A new FAA report has determined that the BasicMed program is safe.
For the report, “Effects of Regulatory Changes to Medical Certification for Certain Small Aircraft Pilots,” the FAA reviewed data over a three-year period.
BasicMed was the result of an effort by general aviation advocates and key allies in Congress to bring about third-class medical reform. Nearly 80,000 pilots have qualified to fly under BasicMed since it was enacted in 2017, according to officials with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
“The FAA’s report to Congress confirms what we have known for years: BasicMed works and BasicMed pilots remain safe pilots,” said AOPA President and CEO Mark Baker. “We have just gone through the safest three to four years in general aviation history. The FAA recently expanded the BasicMed program to include safety pilots; nations such as Mexico, The Bahamas, and other Caribbean countries accept U.S. pilots flying with BasicMed; and I strongly believe the program will continue to grow and expand.”
The study team, which included representatives from the FAA’s Flight Standards Service, the Office of Aerospace Medicine, and the Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention, found no differences in safety when comparing BasicMed to the longstanding third-class medical that general aviation pilots are required to obtain for a private pilot certificate.
According to the March 10, 2023, report, no difference was found in the risk of BasicMed and third-class airmen having an aviation accident from the start of BasicMed in 2017 through the end of 2019. It goes on to say that no differences were found when considering different phases of flight or whether an accident resulted in fatalities.
According to the FAA, private pilots account for more than 26 million safe flying hours annually, which represents more than 30 million takeoffs and landings each year.
According to the FAA report, the total number of aircraft hours flown by pilots under BasicMed increased from over 15 million in 2017, the year FAA implemented BasicMed, to over 16 million in 2019.
Pilots using BasicMed must successfully complete an FAA approved online medical education course every other year while they are flying.
AOPA houses many of the resources pilots need to better understand the requirements of BasicMed, including those to determine eligibility, the medical exam checklist that needs to be reviewed by a pilot and physician, a BasicMed physician finder, an online medical education course, and instructions on how to file the application. You can find those resources at AOPA.org/BasicMed
I’m glad to see these results. As a Canadian I can only hope that some sleepy bureaucrat in Transport Canada will eventually see this positive data and perhaps start to pay attention to the need for similar medical reform here.
With positive results like this report, and what we all know, I wonder why insurance companies often advise physicians that they won’t cover a doctor performing basic meds. My primary doctor won’t do them anymore since the insurance company took that stance.
It is good that basic med is working okay. However flying is way down because of the cost to the average pilot. Fuel is going up as the government continues to attack the oil and gas industry for the new green deal? or what ever that means.
So when FAA comes out and says we are lowering the accident rate and everything is fine is nothing more then a reduction in flight hours……
Soon like it is in Europe and around the world, only the wealthy will be able to fly……in the US…..
That is incorrect. The accident stats are based on rate, typically accidents per 100,000 flight hours. So even if the number of hours flown was down, the rate would correct for that. However, the number of hours flown is not down, it is up. According to FAA data, GA flew more hours in 2021 than any recent year and maybe ever and the preliminary numbers for 2022 are also up. 21.889 million hours in 2021 vs 20.997 hours in 2019, for example. Meanwhile, the total number of accidents and the accident rate are both down. All of this despite the high fuel prices and other increased costs you note.