULD be. One final thing all of us need to remember;flying and driving is a PRIVILEGE, not a RIGHT. BE GRATEFULL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE WHILE YOU HAVE IT!!!!

I agree 100% that if you can drive a vehicle on a two lane hiway sometimes passing as close astwo or three feet head on to another vehicle,you can sure as hell fly noncomercial. Iam so glad you brought that up to the FAA,S attention. Thanks: Harris J.Theriot Jr.

you can’t compare a car truck or rv to an airplane. if you forget to put gas in your ground vehicle you just pull over to the side of the road and call for gas.In an air plane you die. as we get older our memory is’nt what it was when we were younger We take 10 or 12 pills a day. We have cataracs on our eyes and other medical and other ageing problems. There are thousnds of driver’s who should not be on the road you’ve all seen them And as drivers and pilots we will not regulate our selfs.The 3rd class medical keeps a lot of sick old people out of the air and rightfully so. We need a 3rd class med. after a certain age to keep them off the highway too. We have an 86 yr old pilot with oxegen tubes in his nose on our airpark, who went LSA and has crashed 3 planes in 4 years. another 77 yr. old forgot to put his gear down and died of a heart attack on the runway nuf said. Hatchet.

So #6 are you saying that none of those things would happen if that person did not have a medical, or was flying LSA? How absurd. How about this, “Unstable person steals his uncles’ Cessna and plows into his girlfriends house, too bad he did not have a current license”.

Pretty rediculous. The fact that LSA exists, precludes all your arguements. And If you have a plane, and want to do bad things, there is nothing stopping you from flying it.

OK, enough! To all the previous respondents who are “pro no medical”.
Kindly refer to my earlier commet(#20). He was never a licensed pilot and I dought if he ever had the desire to be one. However, let’s just suppose he had been flying for 75+ years, BUT his FAA medical examiner
at the time of his last 3rd class medical suggested that his passing the next one might be “in question”. He goes and buy’s a new LSA for $135K CASH,yes,he had the financial meams to do so and then some! His New Jersey drivers license states he is “medically” fit to fly, even though he is 93 years of age. Would you REALLY want to be in the same AIRSPACE as he? The only other safety measure would be his “failing” a BFR, and my being a CFI, naturally would come to me for a sign-off. Not a nice place for me or any rational thinking CFI to be in. Now,to all the “armchair” experts, try “countering” this with any form of logical non prejudice self serving bias!

I agree Bob except for the local restriction. If I can drive myself and passengers across Texas (Texas is huge), then I should be able to fly us there too. Keep the two year BFR’s and an eye test though.

As for the commercial cert, I didn’t have to get a medical for a commercial drivers license. Just the check ride equivalent on the ground with a dps officer. An examiner should be able to determine if I’m fit to fly commercial and able to operate the equipment and navigate safely to my destination.

Check ride and eye test should be enough.