After all the BS with mandating COVID shots and they are on their high horse again. May I remind everyone of the FAA breaking their own medical rules for political and unscientific purposes.
Assuming your comment is in good faith and as an education opportunity to others:
a) DOGE is part of the executive. Legislative updates should be handled through the legislature (unless executive rulemaking is your cup of tea), which is what PMHC is advocating for.
b) Hormonal IUDs are necessary for medical treatment of endometriosis, which affects 10% of women worldwide. My wife will likely need a hormonal IUD for the foreseeable future because of this. Donât assume IUDs are purely for contraception, since like you say itâs such a personal matter.
c) 14 CFR 61.53 reads: Operations that do not require a medical certificate. For operations provided for in § 61.23(b) of this part, a person shall not act as pilot in command, or in any other capacity as a required pilot flight crewmember, while that person knows or has reason to know of any medical condition that would make the person unable to operate the aircraft in a safe manner.
Unclear if that applies at all to 103 but I would assume the FAA could claim a letter saying youâre not fit to fly could be construed as having âreason to know of any medical condition that would make the person unable to operate the aircraft in a safe mannerâ (PPL / Revoked Medical For OWI / Can I fly gliders/Part 103 in the meantime? | Pilots of America).
d) If you used the airmen inquiry tool https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/Main.aspx you would know Xyla Foxlin is not a pseudonym.
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I can understand the degree of the frustration that Xyla feels. Some years ago I too was denied a medical. I was prescribed a certain medication by my doctor for a particular passing physical issue. The last question I asked my Dr, who is a personal friend as well as my GP, was âam I safe to fly? He answered most assuredly yes, but also referred me to a specialist, as the condition I was suffering was not common. He also assured me of my fitness for flight. Soon after I had my biannual medical exam and the DAME who I used was informed of all the details of the condition and the meds. He also deemed me safe and renewed my medical certificate. CASA (Australiaâs equivalent of the FAA) subsequently cancelled the medical citing significant aero medical issues with the medication. They wouldnât initially tell me what those issues were but after 3 separate approaches I gained the understanding that among the long as your arm list of potential side effects that had ever possibly been remotely associated with this medication, one was psychosis. With ongoing discussion we were able to reach a compromise and my certificate was renewed but just for 12 months. For a couple years the certificate had to be renewed annually rather than biannually. A somewhat expensive compromise for me as it required significant travel as I lived well away from the places the exams had to be done so it necessitated travel and time away from my business. The crazy thing was without the medication I could hardly move and was unsafe but with the meds I was fit and active and happy. What I learned was that unelected officials in the bureaucracy can ruin your life and you can almost never argue with the bastard that is doing it. I also learned that a lot of people tell outright lies rather than run the risk of fighting with cowards hiding behind bureaucratic anonymity. It encourages one to be very proactive with managing oneâs health, particularly in the period approaching medical review, so one is best placed to have no red flags. It all makes a mockery of the system and I endorse Xylaâs efforts to confront the issue. At the same time, I understand and can appreciate Arthur J Foytâs comment. Certain actions will be a red flag to certain officials and Xyla, your situation and their persecution of you will justify their (too often miserable) position. I wish you success but expect that you will need to be prepared for a long haul and will need to be creative to find ways to legitimately circumvent the persecution you have opened yourself up for.
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With any issue related to psychiatry, psychology,or neuropsychology, the application gets sent to a team of Dinosaurs at FAA Medical. The Chief of Psychiatry, for years, was a Dinosaur named Dr. Chesanow. This guy was so conservative that if you were a pilot, and had seen a psychiatrist, you had to have psychopathology, so he would see that you were denied a medical certificate. Forgive me for saying this, but he died not too long ago, and it may have been a blessing for pilots. One down, anyway. I hear the FAA has a replacement for him, but he may not be much of an improvment. Then there is ANOTHER Dinosaur there at FAA Medical. This one is the Chief of Neuropsychology, Dr. Georgemiller. Another one who has probably lived 60 million years too long. I know of ONE aviation psychiatrist who had his head on straight, an Air Force Flight Surgeon Psychiatrist, many years ago, named Carlos Perry. He once (very quietly, only in the presence of some other USAF Flight Surgeons) said that pilots essentially could not trust ANY pyschiatrist, because they believed that ANY pilot who wanted to fly was mentally ill by nature of the fact that he wanted to fly - a normal person would never become a pilot! So, it seems that having a severe case of psychopathology is a requirement for employment as a mental health professional by the FAA. Undeniable proof that the entire FAA Medical Department is corrupt and unsalvageable!
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89M, yes, not only did they break their own rules regarding pilots taking an experimental COVID shot and allowing them to continue to fly, they also suddenly increased the interval for pilots with an av block (heart condition) from 210 milliseconds to 300 millisecondsânot related (ahem) to the shots, of course. There are pilots flying now with chest pains subsequent to receiving the shots who will not report this condition to their AMEs for fear of losing their medicals.
Kudos to her for trying to tackle the arbitrary and inappropriate discretion allowed by the FAA in aeromedical evaluations. Oversight by an administrative agency requires discipline and some level of basic competence in the subject matter and there is troubling indication that the FAA is currently lacking bothâbasic competence as well as disciplineâin many of the specialty fields of science that aviation encompasses.
But that alone wonât solve her problem. There is something fundamentally wrong with a medical device that initially administers such a high dose of treatment that the user is rendered impaired. Why is this allowed by the FDA? What is being done about it? If a testosterone patch created a similar overdose spike and deleterious effects for men there would he a howl of protest and a fix would be found pronto. Are the lives and careers of women of little to no concern to the FDA?
I doubt that more than a few women are actually âimpairedâ by a spike in hormones. Our hormones naturally fluctuate all the time just from normal physiological processes. Letâs just say that approximately .01% of people experience a serious adverse side effect from a medication. 99% of the time in such cases, a pilot would say, âI donât feel right, I shouldnât fly todayâ and there would be no safety issue. So in order to prevent something bad with a .0001% chance, the FAA automatically grounds the pilot. Itâs a stupid knee-jerk reaction that helps no one. The FAA ought to change from a stance of âwe wonât issue a medical if thereâs any chance something is wrong with youâ to âwe will issue a medical UNLESS we have positive evidence that something is wrong with you.â That alone would solve most of the problems that pilots have with the FAA.
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