As the year draws to a close, bipartisan support continues to build for congressional legislation to remove the third-class medical requirement for operating a variety of general aviation (GA) aircraft.
Introduced last December by House GA Caucus Co-Chairman Rep. Sam Graves (R-6-MO) and Rep. Todd Rokita (R-4-IN), the General Aviation Pilot Protection Act of 2013 (H.R.3708) would allow pilots to operate certain single-engine aircraft without obtaining a third-class medical certificate, under visual flight rules, and as long as they otherwise met certification requirements.
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) sponsored an identical bill (S.2103) in the Senate.
“We’re working closely with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and other aviation stakeholders in moving forward with these revisions to the current third-class medical process,” said Dick Doubrava, the National Business Aviation Association‘s vice president, government affairs. “Although we understand the FAA is crafting a proposal for the industry to view at some point, we are also making sure the House and Senate remain focused on the issue.”
As of early December, 163 House lawmakers had co-sponsored the GAPPA bill, with 19 senators adding their names to the companion Senate bill.
Ten congressional representatives added their names to the bill in November, including Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-8-MD), Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Steve Womack (R-3-AR). So far in December, Reps. Erik Paulsen (R-3-MN), Tim Murphy (R-18-PA) and Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC) signed on as the latest sponsors for the measure.
Both the House and Senate bills add legislative impetus to a March 2012 joint petition by the Experimental Aircraft Association and AOPA to compel the FAA to overhaul third-class medical certification requirements.
After essentially tabling the petition for close to two years, the FAA announced last April that it would address the matter through the rulemaking process, and submitted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for review by the Department of Transportation. No further action has been taken on the proposal to this point.
While both measures have yet to be reported for House and Senate floor action during the current legislative session ending later this month, Doubrava noted the strong level of bipartisan support adds momentum for these issues to be considered by the incoming 114th Congress should the bills not reach the floor this session.
This may be the last chance to get rid of the inquisition of the 3rd Class medical. So write your representatives and senators. Some points you might mention:
* Make your letter civil and based on logic, not name calling or hype.
* Make sure that it is understood this exemption applies only to recreational pilots of small private planes, not commercial carriers or airlines.
* Point out that the total number of casualties in ALL of GA is miniscule. About400/year
* Point out that casualties in GA due to medical impairment is far smaller yet. If it were 10% of total, that would be 40/year. Does this warrant a major federal bureaucracy to police it? Obviously not. The money could be far better spent on other measures.
* 40 deaths a year is about the same as # death from of lightning strikes, or falling out of bed (literally).
* By comparison, there are 35,000 deaths in cars, 4500 deaths in motorcycles, 700 from boating accidents, 750 bicycle deaths, 1500 pedestrian deaths. Yet none of these activities has any medical requirement, or bureaucratic supervision. Why is the recreational pilot singled out for this highly disproportional treatment, where their casualties are far lower?
* Point out the sport pilot medical exemption already exists, but is arbitrary. It forces the older pilot into flimsy LIght Sport Aircraft (LSA) which are obviously less safe than the mainstream GA aircraft. It makes no sense to force a pilot to fly a less safe aircraft in the name of safety! GAPPA will simply will allow those pilots to continue flying their familiar aircraft, which also happen to be safer than Light Sport Aircraft.
hi friend..you need to wake up and fly in a light sport airplane..for example the allegro…you ignorance about light sport is really appaling…
As usual the FAA is dragging its feet. No one in Oklahoma City (FAA’s Academy) if the revision to the Third class is passed will loose their job. They are understaffed now. This will be a great shoot in the arm for GAA. Write your Congress person if you support the revision. The FAA has been playing God with your flying privileges long enough. Let’s get on with it.
Particularly important if your Congressman is on the Transportation Committee. My Congressmen aren’t, and I was informed by them, in a polite manner, that this was an important issue and they would be reviewing it WHEN it came to the floor.
Huerta got himself off the hot seat at Oshkosh last summer by announcing the FAA had drafted a proposal for medical reform and would shortly start the “rulemaking process”. Most people are ignorant of the rulemaking process and shouted “hurray!”. A few noted that there were FAA people speaking up in favor of retaining the 3rd class medical as-is at various Air Venture forums. Why would they do this if the FAA was resigned to relaxing the medical rules for a much larger slice of recreational flying?
The rulemaking process requires that FAA proposals be reviewed once by DOT and again by GAO before being opened up for public comments. However, there is absolutely no legal requirement that any of this actually happen. The DOT’s online rulemaking documents contain many proposals that have gone absolutely nowhere, and DOT keeps kicking the can down the road concerning the FAA proposal for medical reform. All of this is perfectly legal and apparently business as usual in D.C.
Huerta didn’t lie, but if he had really intended to help out older pilots with medical reform he could have done so quickly using the exemption process. Instead, he said it was inappropriate and that the rulemaking process was the proper approach.
I think the whole thing was scripted by experienced bureaucrats to appease the ignorant with the goal of letting reform die a quiet, slow death by rulemaking. Experienced people at AOPA, EAA and other aviation orgs probably knew what was gonna happen and started lobbying Congress, which is the only organization (other than the federal courts) which has authority to tell the FAA and DOT what to do. That’s how it is folks.
If you want help, let your members of Congress know, again. Don’t expect the FAA or DOT to actually do anything. Between this deception, the CBP armed ramp checks, the upcoming ADS-B mandate and the totally bogus “sterile hangar” rules, some Feds have obviously decided to slowly push us out of the (our) national airspace without actually saying so.
PS: while there may be fewer than a million active pilots, Congress helps out similar “special interest” groups all the time, and none of us is asking for money. Don’t be afraid to ask them for help. It’s their job.
You’re on target. Thanks for your words! Any action by the FAA will be weak and “job protection”.
I have written all the congress people in my entire state and plan on doing it again after the new folks take office.
Not only does the 3rd class physical need overhaulng, the whole FAA needs a MAJOR OVERHAUL!!!!!!!
\When I started flying in the 50’s, a person needing a 2nd or 3rd class medical took the forms to his/her personal physician and got a checkup, the doctor signed the physical himself and I’m not even sure the CAA was involved at all in the process. The only folks that had to go to a designated doctor were those needing a 1st class medical. Then in 1960, BOOM!!!!! the FAA was formed to promote aviation. What a joke on us aviation people.