I have seen older posts from a few years ago about this and wanted to see if anything has changed.
I have been deferred in January to receive my first class medical certificate due to a single depression/anxiety disorder I had over a year ago. I have not been taking any medication for over a year now and I have been corresponding with the FAA for 6 months now and sending information back and forth. And usually the wait time has been 2-3 weeks.
I have sent in the most recent documentation about 6 weeks ago and I have been calling Medical Certification every week to get an update. The operators are great (a few of them literally know me at this point haha), but they have been telling me that the documentation I sent is “under review” by the doctors.
Is there anything I can do to expedite the process? Would contacting AOPA be helpful? My AME, unfortunately, keeps redirecting me to call Medical Certification. I know the FAA does their best to look through and evaluate every single airman, but I just want to make sure I am doing everything I can from my end to get this issue resolved and get my first class medical certificate.
In this situation, the best action is inaction. It’s in their hands now. It will get done when it gets done. Calling won’t speed anything up. It just reassures you that they haven’t forgotten about you. It’s the same as when the plane breaks and everyone is on board waiting to know when it will be fixed. I leave the mechanics alone. The more I bug them the longer it takes because I’m interrupting their work. All I can do is make a PA, serve water and snacks, or give people an opportunity to deplane if necessary.
If it’s meant to be it’s meant to be. Be thankful that the FAA has this process in place. Without it AMEs would have just denied everyone that they would have to defer. The FAA takes these things seriously. A couple months of waiting is nothing in the grand scheme of things.
It takes awhile, I waited 7months before I was approved! It makes it that much more sweet when you receive the approval! Hang in there I’m sure it will sort itself out.
Not trying to be a wiseguy but you may have heard there’s this minor little COVID pandemic going on? It’s effective virtually every industry in the nation including aviation. Many if not all the field offices are working at reduced staffing levels and they’ve even given extensions to all pilots who’s medicals expired over the last few months. With the reduced staffing wait times increase. I’d recommend patience.
