When Xyla Foxlin visited her gynecologist for the routine replacement of her IUD it set off a chain of events that ultimately led to her being found medically unfit to continue flying her beloved Cessna 140. She's harnessing her considerable talent as a social media influencer and YouTuber to draw attention to the plight of thousands of pilots with treatable or even curable mental health issues who dare not be honest about their conditions for fear that what's happened to her might happen to them. She's part of a group trying to get Congress to support the Mental Health In Aviation Act.
There are not barriers or prejudices, between female/male when it comes to the cause and effects of stress, depression, or other issues. Moral of the story⌠âWoman, Man, Girl, or Boy⌠seek the advice of a qualified Medical Examiner, with solid knowledge and experience, for consultation, guidance and direction.
Fact is, when a decision like this is made solely based on paper-evidence and without proper psychiatric or medical evaluation of the applicant, we foster an environment of silence. She is 200% correct in doing what she does. Shine a big bright light on it, let the nocturnal critters squirrel away and discuss the issue. You may not win against the bureaucrats, but you at least didnât take it, laying down.
We have all met and flown with pilots with severe psychiatric disturbances and issues, depression and even hidden suicidal tendencies. Problem is, you can walk around in broad daylight with a gun in your mouth and be perfectly fine to fly a fully loaded A380 from A-B - but god help you, if you speak up or seek help.
The real problems start, when one reaches out for help and treatment. Take the wrong medication and watch your entire career go down the toilet.
I wish her luck on this path. Common sense has long been run over by a garbage truck in many aeromedical branches.
Another taxpayer affected by the tyranny of unelected bureaucrats. Here are some creative suggestions: (a) contact DOGE and ask for help, (b) abstinence or her husband takes responsibility for this very personal matter, (c) switch to Part 103 ultralights, no medical needed, (d) adopt an alias people can pronounce.
In the meantime, she could get an instructor to fly with. Our flight school has flown with several owners in the past while they sort out medical issues. I would imagine it a pain that you canât just jump and go whenever you want but at least she could still fly and stay current while Oklahoma sorts things out.
I think itâs evident in this reddit thread on r/flying that the FAAâs misguided take on mental health is common knowledge. Just look at the sarcasm in the first batch of comments:
Honestly, I donât think that the public at large wants to invest their time and their attention (or to be âinfluencedâ into thinking a certain way) on the internal workings of the FAA medical branch.
I also donât think that the opinion of the public at large should have anything to do with medical determinations.
Remember when heart bypass surgery was taboo? Many safe (safer) pilots were permanently grounded for no good reason. Shamefully the system took away their rights to fly for at least 20 years. Remember when the FAA took away Bob Hooverâs medical because they thought he had to be crazy to fly as he did. The greatest pilot in the world grounded for medical reasons when no medical reason existed.
Xyla, you are an ambassador for all pilots rights. Keep up the fight and keep flying until this gets resolved. Expect the fight to last years. Any pilot who is tailwheel current can act as pic in the right seat of your 140, you just canât log the time. Fly weekly with such a pilot , it is good for you and for your aircraft to be flying.
The story lacks detail of what the medical concern was and if an FAA-recognized medical examiner was involved.
No info on what the FAAâs ongoing concern was, Wikipedia covers aspects of IUDs and describes two different kinds with different chemistry.
(And I note that medicines are used for various things, not necessary the main usage that is popularly known. Thereâs a term for that, perhaps âoff-???â.
The FAAâs concern with depression, probably not her case, is that depressed people tend to jump into action when recovering and might act irrationally. How likely is that for a pilot supposedly trained and perhaps experienced in risk?
Basically, she had an IUD replaced, and because the new IUD caused a surge in hormones until it stabilized, she was feeling depressed, and talked to a doctor about it.
Unfortunately, she didnât think to tell the doctor she was a pilot, and the doctor put something down about âdepressive disorderâ in her chart.
She then put out a youtube video about her experience with the IUD, and someone reported that video to the FAA, who then demanded she see an FAA-approved psychiatrist.
Said psychiatrist apparently had no clue what IUDâs were or how they worked, and essentially diagnosed her with âfemale hysteriaâ, so the FAA revoked her medical on that basis.
Obviously, thereâs two sides to every story, but I find it completely believable that an agency which responds to mental health issues by essentially reminding pilots âItâs illegal to not inform the FAA if you were ever sadâ handled something mental-health related in a spectacularly dumb manner.
If you broadcast that youâre a pilot and then broadcast that youâre depressedâŚ
donât be surprised that you get reported and donât be surprised that the FAA takes it seriously.
âCommon sense has long been run over by a garbage truck in many aeromedical branches.â
Common sense means do not broadcast to the world that you are a pilot and:
-are seeing a mental health therapist or
-love explosives and hate the government or
-start asking about airborn particulate dispersion pattern calculations
Get real people. Donât be so dumb that you donât think that the FAA/FBI/ATF/TLA wonât paying you a visit if you start broadcasting such things to the entire world.
Donât be a jerk, AJ. Xyla is very young and possibly naive and did not understand the ways of the FAA aeromedical world. It never occurred to her that her situation would cause her to lose her medical. Thereâs not a pilot out there who has not been in a funk. A difference between males and females, men are more likely to just keep it to themselves and wait to come out the other side; women are more expressive (and emotional) and more likely to seek professional medical help.
Xyla, seems to me your head is screwed on straighter than a lot of professional pilots with whom I have flown. Hang in there and persevereâyouâll eventually work through this and get your medical back. Your pretty little 140 will wait for you. Meanwhile, get with a CFI or just another licensed pilot for that matter who is checked out in your airplane and exercise your 140 and scratch your aviation itch. You wonât legally be able to touch the controls, but I wonât tell :))
I agree that she was incredibly "naĂŻve " to post that sheâs a pilot and seeing a mental health specialist. Itâs also naĂŻve to not tell the FAA; even more naĂŻve to think that she can change the FAA medical branch. I just hope that sheâs not digging herself such a tall hole with the agency that it take her longer to get back legal.