After a tremendously successful Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) Assisted Special Issuance (AASI) program for Third-Class medical certificates, the FAA's chief physician, Federal Air Surgeon Jon Jordan, M.D., recently decided to expand the program to include Second- and First-Class medicals. This is great news, both for AMEs who have spent a lot of time with their patients ensuring the correct paperwork gets filed and for the pilots themselves. The expansion to the AASI program became effective September 7, 2004, but its announcement was only in the quarterly Federal Air Surgeon's Medical Bulletin mailed to AMEs at the end of November. The announcement means that approvals for airmen who require the more stringent medical certificates won't be unnecessarily delayed.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/faa-streamlines-special-medicals