The Doctor Is In

There’s good news for pilots with heart conditions. The FAA recently announced that aviation medical examiners (AMEs) will be able to renew third class medical certificates issued under authorizations for nine heart conditions — myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, coronary artery bypass, angioplasty, stent placement, tissue and mechanical valves replacements, atherectomy (removing plaque from an artery), […]

A lot of readers have questions, so I thought I’d tackle some of those in this column. Q: I have a special issuance for a stent I had five years ago. It was for a single vessel coronary artery disease. For all of those years I received a letter from the FAA telling me to […]

I recently had a 43-year-old diabetic pilot in my office for a Third Class Medical. My examination of the airman was unremarkable. His urinalysis was negative for sugar. He was slightly obese. Reports were provided stating he had no hypoglycemic reactions and no ophthalmological, neurological or nephrology problems. His A1C blood test, a measure of […]

In January, a 66-year-old airline transport rated pilot went to the ER for chest pain. He was evaluated for a myocardial infarction (heart attack). The enzymes that we do when people enter the ER were negative for heart damage and his EKG was within normal range. However, his chest pain persisted. He stayed overnight in […]

It’s a question that even AMEs have a hard time deciding: Exactly when does a medical run out? Here’s the scenario: You’re a 43-year-old private pilot who needs to renew your Third Class medical. You received your last medical June 15, 2003, and it expires at midnight on June 30, 2005. You go see your […]

In the course of examining airmen for FAA medical certificates, aeromedical examiners sometimes see skin lesions of various kinds. Most are inconsequential, but we sometimes find cancerous growths. Any time the word “cancer” comes up, it is a scary situation. The cancerous lesions we see most frequently are basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas. […]

A fairly common occurrence with pilots is air sickness — the nausea or vomiting associated with flying, especially when flying aerobatics. I have been doing flight physicals and have been around aviation for the last 40 years and I have found that nausea in most airmen can be dealt with in one way or another.  […]

Many years ago, an airman visited my office at six-month intervals for his Class I medical. He was approximately 35 years old, in good health and his 8500-8 was always filled out perfectly with “no’s” on all of the items, particularly on item 18 in regard to misdemeanor or felony convictions. He came to my […]

How important is your choice of Aviation Medical Examiner? Very important, it seems. I recently received two e-mails from a newspaper requesting information about a doctor who had lost his medical license, but continued to do FAA medicals. Apparently, the doctor lost his privileges at a couple of hospitals due to a head injury he […]