A CACI is not some new infectious disease, but it is a new procedure that will allow your aviation medical examiner (AME) to issue your medical certificate in the office for some medical conditions that previously required a special issuance authorization. CACI stands for “Conditions AMEs Can Issue.”
The FAA physicians in Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C., amended the certification policy (different and easier than having to change a “regulation”) for a group of low-risk medical conditions to eliminate the special issuance requirement.
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Now, there are worksheets included in the Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners, the online reference guide for AMEs, for the conditions that require specific medical evaluations and testing that you will obtain from your treating physician and provide to your AME at the time of your flight physical. If all the requirements specified in the worksheet are met, the AME may issue you a medical certificate without calling the FAA for verbal or written permission. This is much like they have been doing for the five conditions that I have written about in the past: high blood pressure, uncomplicated asthma, a solitary kidney stone that has passed with no retained stones, diet-controlled diabetes, and an uncomplicated and healed peptic ulcer.
The CACI conditions are arthritis, asthma, glaucoma, chronic hepatitis C, hypothyroidism, migraine and chronic headache, pre-diabetes conditions, and renal cancer.
For more expert advice and professional assistance with protecting your pilot and medical certificates all year round, visit AOPA Pilot Protection Services online.
Dr. Warren Silberman, D.O., MPH is the former manager of FAA Aerospace Medical Certification and a doctor of osteopathic medicine. A pilot since 1986, he is recognized nationally as an expert in aerospace/preventative medicine, and is a regular writer for AOPA’s Pilot Protection Services.
Warren Silberman
- Former Manager, FAA Aerospace Medical Certification
- Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
- Expert in Aerospace/Preventive Medicine
- Pilot since 1986
