Membership News & Notes

Pilot Protection Services

Standing up for you

Meet the experts on AOPA’s Board of Medical Advisors

Many pilots—too many— experience delays associated with special issuance medical reviews by the FAA. It is frustrating, costly, and not the way it should be. AOPA devotes significant attention to this issue and has recently reappointed an AOPA Board of Aviation Medical Advisors (BAMA) that will provide superb expertise in advancing solutions to address long-overdue reforms to the FAA’s medical certification processes.

aopa.org/pps

Brent Blue, M.D., is a senior aviation medical examiner and emergency medicine and family medicine physician in Jackson, Wyoming. He holds an ATP certificate and is also a designated HIMS AME who works with pilots on substance abuse and dependence issues requiring a comprehensive evaluation for medical special issuance certification. He flies a Cessna 185 and a 1943 Nooruyn Norseman out of Driggs, Idaho.

Chuck Denison, Ph.D., is a psychologist with offices in Broomfield, Colorado, and Laramie, Wyoming, who specializes in aviation neuropsychology and forensic psychology. He is authorized to conduct the specialized testing under the FAA HIMS program. Denison commutes to his offices in his Aviat Husky A–1B bush plane and spends much of his flying time in the backcountry, appropriately so since his backyard is the Rocky Mountains.

Ian Blair Fries, M.D., is an orthopedic surgeon and senior FAA HIMS AME with practices in Vero Beach, Florida, and Brick, New Jersey. Fries’ aviation practice focuses on special issuances, especially those that require HIMS evaluations for alcohol and substance abuse/dependence. An ATP with more than 6,000 PIC hours and a CFII, he holds a Learjet type rating and is somewhat partial to TBMs after flying them for 20 years. He currently flies a Daher TBM 940.

Sean Malone, M.D., practices internal medicine in Salisbury, North Carolina, and is a senior AME. He is clinical assistant professor in the department of internal medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He is active in the AOPA You Can Fly Flying Club initiative and is a fellow in the American College of Physicians. He holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument rating and is an active pilot in the beautiful hill country of North Carolina.

Richard Roth, M.D., is an infectious disease specialist in Savannah, Georgia. He is the director of infectious disease training at the Memorial Health University in Savannah. He is a senior AME with an office on the field at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport. Roth is a 4,000-plus-hour ATP, type rated in the Lear LR60 and Gulfstream GV/G450/G550, and instructs at Flight Safety International in the G450/G550, providing initial and recurrent training at the FSI Savannah Training Center.

Ken Stahl, M.D., is board certified in multiple disciplines including surgery, thoracic surgery, and surgical critical care, with certificates for advanced cardiac life support, advanced trauma life support, advanced trauma life support instructor, advanced trauma operative management, and pediatric advanced life support. He holds an ATP certificate, and is healthcare division president for Convergent Performance, a firm that provides customized assessments, tools, and human performance training solutions.

AOPA Air Safety Institute

Branching out

What’s your 2021 aviation goal?

By Alicia Herron

Ah, the new year is here! Most of us are likely thrilled to say so long to 2020, and now’s the time to embrace all the possibilities of a fresh start. Among the classic resolutions—to eat healthier, exercise, and binge watch Netflix less—did you make space to include aviation goals? Striving for an aviation accomplishment can help make you a more focused, proficient, and safer pilot—and the goal is limited only by your creativity.

When we started training, the milestones were clear: solo, solo cross-country, then checkride. Training for our first pilot certificate led to a significant growth in aviation knowledge and skill. While you might not learn as much as you did from brand-new student to soloing, a new goal will help stretch old muscles and freshen up your flying skills.

Not sure where to start? Here are some suggestions, which can be modified to fit your lifestyle and budget:

• Get checked out in a new-to-you airplane.
• Fly to five airports you’ve never been to.
• Fly to three states you’ve never flown to.
• Take your first airplane camping trip.
• Fly out of the country—doublecheck travel guidance before crossing borders.
• Aspire to log a certain number of hours/landings/approaches each month.
• Add a certificate, rating, or endorsement.
• Not ready to push yourself? Go fly with a CFI to build confidence—your instructor can also help you create a realistic goal.
• Out of currency? Take that big first step of scheduling a lesson to knock the rust off and take AOPA’s Rusty Pilots course.

Find inspiration in ASI’s series Beyond Proficient—where student pilot Soyla Flor expands the boundaries of her skill by flying across the San Pedro Channel to Catalina Island’s challenging Airport in the Sky with a CFI for the first time. Then, follow Husky pilot Ross Wilke from the 500-foot strips of the Wisconsin side country to his first-ever short takeoff and landing (STOL) demonstration, where he competes with the best of the best after a summer of focused preparation. Along the way, both aviators become more proficient, safer pilots.

This year don’t stay stagnant—challenge yourself to fly more often. With greater proficiency you’ll not only be a better overall pilot, you’ll also be more prepared to handle an emergency aloft.

airsafetyinstitute.org/beyondproficient

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Member Products and Services: Medically speaking

Basics of BasicMed

Here’s a refresher

By Gary Crump

basicMed is an amazing success story for general aviation. Currently, more than 60,000 pilots have met the qualifications to fly under BasicMed, and the number keeps increasing. BasicMed came into existence in May 2017 as a result of legislation included in the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 and allows pilots to operate, without an FAA-issued medical certificate:

• aircraft with a maximum certificated takeoff weight of no more than 6,000 pounds.
• with no more than six occupant seats.
• day, night, VFR, and IFR.
• at altitudes less than 18,000 feet msl.
• and no more than 250 knots IAS.

The rule requires a physical exam be performed by any “state-licensed physician” using the Comprehensive Medical Examination Checklist (CMEC), FAA Form 8700-2, at an interval not to exceed 48 months, and completion of an online medical self-assessment course every 24 calendar months.

The rule requires the pilot to retain two documents to validate their qualifications. One is the two-part CMEC exam checklist that is completed by the pilot (section 2) and by the examining physician (section 3). The completed form, when signed by the physician—with the doctor’s address, date of the exam, and the doctor’s state license number—is given to the pilot to be retained in the logbook and presented to the FAA “upon request.”

The other document is the course completion certificate that renews every 24 calendar months. And every time the course renews, you will need the information from the physical exam to complete the certificate form, so you will be referring to the exam checklist every two years when you renew the self-assessment course. You are not required to carry either of the documents with you when you fly, just your FAA airman certificate and your valid and legal driver’s license.

Remember, BasicMed has nothing to do with an FAA medical examination. Two different regulations, two different animals that don’t interact.

aopa.org/pps

Gary Crump is the senior director of medical certification for the AOPA Pilot Information Center.