Could We Do Better With Less Regulation?

Commentary And Analysis By Gene Yarbrough

Is it possible to repeal the third class medical for the flying public? The FAA has alluded to the possibility during the rulemaking committees when they were forming the LSA regulations but little has been mentioned since. There seems to be a grass roots ground swell forming to remove the third class medical certification as the realization that LSA hasn’t effectively addressed all the issues that people have. While the LSA program has certainly eliminated much regulatory pressure there still exists a smaller (but significant) group of people with certain issues that reject them from a third class medical and align in such a way as to prevent them from obtaining LSA pilot training and certification. The barriers that still exist are preventing many capable people from enjoying the personal aviation sector.

Folks that have had a medical denied or revoked fall into this category and people who are sufficiently heavy and  not able to take flight lessons in LSA aircraft also face particular hardships if they have underlying medical conditions that preclude them from obtaining a third class medical.  For example:  a person too heavy for training in an LSA (and it doesn’t take much over 200 lbs to fall in this class), with diabetes (whose blood glucose is suitably controlled via medication) that physically is capable of operating an aircraft. This person is forced to train in a Part 23 aircraft, which requires a third class medical to solo and test in. Diabetes Mellitus is the first item on the list of medical conditions that would reject a candidate for a third class medical. The FAA has issued third class medicals to applicants with diabetes but the qualification of that person and the associated testing is expensive, convoluted, and questionable as to whether or not it effectively discerns those that are not medically fit to fly from those that are. Additionally the ramifications of losing LSA privileges should one have a medical denied are enough to deter the masses from even attempting to obtain a medical certificate at all.

The LSA approach is to remand the question of medical fitness to the local state drivers’ license office and the pilot himself. Should a person have a medical condition that is reportable by the individual’s personal physician then the person is precluded from operating an aircraft as an LSA pilot until the condition is resolved. Has this approach proved a satisfactory filter to provide a proper level of safety for the public at large? The question can only be answered with a proper data analysis of incidents and accidents in the LSA category, which hasn’t been done yet. However it would be reasonable to expect numerous LSA accidents to be reported by the media which hasn’t occurred in the 6 years since LSA has been in effect. In fact there have been relatively few LSA accidents and none which are medical related.

Furthermore one must call into question the purpose of the third class medical, its effectiveness, its origins, and whether it is still viable and necessary. The FAA has stated the purpose of the third class medical is to establish a minimal standard of fitness of a pilot, to assure some reasonable probability that the pilot will not suffer an incapacitation due to detectable medical deficiencies while flying; and this is where the rub comes in to play. When considering physiological situations that could quickly incapacitate a pilot only a handful come into mind: Heart attack, hypoglycemia, hypoxia, stroke, and no doubt a few others, which are exactly the same things, except perhaps for hypoxia, that would incapacitate a person driving a car. There is no government mandate to have a medical examination to drive a car as exists to fly an airplane even though a car is arguably just as difficult to operate and navigate as a personal airplane. Therefore what, if any, guarantee of pilot ability at any given moment does ANY medical certification afford? The answer can only be NONE, but let’s be careful to not brush with too large of strokes, this is not to suggest that all medical certificates serve no purpose. A first class medical is renewed every six months and there is an argument that this frequency, and its associated rigor, is capable of determining underlying medical problems in time to employ corrective measures so as to avoid conditions that would render the aviator unfit. However an exam bi-yearly or every three years, which is not much more than a self-evaluation questionnaire, does little to provide the same level of safety or even trend monitoring. Moreover the LSA standard of self evaluation offers a more reasonable, and perhaps more effective, level of safety due to the self certification requirements prior to each flight. Of course the argument exists that each pilot must consider his fitness to fly even with a third class medical, but the point is the result is exactly the same regardless. Therefore the third class medical is not in fact necessary if the LSA method renders the same level of safety.

So why hasn’t the FAA already done away with the third class medical? Apparently, in typical government dogma, the FAA has stated the purpose of the LSA category provides a means to flight for those that are not qualified for a third class medical, but hasn’t considered all the possible, even likely scenarios that could arise, and the FAA is loathsome to repeal regulations. Furthermore there has been comment that should the FAA allow people that have been previously denied a medical, or had one revoked, engage in piloting aircraft and they cause an accident due to medical issues the FAA could be held liable. Whereas if a person never had a medical certificate and caused an accident the FAA would not be held accountable because they had no knowledge of the medical problems. This notion is again complete hogwash. How could the FAA know anyone’s medical fitness at any moment even with a medical certificate? A pilot is still self certifying his fitness to operate an aircraft every time he climbs behind the controls, even an ATP class pilot.

There is no logical reason to maintain the third class medical certificate. There is empirical evidence via LSA and the automotive industry to demonstrate that medical conditions, and incapacitation, are not predictable to a degree where the current regulations provide any measurable level of safety. We do have a system in place whereby a person may be deemed medically unfit for automobile operation and that seems to serve the public well as a standard for aircraft operation. The FAA itself documented that less than one half of one percent of aviation incidents AND accidents are attributable to medical causes.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt reported at Oshkosh that the FAA is suffering from budgetary shortfalls like the rest of the country and that the agency is having difficulty maintaining staffing levels to support GA activities. Repealing the third class medical would relieve the FAA from the backlog of issuing third class medicals, which is the preponderance of all the medicals issued, and save millions per year.

The ground work has been laid to abolish the third class medical. It is unnecessarily restrictive, does not provide a suitable or logical standard, cannot guarantee a person’s fitness from one moment to the next, and is easily replaceable by an existing and superior model. Millions are prevented from committing aviation by this “Iron Maiden” of regulation and the industry as a whole suffers. Lets come together 'en masse’ and exercise our right to have regulations changed. We need to organize and let FAA hear our collective voices; we want change that allows us to enjoy the freedom and flight, AND WE WANT IT NOW!!!

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