The Washington Political Process Has Required Some Not-So-Welcome Modifications to PBOR2

While Senator James Inhofe's difficult fight to enact additional Pilot's Rights legislation now appears to have some serious potential for reality, it has not come without some concessions -- a note that has led to some unease in the pilot community.

In remarks made before Congress this week, Inhofe carefully enumerated the current stats of the legislation and what it means now to the pilot community. The PBOR2 proposal now has 67 Senator and 140 House members lined up behind it... pretty much making it bullet-proof if and when it comes to an actual vote.

However; in order to get to that point, some of the stronger measures in the proposal required some compromise... “This bill is vitally important to the 617,000 pilots in our country,” Sen. Inhofe said. “Ten years ago, the introduction of sport pilot eligibility gave an opportunity to fly with modified medical certification. After 10 years, the medical safety experience has been positive.”

Sen. Inhofe explained some of the current provisions in the bill that would allow pilots to fly without the ongoing requirement for a third class medical:

1. Pilots would be required to complete an online aeromedical course every two years. The course would boost aviation safety by bringing the latest information on aeromedical factors to pilots.
2. Pilots would need to see their personal physicians at least once every four years and be treated for any conditions that could affect their health. A pilot could then simply note that visit in their logbook without the need to see an AME or file any reports to the FAA.
3. Any pilot who has not held a valid medical certificate within the past ten years or new pilots would be required to obtain a one-time 3rd class medical or special issuance to establish a health baseline. Once approved, no further AME visit or FAA certification would be required.
4. The existence or onset of several specifically listed conditions might warrant a one-time special issuance such as serious psychological and neurological conditions, as well as cardiac conditions requiring open-heart surgery. Successful completion of this one-time special issuance would permit the airman to continue seeing their personal physician thereafter.

The bill also added provisions directing the FAA to study easing the special issuance process and to expand the Conditions AMEs Can Issue (CACI) program.

“EAA and AOPA have joined with Sen. Inhofe and his staff in tireless work to draw nearly two-thirds of the Senate in bipartisan support of this bill,” said EAA chairman Jack Pelton. “We appreciate Sen. Inhofe’s deep understanding of the Senate and his colleagues to bring this many senators behind this legislation.”

"We're 100 percent committed to getting the very best possible deal for our members, and getting it done as fast as possible," said Jim Coon, AOPA senior vice president of government affairs. "There are many factors beyond our control, including a limited number of legislative days before the end of the year and major political issues like funding for Planned Parenthood, but we are 100 percent committed to getting third-class medical reform. We'll keep working to build momentum for PBR2 and we'll continue to look for opportunities to have medical reform language included in other types of legislation that are moving through Congress."

EAA has noted that, 'Moving legislation through Congress is a marathon, not a sprint, and it is not an easy straight line. The accommodations made by Senator Inhofe to his original proposal proved necessary to address specific and broad based concerns expressed by Senators to the bill as introduced.

The current construct gives the FAA the authority to look one time at an airman to establish their baseline eligibility to fly, then places the ongoing care and monitoring of a pilot’s health in the hands of the pilot and their personal physician, which is where EAA believes it should rightfully be. The GA community is now farther than it has ever been in pushing meaningful medical reform, eliminating much of the bureaucratic paperwork and cost for the vast majority of GA pilots.'

FMI: www.senate.gov, www.faa.gov, www.eaa.org, www.aopa.org