AOPA and EAA are joining forces to petition the FAA to create an exemption allowing pilots to fly without a 3rd class medical.
To meet this exemption, you need:
> Recurring medical training
> Fly a 180 HP (or less) airplane
> Fly an aircraft carrying no more than one passenger
> Fly an aircraft with a maximum of four seats
> Fly daylight VFR
This is great news. Not selling yet -- but also bought a champ!!
President 86-88
53 C170-B N74887, people choice 2003, Best original B 2007
46 7BCM champ N2843E Rebuilding stage
Cajun Connection way down south, most of you are yankees to me!
That sure makes a lot more sense than the present rule. I see quite a few older overweight pilots trying to cope with the sport pilot limits and really believe we would all be safer if they were flying in a 172 versus some of these new sport pilot planes. There might be a lot less incentive to break the weight and balance rules. Bill K
I'll bet the sports class builders will raise hell about this after investing all that money to produce aircraft for that market. This would be a game changer if approved.
At first I was not in favor of this idea.... then I thought about it awhile and decided it' makes perfectly good sense.
Light/sport airplanes and ultralites do not likely meet all the stability/safety of the certificated airplanes.... What would be safer to the rest of the world would be to allow those that might ordinarily be forced to fly those lesser-designs to instead fly certificated aircraft which are maintained by certificated repair persons. It would also be a boost to the certificated airplane market... and would encourage them to produce simpler day/vfr designs based upon proven designs, as well as encourage certificated makers to produce newer versions.
It would encourage the light-sport/experimental/ultralite makers to add sophistication to their designs in order to compete in the marketplace.
It would also add value to older aircraft as it brings increased demand from those who wouldn't otherwise be able to fly them. It's a win-WIN situation for everyone.
I like it.
Now all FAA has to do is allow ANY physician to issue a sport-medical certifiate for such pilots by checking vision, hearing, bloodpressure, glucose, and a drug-test. (The problem with drivers-license tests is they do not check for blood pressure or diabetes...which can kill passengers/by-standers in an aircraft accident. Here in my neighboring town a head on fatal collision recently was found to be due to a diabetic who was driving without medications. It killed the innocent oncoming vehicle driver.)
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
gahorn wrote:...Now all FAA has to do is allow ANY physician to issue a sport-medical certifiate for such pilots by checking vision, hearing, bloodpressure, glucose, and a drug-test. (The problem with drivers-license tests is they do not check for blood pressure or diabetes...which can kill passengers/by-standers in an aircraft accident. Here in my neighboring town a head on fatal collision recently was found to be due to a diabetic who was driving without medications. It killed the innocent oncoming vehicle driver.)
ONLY if the same is required of all drivers! I see an incapacitated driver as being MUCH more dangerous than an incapacitated pilot.
Miles
“I envy no man that knows more than myself, but pity them that know less.”
— Thomas Browne
cessna170bdriver wrote:[..
ONLY if the same is required of all drivers! I see an incapacitated driver as being MUCH more dangerous than an incapacitated pilot.
THAT's an interesting and valid point, Miles!
'53 B-model N146YS SN:25713
50th Anniversary of Flight Model. Winner-Best Original 170B, 100th Anniversary of Flight Convention. An originality nut (mostly) for the right reasons.
I fail to see the controversy about no medical certification. This is not a new issue for the FAA, glider and balloon pilots (all ratings) have not been required to have a medical certificate for as long as I can recall. If you hold a commercial rating in either you may carry passengers for hire. So, it is alright with the FAA to "endanger" the flying public by allowing a medically "self-certified" glider/balloon pilot to carry paying passengers, yet the FAA is "protecting" the flying public by denying "self-certification" of a private pilot, flying only one, non-paying passenger in a low performance aircraft?
cowboy wrote:I fail to see the controversy about no medical certification. This is not a new issue for the FAA, glider and balloon pilots (all ratings) have not been required to have a medical certificate for as long as I can recall. If you hold a commercial rating in either you may carry passengers for hire. So, it is alright with the FAA to "endanger" the flying public by allowing a medically "self-certified" glider/balloon pilot to carry paying passengers, yet the FAA is "protecting" the flying public by denying "self-certification" of a private pilot, flying only one, non-paying passenger in a low performance aircraft?
That is an excellent point.
CAUTION - My forum posts may be worth what you paid for them!
Bruce Fenstermacher, Past President, TIC170A
Email: brucefenster at gmail.com
A relatively older friend of mine was refused a medical some years ago due to diabetes. He promptly sold his Mooney and bought a "Taifun" power glider and promptly acquired the necessary ratings.
This aircraft was equipped with a Limbach four cylinder engine, a controlable propeller, and a retractable landing gear.
He no longer had to have a medical to enjoy his chosen avocation.
As an anesthesiologist I see in our OR patients who have been involved in motor vehicle accidents on almost a daily basis. After 20 years of practice I only took care of one pilot accident victim and he was out shooting coyotes ( Ya takes your chances ). Most motor vehicle accidents are the results of human errors and alcohol. I have never taken care of a patient who crashed their car due to medical incapacitation. It is about time the regulators stop regulating something that is a non issue. My comments do not apply to commercial pilots. Steve
I'm probably not old enough yet to feel different, but I honestly don't see what the big deal is about 3rd class medicals. They don't cost that much in the grand money hole of personal aviating (mine cost $125, that's less than the cost of one tank of gas) and they really aren't that hard to get. Seriously, if you pass out after bending over to touch your toes, and/or have diabetes, and/or can't medicate your BP under 155/100 then it's time to hang it up and go fishing!
I have had three very good friends who are older and had to hang it up, and it sucks. The fact of the matter though is we all have a limited time in which we can get our flying in, and whether you want to admit it or not flying will always take a lot more quick thinking and reacting, and a minimum level of physical aptitude than driving ever has.
Jr, we'll talk to you in 10 or so years when your a bit older and bodily functions don't quite work for you the way they did but your not just ready to give it up. It is not the $125. It's the ridicules hoops and additional cost associated with them with the special issuance process one now has to go through TO BE SAFE.
Yet one doesn't have to go through the same processes to drive. Yes perhaps one should have to show some level of health higher than most states require now to be able to drive but not THE PROCESS the FAA requires. Most of your friends who quit probably did it, not be cause they couldn't qualify to fly with a special issuance, but they didn't want the hassle and expense.
BTW I've never picked up a pilot who is incapacitated and very few of the people I fly to hospitals had an accident from a health incapacitation. BUT I have picked up hundreds who were injured as a direct result of drug and alcohol use and abuse. We should be spending more time and resources where they are needed more.
CAUTION - My forum posts may be worth what you paid for them!
Bruce Fenstermacher, Past President, TIC170A
Email: brucefenster at gmail.com
May there always be and Angel flying with you.
