Thomas,
I would expect it to take several months to hear back from the FAA after submitting your paperwork. The wheels of the federal government turn very slowly, unfortunately.
Chris
I have in my head more than several, but I’m hanging in there. My downstairs just got completely renovated so I’m ready to shift my focus to studying and knocking out the written.
I’ll share my experience obtaining my First Class Medical with a prior diagnosis of ADHD. I too was prescribed adderall when I was in middle school. I’m now 25 and currently am finishing up my first month at ATP. Getting my medical was not easy. I don’t want to dissuade you by any means but it is entirely a waiting game. From the time my AME submitted my file to the FAA up to the point where I had a medical in my hands was about 8 months. Keep in mind this was during the height of the pandemic so everything was more backlogged. It was an incredibly frustrating process. You will get approved eventually, it just takes a longgggg time and a lot of patience. Our medicals get sent to FAA medical division in OKC and then from there they are sent to D.C to be approved by a board of FAA flight surgeons. I was calling every day and they will give you no helpful information, it came to the point where I had 3 state representatives helping me with the FAA. It is just an archaic process but you just have to stick with it and trust me it was one of the best feelings in the world when I finally received that medical. Best of luck to you!!
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Seems like your persistence paid off! Thanks for sharing your experience John. I’m sure it will give others with similar situations some perspective before beginning the process.
Congrats on your start date. Please keep us updated with how your training is going!
-Hannah
I’m on a Veteran board for Vets transitioning to aviation and those who have gone through the process have taken 11 to 13 months. Your seems to be shorter so let’s keep our fingers crossed. I’m in it for the long game.
Finally have an update.
I received my letter from the FAA today. I have some hoops to jump through to get them some information but nothing that I cannot accomplish. I’ve been on hold for a bit waiting to see what their response is and I now have something to work on and complete.
As far as my previous ADHD diagnosis, I have to provide a letter, written by me, that goes over the series of events that took place leading up to my diagnosis. I am going to get guidance on what to include in this but I am seeing this as a positive. I have a couple other items that are easy to clear with my VA provider. I am just glad that I can see some forward movement on this.
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Thomas,
Good, I am glad to hear you have some forward movement. Thank you for the update.
Chris
Thomas,
Any progress is a good thing. It can be a long and frustrating process but you’re doing everything right and staying positive throughout. That’s all you can do. Keep us updated!
Hannah
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Interesting update. After several back and forth with my AME, he realized that the letter was dated March 29, and he submitted my file on March 31. He already addressed 95% of the items in his report. Only outstanding item is I’ll have to get a new sleep study, but very doable.
Looks like no more whiz quizzes.
Moving in the right direction and my motivation level jumped considerably now that there is notable progress!
I hope everyone has a good holiday weekend.
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Thomas,
That is good news, hopefully you are getting closer to the end goal. Thank you for the update.
Chris