I have what may be a difficult question about the FAA First Class Medical Certificate. As pilots know, the FAA has delegated its authority to issue medical certificates to private-practice AMEs. See 14 C.F.R. 67.407, “Delegation of authority.” While the vast majority of certificates issued by AMEs may go unchallenged, the FAA does reserve the right to reverse an issuance within 60 days.
A reversal, and prior to that a request for additional information, may often boil down to cases where there’s a tough judgment call to make about a medical issue that could affect flight safety. Reasonable medical minds can disagree over the severity, or not, of any given person’s condition, as everyone’s circumstances are different and the science isn’t always as settled as we may think. It’s also possible the AME missed something in the screening, or did not have crucial records to review at the pertinent time. Nevertheless, the FAA has a primary obligation of maintaining safe skies, so thorough scrutiny is in everyone’s best interest.
That said, I am curious if this message board has any thoughts on what specific issues could trigger an FAA follow-up request for additional records where an AME has initially issued a First-Class Certificate. I suspect that issues affecting the heart, nervous system, mental capacities, unconsciousness, and maybe even bowels can always raise a red flag. Are there any keywords or specific health issues that, even if occurred many years, even decades, prior could bring further FAA scrutiny?
I am curious if there is a consensus (or at minimum a hunch) among commercial pilots that points to a threshold where the FAA steps in and says, we need to take a closer look despite what the AME on the ground says. Speaking with actual AMEs and/or aviation attorneys may provide a more precise answer; however, I am curious what the pilot perspective is on this.
I have never once been asked to provide additional information, nor do I hear of it happening often. That said, pilots tend not to talk about any medical issues with other pilots.
You will have to speak with an AME on this topic, it is outside of our wheelhouse.
While I’m sure it can happen I can say in my experience it’s very rare. It most cases it’s the opposite. Most AMEs don’t want reversals or have they FAA start to think they’re too lenient. If there’s a question 99% of the time the AME is going to defer to the FAA and let them make the determination. If however it was something that was missed because the applicant omitted it from their application or answered no, not only would the FAA reverse the AME but they could seek further action as that’s a federal offense.
I appreciate the follow-up, Chris and Adam. Sounds like it is pretty rare for the FAA to reverse, or even request additional information, where the AME has signed off indicating the person is good to go.
A certain AME in the Central Florida region came under scrutiny by the FAA a year or so ago. All those that received medicals from him received a registered letter from the FAA that stated we had 90 days to undergo another medical exam at another AME at our expense. It’s unclear what caused that scrutiny by the FAA (rumor has it that he did too many exams in a specific time period), but those affected just found another AME nearby and got another medical.
Makes one wonder if there wasn’t more going on with the good doctor than merely taking on too many customers.
Also, to Chris’s point, if the pilot is over 40, they’re basically paying for two in a six month period and then have to turn around and do it again in another six months after that.