Coming To An Airman Near You ... Or Not

By Gene Yarbrough

Dr. Brent Blue MD held a forum on the issuance of third class medical certificates Tuesday morning. Attendance was brisk with many eager to expound upon and commiserate about their particular ailments and the frustration encountered in trying to convince the FAA Medical Office to issue a third class medical. Dr Blue reviewed most of the disqualifying conditions that would typically cause a denial from the FAA and how to approach mitigating the denial via application for a special issuance. Several of those attending shared their personal conditions and testimony of how they battled the bureaucracy and won or lost.

The FAA has identified 14 medical conditions that would normally be grounds for denial of a third class medical, including; diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and epilepsy to name a few. Most of the conditions listed are based around concerns regarding sudden incapacitation causing loss of control of an airplane. Dr Blue stated that all, except a very few, of the conditions could be mitigated through judicious medical testing. Giving several clinical examples of conditions such as cardiac stenting, heart attacks, and cancers of various kinds being accepted by the FAA appeared to allow the audience a glimmer of hope ... countered by anecdotes of the nightmare of working within the arbitrary ways of the FAA re-grounded the crowd to the current status quo. Dr Blue admitted that working within the halls of the FAA can be arbitrary and a complete gamble depending on which agent works your individual case.

Dr Blue also lamented on the useless nature of the third class medical and that he is for eliminating it lock, stock, and barrel and agrees with Congressman Todd Rokita and EAA Chairman Jack Pelton’s effort to supplant the third class medical with a current state drivers license, stating that one’s own personal physician has a much better vantage point to evaluate your medical history, current conditions, and medical trends than a periodic visit to a doctor who is not familiar with your medical history. Dr Blue also affirmed the notion that even though the third class medical may be well-intentioned, the only certainty it affords as to ones fitness to operate an airplane expires when the patient walks out of his office, and there is no significant ability to predict or prevent any sudden medical issues that may arise within the three years for which a normal third class medical is valid.

Closing the forum, Dr Blue stated that he believed the Rokita effort places the FAA in the undesirable position of having Congress dictate what the law of the land would be and therefore was interested in intercepting the groundswell of public discontent before they are pressed into an uncomfortable position by legislative mandate. He was also hopeful that FAA Administrator Huerta would announce a significant and meaningful shift by the FAA regarding the third class medical on Thursday.

FMI: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/