The medical application is a very important legal document to the FAA, just like a 1040 is to the IRS, and for that reason, you should consider it important, too. Unlike your taxes, it won't take you 10 or more hours to complete, but you should allow plenty of time to carefully read not the questions on the form and the instruction sheet that comes with the application. If the instructions aren't provided, ask for them.
Completing the application is a solo task. The office staff and Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) can't help you with any answers. Just read each question and respond to it based on your understanding of the question. If this is your first medical application, in the first block you should check "Airman Medical and Student Pilot Certificate." Unless you are training at a flight school that operates under Part 141 of the Federal Aviation Regulations that requires at least a second-class medical, apply for a third-class medical by checking the appropriate box in the second block.
The yellow certificate will serve as both a student pilot and a medical certificate. The student pilot part of the certificate expires when you pass the private pilot checkride and are issued a temporary airman certificate, or at the end of 24 months, whichever occurs first. If you haven't reached age 40 when the combination certificate is issued, it will remain valid as a medical certificate for 36 months, even though it expires as a student pilot certificate after 24. If you're over 40, the student certificate and medical both expire at the end of 24 months. (You can impress your flight instructor by knowing that the student pilot certificate is the only airman certificate with an expiration date. All other pilot certificates are valid indefinitely unless surrendered by the pilot or suspended or revoked by the FAA.)
In 1996, the FAA amended the medical standards, and the medical application form will soon be revised to reflect those changes. When the FAA proposed changes, AOPA offered four suggestions to make the process more efficient. The FAA adopted all the suggestions on the new form.
One of these suggestions appears in item 17, which asks whether you use any medication (prescription or nonprescription). The FAA is concerned about several issues. One is the underlying need for the medication. What symptoms are being treated? Does the condition for which the medication is prescribed pose a risk to safety?
The other concern is adverse side effects such as drowsiness that could make flying unsafe. If you are regularly using any medication for a specific diagnosis, it should be reported. You will need a report from your doctor explaining why the medication is needed, and that there are no adverse side effects. This information will help the FAA to process your application faster.
Once the medication has been re-ported and cleared by the FAA, you will continue to report it on subsequent applications. At AOPA's suggestion, however, the FAA will not automatically reject your application the next time you report the medication. This means you will not have have to provide another report from your doctor.
Herbal remedies and other nutritional supplements (alternative medicines) that are not considered medications do not need to be reported. However, you should be aware that some supplements may have side effects that make them unsafe to use when you fly.
A new block that will appear when the form is introduced this fall is item 17(b). This question will ask if you wear contact lenses. Again, at AOPA's suggestion, there will be room for an explanation as to which type of lenses are worn. Contacts that correct for distance vision alone are no problem, as long as your corrected visual acuity meets the standard for the class of medical you want. The FAA considers the use of monovision and bifocal contacts inappropriate for aviation duties. Monovision correction involves wearing one contact lens that corrects for distant vision, while the other one corrects for near vision. If one lens is lost, the pilot has monocular vision-a condition that is not acceptable under FAA standards.
For pilots who have problems with both near and distant vision, the better choice is to wear corrective lenses (either glasses or contacts) for distant vision, and have an extra pair of glasses for near vision with you when you fly.
The next trouble spot is item 18, Medical History. This section asks about current or past medical conditions. Again, read the question literally and provide your own interpretive answer. An example is the first item, "Frequent or severe headaches." How do you define frequent and severe? The instructions don't offer the answer. You make that determination, but the same advice applies here as to the question on medication usage: If any response is a yes, have supporting documentation.
Question 18(v) asks about your experiences with alcohol-related, or any other, motor vehicle actions that resulted in a conviction or administrative action against your driving privileges. Administrative actions include suspension or revocation of your driver's license for any reason, and failure of or refusal to take a Breathalyzer test. The FAA takes a dim view of excessive alcohol use. Drivers with DUI actions or convictions will be closely scrutinized before being issued a medical certificate. A single driving-under-the-influence conviction is not necessarily disqualifying, but subsequent DUI convictions raise the suspicion that there is a substance-abuse problem that might be disqualifying.
Any history of other misdemeanor or felony convictions is reported in item 18(w). Depending on their severity and frequency, other convictions might suggest possible psychiatric or psychological problems.
Visits to health professionals within the last three years, including names, addresses, type of professional, and reasons for the visit, are requested in item 19. Read the instructions carefully. If you saw your family doctor for an annual physical exam, list that as the reason and it won't raise an eyebrow at the FAA. If you saw a cardiologist for a heart arrhythmia, you will need more documentation. Again, reports from the treating physician need to be available to your aviation medical examiner. Sometimes the AME will be able to certify you on the spot. If the application is deferred, the delay will be much shorter than if the documentation isn't available.
One last detail that you don't want to forget is item 20. The application isn't an official legal document until you sign it. When you do, you are allowing the FAA to access the National Driver Register to confirm that what you indicated on the application with respect to driving history is complete and true to the best of your knowledge. The Notice to the left of the Applicant's Declaration is worth reading, too, for it indicates the penalties for making intentionally false statements on the form. Five years in prison and $250,000 fines are nothing to laugh about, but revocation of airman and medical certificates is also a real probability if the FAA successfully prosecutes a case of falsification against you.
The FAA's system of medically certificating airmen is based on the honesty of the applicants. The FAA is able to eventually issue medical certificates to many pilots with resolved or controllable serious medical problems, but it needs accurate, complete information to do so.
Gary Crump is director of medical certification for AOPA. Members can contact the Medical Certification department to ask about the application or other medical certification-related issues. Call us on the AOPA Pilot Hotline, 800/USA-AOPA (872-2672) or access information 24 hours a day via AOPA Online (www.aopa.org/members/ files/medical), or AOPA AvFax, our fax-on-demand service, at 800/462-8329.
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