Had some doubts about obtaining any FAA medical because of some medical history. Chatted up the guru of difficult medical cases Bruce Chien and he flat out told me my case is impossible. Others have told me that even self certifying to fly LSAs is playing with fire.
Guess that’s the end of that. Current and future pilots I wish you all the best. I’ll be sitting in coach and chat you up from time to time.
Peter,
I am sorry to hear that. Good luck out there.
Chris
Before you give up I would get a second opinion. He told me I’d have to do X and spend $Y and it would take Z amount of time to obtain a first class. I was issued one almost immediately with no special issuance. I even called FAA aeromedical to be sure they read my application right and everything was all straight.
Dr. Chien is an extremely generous man but he is also extremely busy and may not invest everything he has in your case as he is no longer taking new patients. My own AME doesn’t even respond to my emails in complete sentences. These guys are pros, don’t get me wrong, but my outcome was far from what they told me to expect.
The FAA doesn’t play around with the pertinent history of my medical record (mental health) and in most cases is a sure fire denial according to him. Unless I were to jump through a decade long series of hoops and tests, but frankly the aviation industry will be completely different by then and that’s ten years less time in the field (mid 30s by start time).
I got a second opinion that kinda put some hope, saying that it would be difficult but doable but frankly I trust Dr. Chien over the local AMEs I cold called.