In daily life, I tend to be positive and optimistic. My life’s not perfect. Far from it, in fact. But on the whole, my family and I are blessed.
And yet, there are often bumps in the road…or maybe turbulence is a better way to say it.
On May 28, 2019, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Transportation released a pretty damning statement.
Central Florida Aviation Medical Examiner Charged for Fraudulently Certifying Pilots
“On May 28, 2019, Dr. Robert F. Kurrle, Port Orange, Florida, was charged via information in U.S. District Court, Orlando, Florida, for falsely certifying thousands of commercial and private pilot medical examinations. The information was filed subsequent to a signed plea agreement in which Kurrle admitted to the violations.
“The investigation revealed that between Jan. 1, 2017, and Feb. 28, 2019, Kurrle performed approximately 3,814 airman medical examinations, earning an estimated $523,740 in fees. He admitted that approximately 75% of his examinations were fraudulent and agreed to forfeit 75% of his earnings, a total of $392,805. He agreed to pay $48,818.45 to reimburse the FAA for the costs associated with retesting pilots.
“Kurrle also issued medical certificates to airmen who did not pass material portions of their medical examinations. He then transmitted the fraudulent results to FAA, which relied on those results to determine whether the airmen could operate aircraft safely.
“DOT-OIG and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted this investigation with substantial assistance from FAA’s Aeromedical Division.”
That’s scary.
Pilots who were examined by Kurrle received a form letter from the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute.
That letter begins, “As a result of a quality assurance review and subsequent investigation of the airmen medical certification activities of Senior Aviation Medical Examiner Robert Kurrle, M.D., over the previous five years, there is reason to believe that the medical certification examinations conducted by Dr. Kurrle during this period were not conducted in accordance with FAA standards. The FAA has reason to question the medical qualifications of the airmen issued medical certificates by Dr. Kurrle during this period, and reexamination of the affected airmen is necessary in the interest of safety.”
It continues, “In order to determine whether you meet the medical standards, you must submit a new application for a medical certificate and undergo your physical examination within 60 days of the date of this correspondence.”
Yikes.
A hearing on the matter was set for June 12. As I write this, I’m not aware of the results of that hearing.
To be clear, I see a doctor in the Pacific Northwest. Not Dr. Kurrle. I didn’t receive any such form letter addressed to me personally.
I feel bad for those pilots caught up in this mess. Personally, I assume my aeromedical doctor is doing things properly. He appears fair and thorough.
For those who visited Dr. Kurrle because they couldn’t pass a medical exam, well, I’m still hashing out those thoughts. Part of me is mad. Part of me is sad. If flying was all I had, maybe I’d see if I could skirt the rules. I like to think not.
This story is messy, and will no doubt get messier. If I were caught up in this, I believe I would have a very hard time staying positive and optimistic.
Burned Up
Belite Aircraft makes charming little single- and two-seat aircraft at the lighter and more affordable end of the cost scale.
Sadly, on June 7 at about 11:45 p.m., James and Kathy Wiebe, the owners of Belite, received a call from emergency services that their building had been in a fire.
“It appears that the fire started at our CNC router dust collection system,” said James Wiebe via email. “Intense smoke filled the building, and my office and much of our building contents was destroyed. In the back area of the building (in the production area), everything higher than 6′ off the ground was melting or burned. Much of our raw inventory and all of our older collections of parts for older aircraft designs (for instance, ProCub and UltraCub) was upstairs. It appears that almost all raw inventory and most, if not all, work in process for aircraft kits was destroyed.”
While no person was hurt, the office cats, Lucky and Daphne, did not survive.
Best wishes to James and Kathy. I hope to see you both at AirVenture in July.
I was caught up in this whole mess. Dr. Kurrle did not do anything different with me than any other AME ever did. I took the third class over again, the same tests, the same “boxes” and passed with flying colors. The reason I went to Kurrle was I thought is was kinda cool to fly to my medical exam. Whether or not he did things wrong with other people I will never know. I think in October I will be doing basic med as who is to know if the last AME I went to will be pinged in the same way? Anyway, I had to pay to retake the test. I wonder where the $48,818.45 went for the retesting? Hmm…
This industry is protected by rule and regulation to an extreme that assumes the user is neither familiar or experienced in its use.
We check boxes and perform tasks by word and illustration because we are told that to do so will ensure the airworthiness of our aircraft, competency of our pilots, and the purity of our airspace. One has but to satisfactorily check the boxes, comply with all the rules, and test all the parameters, and the proficiency of man and machine meet the measure.
But it is neither true nor perfect. It is a flawed concept and dangerous without experience and expertise to exact the real meaning of competency and airworthiness.
Many of us tasked with maintaining General Aviation aircraft, its pilot population, and its 3-dimensional airborne environment understand that checking the boxes does not always answer the question. Aircraft, much like people, strive for symmetry and balance. Without it, predictable performance cannot be achieved and assumed risk cannot be properly measured. Symmetry and balance. And boxes don’t exist for those measures.
Man’s competence to fly and a machine’s ability to perform are as much a practiced intimacy found with decades of experience as it is about checking boxes. The latter is valuable to the apprentice, the former is found in the making of an expert.
I have no knowledge of how Dr. Kurrle determined the airworthiness of his patients, but I can attest to his understanding of symmetry and balance. Five decades of experience will do that.
Paul Brevard
Port Orange, FL
That’s very sad…. and we thought it only existed in India and some Pacific Rim countries…. :-l
I haven’t used Dr Kurrie but have heard him speak at a nearby EAA Chapter meeting; he seemed genuine enough BUT … apparently he was running an AME ‘mill’ as a revenue stream? Too bad. Now the FAA Aeromedical group will overreact and go too far the other way. Kinda like that “anonymous”s urinalysis testing they want to do.
The AME I saw for nearly 20 years was overly thorough and — because he wasn’t a pilot — didn’t give a damn whether you passed or failed. The last time I saw him, his staff screwed me up — long story — so I walked away in favor of BasicMed which serves me just fine in my waning years of aviating. I will decide when it’s time to hang up my A20’s … not some disinterested doctor with parochial interests.
Let’s get real here on the other hand. If you can drive yourself to the AME, don’t have any SERIOUS medical issues, have a proven track record of safe flying (THAT speaks volumes!) and are flying low end GA airplanes recreationally, why do we even need a third class medical? Thank goodness for BasicMed. Then again, GBigs probably wants everyone who ever saw Dr Kurrie to face the electric chair.
In the rural northern environment where I summer, a local AME WAS doing BasicMed exams on top of normal AME work until he went to an FAA seminar … apparently they couldn’t beat back Sen Inhofe directly so now they’re trying to scare doctors. Wonderful.
“I feel bad for those pilots caught up in this mess” Don’t kid yourself. Be honest if you are gonna report on it…the game works both ways.
When word goes out that there is an “easy” AME pilots flock to that person. It is probably impossible to weed out the ones that knew they were not qualified to fly and went to this guy knowing they could get a ticket and stay in the air. But those guys also deserve to be punished if found by not being allowed to fly again.