Memorial services scheduled for Dr. Robert Poole
GA has lost a dedicated physician and passionate aviator who advocated for thousands of pilots through his work in the Federal Air Surgeon's office. Memorial services for FAA Flight Surgeon Dr. Robert Poole will be January 15 at Montgomery County Airpark (GAI) in Gaithersburg, Maryland, at noon. Dr. Poole, a 40-year member of AOPA, died December 14.
Dr. Poole was the "point man" in the Federal Air Surgeon's Washington, D.C., office to review cases initially denied in Oklahoma City. "His many years in private practice in internal medicine and cardiology allowed him to bring to the FAA a commonsense approach to aviation medicine," said Gary Crump, AOPA director of medical certification. "Many thousands of pilots can credit Dr. Poole with helping them attain their medical certificates."
Dr. Poole was a former military physician and aviation medical examiner who joined the FAA in 1990, serving as the manager of Medical Specialties in the FAA's Office of Aerospace Medicine in Washington.
He was a passionate aviator and aircraft owner, and he beautifully blended his love for medicine and aviation into a career that spanned several decades.
"He was a tremendously kind man and would do his very best to find a way to get a pilot medically qualified," said Crump. "He was admired and respected throughout the world of civil aviation medical certification, and he was a driving force within the FAA to push the envelope of medical certification flexibility. His efforts helped make the FAA the most progressive medical certification agency in the world."
January 3, 2005
