Never a dull moment
Advocacy is a key component of your AOPA membership
By Jim Coon
There is never a dull moment in the winding and twisting road of advocacy, where a multitude of often diverse opinions, proposals, and suggestions affect policymaking—and everything looks easy from a distance.
AOPA is the only association representing general aviation pilots on a daily basis in Washington, D.C. Your advocacy office is a short walking distance to Capitol Hill and the FAA. In addition, your regional managers advocate in every state capital across the country, and our Airport Support Network of more than 2,300 volunteers inform us with issues at their respective airports.
Having spent 25 years on Capitol Hill involved in aviation issues, I have seen a few things. History often repeats itself, and when you fall short in the advocacy world you often stand alone and take criticism from those outside the arena. You have heard the saying, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” However, when victory is achieved, it often comes with a thousand chiefs.
We advocate on your behalf on many vital issues: fair and reasonable airport and FBO fees, DPE reforms, airport funding, Canada’s acceptance of BasicMed pilots, and the FAA’s medical certification process, just to name a few. We succeeded with third class medical reform, which has been a tremendous success as BasicMed, but the state of the FAA’s medical certification process is still in need of significant reform. The Office of Aerospace Medicine’s Aerospace Medical Certification Division (AMCD) has room for improvement as anyone waiting for the issuance of a medical certification can attest. Federal Air Surgeon Susan Northrup is an active GA pilot and taking on the challenge of looking “outside the box” of conventional regulatory medical certification policy and practices, but the behemoth of bureaucracy has simply not kept pace with the demand. The result is delays that make even the most patient aviators grind their teeth. The situation we are currently facing is notable in that delays are running five or more months after medical records are processed into the FAA workflow system.
The issue begins with the FAA’s certification philosophy of medically qualifying as many applicants as possible. That begins with FAR 67.401, Authorization for Special Issuance. That regulation allows the FAA administrator, through the federal air surgeon, to consider any applicant for issuance of a medical certificate under a special issuance even if the applicant cannot meet the minimum requirements for the specific certification.
The FAA issues almost 40,000 special issuance authorizations each year, and requires appropriate medical documentation to demonstrate that the airman can safely perform the duties while operating in the U.S. airspace. The medical testing required of the pilot to maintain the special issuance is time consuming and expensive, as much of the required testing is out of pocket and not justified for insurance coverage. The process is extremely frustrating because of the time required for the FAA to review the records, make a decision, and then issue the medical certificate.
The number of medical applications has risen significantly in the past three years. Last year AMCD received the highest number of medical applications ever, more than 415,000. Those applications include an increasing number of psychiatric histories and other “aeromedical significant” histories that require review and additional medical information. Psychiatric cases involving drugs or alcohol, or use of antidepressant medications, are some of those deferred applications The FAA simply cannot keep up with the workload, and sadly, the problem is getting worse. We must continue our advocacy to achieve sound, reasonable, and more efficient solutions that preserve the safety of the airspace system while getting certificates into the hands of applicants more quickly.
The FAA’s AMCD is in desperate need of modern technology to improve its internal and external workflow and communication with pilots and AMEs. The FAA’s system has not been updated for more than 20 years. Once process efficiencies and modern systems are put in place, we can then look at whether FAA staffing levels are adequate. We will continue to be active before Congress, federal, and state agencies; to work toward implementing needed reforms in the medical special issuance process; and to identify and procure systems and technologies so desperately needed for pilots, AMEs, and the FAA. Pilots should not be losing careers and aspirations to fly because of bureaucracy.
