Originally published at: FAA Accepts HIMS Reform Petition For Review
Pilot advocacy group is seeking changes to monitoring, medical reviews and the path to unrestricted certification.
This has been a long time coming. Pilots for HIMS Reform isn’t just seeking to “improve” HIMS. They’re seeking to replace HIMS with a better program, known as “Aviation Evaluation and Recovery Oversight Pathway”, or AEROPath.
For far too long, the FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine has been largely unchecked. Countless arbitrary and capricious aeromedical decision making seems to be the theme. Airmen falling victim to false positive EtG/EtS tests, which the FAA treats as a verified positive regardless of what more detailed follow up testing shows. People who have DUIs from 15-20 years ago who haven’t drank since are even getting caught in the HIMS net. Endless lifetime monitoring. It’s called the “Hotel California” program for a reason. And the science it’s all based on is junk science. The doctors running the program aren’t even specialized/qualified in substance abuse medicine. The latest issue? Publishing one rule while enforcing another (67.x07(a) listing Substance Dependence as aeromedically disqualifying, “unless there is evidence satisfactory to the Federal Air Surgeon of recovery”, yet under the current FAS, there is no amount of evidence of recovery that she will ever find satisfactory, as evidenced by her statements at a seminar she did at the AOPA exhibit at AirVenture 2026).
The reform bill also adds a 5 year statute of limitations, which bars the FAA from using motor vehicle actions older than 5 years as a basis for a substance dependence diagnosis, and any airman that were roped into HIMS based on offenses that were older than 5 years at the time of application are to be returned to unrestricted status.
The days of hiding behind the blanket of “aviation safety” and interest balancing legal defenses are over. AEROPath is the way forward, bringing FAA mental health standards in congruency with the prevailing DSM standards, offering a recovery path that will ultimately lead qualified pilots back to unrestricted certification.
Thank you for such a great overview. Whilst I was generally and only peripherally aware of the FAA-AME circus your specifics are well received thought still slightly embarrassed that I thought the article was about the FAA changing policy on pilots taking the HIMS ED treatment.