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Deferred medical stalled at FAA

brian257

Well Known Member
Hoping someone here who has been through this can offer some advice and possibly my experience can help someone else.

Went to renew my medical three months ago and put on my history that I was seeing a doctor for rheumatoid arthritis. No big deal, meds already checked to make sure they are not on FAA bad list and symptoms mild, but turns out that for an initial diagnosis of RA that the AME needs a status report from the treating doctor showing range of motion, no side effects from meds, etc. AME said that since he already had my medical started in FAA system he had to finish it and defer decision to FAA who would send letter asking for report from treating doctor.

Anyway, my dilema is that was 3 months ago now and at least a dozen calls to FAA with them telling me it is still in review. Spoke to a supervisor today and she tells me they can't do anything to speed it up and can't even tell me if one of their doctors that review it has looked at it yet, where I am in their que, or how long it will take. I have been busy finishing another plane so was not a big deal before, but now it is ready to fly so it is becoming a big deal. I asked if there was anything preventing me from getting a BasicMec since my medical was not denied, but she told me that with the current medical holding in their system I can not even get a BasicMed.

Anyone have any advice on if there is any way to get somewhere with the FAA on this? I do have a call in to the AME, but not sure he will be able to do anything and almost impossible just to get a call back from him.
 
You can get a Basic Med medical. I had a similar situation and since my Class III was not denied, suspended or revoked I could apply for BaicMed and had it done in 2 days. 3-4 weeks later I finally got my Class III from the FAA under a Special Issuance. It was good for 1 year after my application which actually gave me less than 9 months. I do not plan on doing another Class III.

The only potential problem is if you are denied the Class IIImyour Basic Med is not valid and you will have to go through the FAA hoops to eventually get the Class III issued.
 
I agree with post two. The Basicmed requirements state that it can't be used if FAA has revoked, denied, or suspended a past medical. Since none of those apply to your situation I don't see any reason why you can't use Basicmed until the FAA comes back with their response.
 
Call your elected representative...

I was in the same situation a few months ago. No one could tell me where my medical was at, except that it wasn't at Oklahoma City any more.

I called the FAA Regional Flight Surgeon's office and was very surprised when they advised me to call one of my Congressional reps - which I did. Two weeks later I had a call from the Federal Air Surgeon's office in DC asking which class of medical I wanted.

This wasn't my first choice to deal with this situation, but when the FAA's medical review process is so constipated that their own employees can't find status information, there really isn't another choice - and we deserve better from the organization we fund.

Dave S
 
I agree with Mike S. Call the AOPA medical folks, assuming you are a member. If not, why not? 👍
They can ping the FAA every week if you add your name to the list. They have helped me on more than one occasion.
BasicMed might be available but you need a favorable result on your medical certificate in work.
 
Contact AME ahead of time

..... AME said that since he already had my medical started in FAA system he had to finish it and defer decision to FAA ....

For this exact reason, it's always good to contact your AME ahead of the visit and tell him/her any special conditions and to ask for any reports he may need.
It helped in my case when pre-cancerous stuff was found in my a**l borescope test...:rolleyes:

This is one of the things BasicMed makes redundant.
 
I also thought I could get a BasicMed, but the supervisor I spoke to today said I couldn't. Not sure if she was correct on that since mine was not suspended, denied, or revoked. She said that in checking the date of my last medical per the rules it would pull up this half way done medical and stop things in their tracks.

Anyway, it pays to know people. I called a DPE I know to see if he had any FAA contacts and he gave me the number of one of the FAA doctors. That doctor pulled up my info and said they did an initial review or my application a month and a half ago, but had not assigned it to a doctor for review yet. He said he would review it today and push the paperwork along so I should have my medical in about a week. I wish I had thought of this route a few months ago.
 
I also thought I could get a BasicMed, but the supervisor I spoke to today said I couldn't. Not sure if she was correct on that since mine was not suspended, denied, or revoked. She said that in checking the date of my last medical per the rules it would pull up this half way done medical and stop things in their tracks.

Anyway, it pays to know people. I called a DPE I know to see if he had any FAA contacts and he gave me the number of one of the FAA doctors. That doctor pulled up my info and said they did an initial review or my application a month and a half ago, but had not assigned it to a doctor for review yet. He said he would review it today and push the paperwork along so I should have my medical in about a week. I wish I had thought of this route a few months ago.

Glad it is going to work out for you. However, the supervisor is wrong. My Medical was also in work, unless they revoke, suspend or deny it, you can use BasicMed which is what I did.
 
I agree with post two. The Basicmed requirements state that it can't be used if FAA has revoked, denied, or suspended a past medical. Since none of those apply to your situation I don't see any reason why you can't use Basicmed until the FAA comes back with their response.


This is not entirely correct. It's not a "past medical" it would be the last medical... if it was denied, suspended, or revoked"

From the FAA:

However, if your application was previously denied and you subsequently received a new medical certificate or a special issuance, you may operate under BasicMed.

You wouldn't be able to use BasicMed if you have new encounters with conditions that previously required a special issuance.

And even if you never had a special issuance, you still can't use BasicMed if you have new conditions such as


Mental Health:
(i) Personality disorder severe enough to have repeatedly manifested
itself by overt acts
(ii) Psychosis
(iii) Bipolar disorder
(iv) Substance dependence within the previous 2 years

Neurologic:
(i) Epilepsy
(ii) Disturbance of consciousness without satisfactory medical
explanation of the cause
(iii) A transient loss of control of nervous system functions without
satisfactory medical explanation of the cause

Cardiac:
(i) Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
(ii) Coronary heart disease that has required treatment
(iii) Cardiac valve repla

I don't know where RA fits there, if anywhere.


I, for example, would not be eligible for BasicMed because I had some relapses in the condition that required the special issuance, which expired at the end of April (thus my decision to be done with Class III and move on to my LSA era). But if I hadn't had those episodes a few months ago, I would be able to use BasicMed, even though my medical was denied some years ago, which got me into the special issuance-getting business, a ridiculously expensive line of work.
 
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Tom Charpentier at EAA is who you want to talk to. Or AOPA as has been pointed out.

I have been on special,issuance for many many years due to a couple of health issues. Whenever there has been a problem with my second class paperwork AOPA has gotten it resolved for me in a timely manner. They used to have a staff person right there at OK City that could deal directly with the beuracracy, and I assume that's still true. Their service has been in aluable to me over the years.
 
I am happy to report that the FAA just emailed me my 2nd class medical! Took 3 months and no telling how much longer it would have been if I didn't find a contact at the FAA.

As others have said, I should have contacted AOPA or EAA to see if they could grease the skids two months ago, but I didn't think they would have been able to do anything. Probably why mine took so long, smarter people getting them involved and pushing theirs to the front of the line.
 
As far as if I could have gotten BAsicMed or not, I still am not sure, but I am thinking possibly not since they gave me a special issuance due to the RA medication. Now that I have gotten the special issuance I can get BasicMed next time if I choose to. I am thinking that since I was required to have a special that I could have not bypassed getting it and just have gotten the BasicMed instead. Maybe.

Incidentally, the doctor told me the reason for special issuance was because the medication has shown to cause hypoxia at lower altitudes in some people. Had I not spoken to him I would have never known that since the paperwork I got from the FAA does not say anything about it, it is not listed in side effects you get with the medication, and neither the prescribing doctor nor the AME mentioned it, and my guess is neither even know that. Glad he mentioned it since I fly at high altitudes a lot and that is something that is good to know about.
 
This is not entirely correct. It's not a "past medical" it would be the last medical... if it was denied, suspended, or revoked"

From the FAA:

However, if your application was previously denied and you subsequently received a new medical certificate or a special issuance, you may operate under BasicMed.

You wouldn't be able to use BasicMed if you have new encounters with conditions that previously required a special issuance.

And even if you never had a special issuance, you still can't use BasicMed if you have new conditions such as


Mental Health:
(i) Personality disorder severe enough to have repeatedly manifested
itself by overt acts
(ii) Psychosis
(iii) Bipolar disorder
(iv) Substance dependence within the previous 2 years

Neurologic:
(i) Epilepsy
(ii) Disturbance of consciousness without satisfactory medical
explanation of the cause
(iii) A transient loss of control of nervous system functions without
satisfactory medical explanation of the cause

Cardiac:
(i) Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
(ii) Coronary heart disease that has required treatment
(iii) Cardiac valve repla

I don't know where RA fits there, if anywhere.


I, for example, would not be eligible for BasicMed because I had some relapses in the condition that required the special issuance, which expired at the end of April (thus my decision to be done with Class III and move on to my LSA era). But if I hadn't had those episodes a few months ago, I would be able to use BasicMed, even though my medical was denied some years ago, which got me into the special issuance-getting business, a ridiculously expensive line of work.

The law is pretty clear that only the three categories of specific conditions that you quoted here exclude you from using basic med. I believe that neither the law nor the AC state anything resembling "new conditions requiring a special issuance or previously requiring a special issuance exclude a pilot from using Basic med." Further, the FAA does not publicly document those conditions and it is therefore impossible for a pilot or his basic med Dr. to know them and use them as exclusionary criteria. Therefore, you cannot be compelled to follow them.

In your particular situation, once you have had a successfull SI, you are eligible for Basic Med even with that condition. It is just like the Class III. The FAA gets one shot to deny you, then you are free and clear to use Basic Med. A relapse of symptoms becomes an issue for your Basic Med Dr. I encourage you to research this further. Read the AC cover to cover. I think you will find that the quoted statement from the FAA is not accurate.

Larry
 
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I am happy to report that the FAA just emailed me my 2nd class medical! Took 3 months and no telling how much longer it would have been if I didn't find a contact at the FAA.

As others have said, I should have contacted AOPA or EAA to see if they could grease the skids two months ago, but I didn't think they would have been able to do anything. Probably why mine took so long, smarter people getting them involved and pushing theirs to the front of the line.

It gets better. You'll soon find that the issue date will be back dated to when you visited the AME and not when the FAA issued the certificate.
 
Issue date

It gets better. You'll soon find that the issue date will be back dated to when you visited the AME and not when the FAA issued the certificate.

Not surprising about the date. My experience was slightly different. I had special issuances issued each year for the years 2010-2016. They always expired on the 31st of March each year. But it didn't matter when I went to the AME or when they approved them. Some years I got the letter in March, and some years it was in April or even May. No matter when they approved it or when I went to the AME, the letter and SI certificate always indicated an expiration date of March 31 of the next year. Obviously, I always tried to get all the paperwork including the Echo DVD together and to my AME as soon as possible.

One year, THEY lost my records and sent me a notice that my file was incomplete and I needed to resubmit. The AME was puzzled, and he re-submitted it. And for kicks, I guess, they threw in an added requirement for three blood pressure checks over a 7-day period. The only time I had elevated blood pressure (but still within limits) was ten years ago BEFORE my valve surgery! At that time it was controlled with an allowed medication and I never had a medical denied. I have not had a problem with b.p. since my surgery in 2009.

This alone to me is the best thing about BasicMed. I no longer have to wait weeks and months on the OKC bureaucracy to approve a condition that is stable and that my Cardiologist and my Primary Care Physician are much more familiar with.

I've noticed some comments about whether to stay with the Class III medical or go to BasicMed. If you don't have ANY medical problems and don't anticipate EVER having any, then you might be better off with the Class III. But for me, I'm glad to have the option for BasicMed.
 
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Since the FAA will do anything it can to stall and deny a medical I wonder just how many pilots out there don't have a medical anymore or ever had one. You really only need to be legal if you have insurance. How many of you would quit flying because the FAA was being the usual jerks? NO FLAMING!!! And no ratting out a pilot.
 
You know, I know a few people at the FAA and I wouldn't call them "usual jerks". They've always been pretty professional and friendly... at least to me.

It's true that I lost my medical for a time because of Meniere's Disease but, you know what? I had no business flying with Meniere's Disease that wasn't stable. But the effort to get it back?

Well, thanks to someone on VAF, I was able to talk to the regional flight surgeon who denied me, who coached me through getting back, who insisted that everything be sent to him and not to Oklahoma City, who CALLED me the day he approved my special issuance and said "you want me to fax it to you so you can fly today?" (I didn't).

A few years ago, when I slid on ice a half foot over the hold-short line? I couldn't have asked for a more courteous and professional response from the gentleman at MSP FSDO.

Look, I get that being anti-government is all the rage these days, but I think it would help us as a pilot community to be respectful and recognize the job that a lot of people are doing.

BTW, I dont' subscribe to the "No squealing" mentality. Fly professionally. Fly responsibly. Fly safely and nobody will be the worse off.
 
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