So what's up with the "drivers license medical" ? The joint EAA & AOPA proposal was submitted to the FAA well over 6 months ago, an (extended) comment period was finished I believe also over 6 months ago, and......nothing. I was hoping that there would be a big annoucement about this at Sun-and-Fun, but no. WTF? Are they all too busy with the B787 battery show?

Craig Fuller spoke at Sun N Fun, and said that the proposal isn't getting much traction within the FAA. The agency recently announced that they are SLIGHTLY relaxing some of the requirements for a special issuance medical.....Like that's going to help much.

In any case, doesn't sound good. Here's the link with Fuller's comments: http://www.aopa.org/sunnfun/2013/130413 ... P=News:S6T

MTV

The inside word over at EAA HQ (where I have several friends) is, "Don't hold your breath."

I would be surprised to see anything on this anytime soon. There are too many other private wars, with much more political visibility, going on in the federal government that take all the oxygen out of the room.

When I was in Puyallup in March, I stopped at the FAA Aeromedical division booth. They had a panel of 3 people there- 1 physician and 2 assistants (I think.) I asked him what the odds were of a new rule coming to pass. He didn't discourage or encourage me.

He said that the issue with addressing the petition, and most aeromedical issues, is the bottleneck of manpower. Apparently the aeromedical stuff is so man-hour heavy that they are bogged down in work. He expressed that he'd like to see the 3rd class medical exemption happen simply because of the workload reduction.

That's how I remember the conversation, or the gist of it anyway. I'm sure someone will drop a hot air bomb on that, but if anyone can remember a time when aeromedical got things done fast, I'd be surprised.

Zzz wrote:When I was in Puyallup in March, I stopped at the FAA Aeromedical division booth. They had a panel of 3 people there- 1 physician and 2 assistants (I think.) I asked him what the odds were of a new rule coming to pass. He didn't discourage or encourage me.

He said that the issue with addressing the petition, and most aeromedical issues, is the bottleneck of manpower. Apparently the aeromedical stuff is so man-hour heavy that they are bogged down in work. He expressed that he'd like to see the 3rd class medical exemption happen simply because of the workload reduction.

That's how I remember the conversation, or the gist of it anyway. I'm sure someone will drop a hot air bomb on that, but if anyone can remember a time when aeromedical got things done fast, I'd be surprised.

$150 every two years is $150 every two years I suppose, but there are tons of issues I'd prefer to see the AOPA/EAA spending their political capital on instead of this.

mtv wrote:Craig Fuller spoke at Sun N Fun, and said that the proposal isn't getting much traction within the FAA. The agency recently announced that they are SLIGHTLY relaxing some of the requirements for a special issuance medical.....Like that's going to help much.

In any case, doesn't sound good. Here's the link with Fuller's comments: http://www.aopa.org/sunnfun/2013/130413 ... P=News:S6T

MTV

The word I heard was that it was dead in the water at submission primarily BECAUSE of Craig Fuller. Rumor has it FAA proposed something like the Commercial Driver's License physical. CURRENT medical condition and prescriptions instead of a lifelong tail. Fuller insisted on the current proposal and was told no dice long before it was submitted. So the story goes. Here's a reference: http://www.pilotsofamerica.com/forum/sh ... hp?t=54662 Pay particular attention to comments made by one Bruce C. He has some substantial experience with the issue and a dog in the fight.

EB

(I had just begun to get over my conversation with the mechanics' (not) repairing my plane (waiting on a gasket) when I read this. Now I am back to DEEP DEEP breathing.)

I took a brief look at the California Commercial Driver's license physical. Am I missing something? I'm pretty sure my doctors are willing to say I am not going to suddenly be incapacitated. I'd be ecstatic with being able to have a variable pitch prop, but I would much rather have a 150 hp Citabria than any LSA I have seen.

I'd like to believe Craig Fuller had a better reasons to reject the proposal than it wasn't his: anybody have rumors and innuendo to add?

rw2 wrote:$150 every two years is $150 every two years I suppose, but there are tons of issues I'd prefer to see the AOPA/EAA spending their political capital on instead of this.

I think this is one of the most important fights in recreational GA. 3rd class medical is silly for aircraft weighing less than 3000 pounds.

Most of you guys are lucky, I have to have a drivers medical, a coast guard medical, and a 3rd class flight medical. Unless I travel to Anchorage (800 miles) I have to go to three different doctors because none of them will put up with the paperwork bullshit of more than one type. They are very nearly identical procedures so if you pass one you should pass em all.
On the bright side I get to have the flying finger three times by three different people. and spend lots of extra money and waste lots of time.

Then we could go into the random drug testing program that has meant literally tens of thousands of dollars of wasted effort to make sure that I don't do the dreaded weed. Of course we won't go into the fact that most of the more serious drugs metabolize in days and won't show on the tests anyway. What a deal for us. I feel safer everytime I think of the govmint.

I think we're going about this the wrong way. Need to get support from our elected "representatives," (yea, I know) more than a few of whom are pilots themselves. The only way to get an unelected bureaucrat to give up power is to tie a knot in his money delivery tube. And the determining factor must not be aircraft weight, type, speed, whether the wheels go up at the flip of a switch or what have you. It should be one simple factor - is the pilot flying for hire. Commercial operation, sure require a medical. Non-commercial, no medical.

Best,
O-2

shorton wrote:Then we could go into the random drug testing program that has meant literally tens of thousands of dollars of wasted effort to make sure that I don't do the dreaded weed. Of course we won't go into the fact that most of the more serious drugs metabolize in days and won't show on the tests anyway. What a deal for us. I feel safer everytime I think of the govmint.

Exactly! A person can come in hung over and be ok, but if they smoked weed 25 days ago they are a problem. Alcohol, since it is legal, is one of the worst, and crack and meth leave the system in a day or so. Further more, I know a guy in his 30's that died of a massive heart attack walking away from the regional jet he was the captain of.

Some genius surely can find a way to regulate this issue.