I passed out a year ago during an extremely stressful semester- disqualified from flying?

F

Faint of Heart

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Just graduated from an Ivy League college (so when I say extremely stressful...). Thinking about doing the whole ATP thing. But last year, I had a single episode of vasovagal syncope, went to the ER, had a halter monitor on, etc, with no diagnosis or particular cause. It was put down to stress because I was in my last year of college and I had a thesis defense the next day. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before and hasn’t happened since. Wondering if it’s even worth it to do an admissions flight if I’m going to be disqualified from flying anyway.
 
Certification is still possible, but you will be required to bring the correct documentation to the FAA to inform them that it was a benign event and you are not being followed for a more serious condition.

Just declaring it in your application and then saying, "it was just stress" likely won't cut it.

Finding a really good AME who knows the cardiac submissions backwards and forwards will help as he/she can provide guidance of what specific records and reports you will need to obtain from the physicians who treated you.
 
Wondering if it’s even worth it to do an admissions flight if I’m going to be disqualified from flying anyway.
If the desire to fly is recreational, there are many paths into the sky that don't require a medical.
 
If the stress from school is enough to make you pass out, what might happen under the life or death stress that occasionally happens when you're PIC?

How about all the losers who spent most of their college days passed out from alcohol intake? Lots of PICs play fast and loose with the eight hours bottle to throttle rule...
 
If the stress from school is enough to make you pass out, what might happen under the life or death stress that occasionally happens when you're PIC?
There are a few of us here on POA that could give "Faint of Heart" a discovery flight and he could realize stress far greater than a semester at an Ivy League school. :)
 
Lots of PICs play fast and loose with the eight hours bottle to throttle rule...

I know nobody who does this and if I did, I would call them out on it. Unacceptable.
 
Also, the usual advice. Do the AME consult before having an application go live. There are a lot of gotchas in the modern aeromedical certification process which can result in an unnecessary ban on any type of flying.

Instructions at http://tinyurl.com/AME-consult .
 
Personally I think the OP needs to get his priorities straight. It was school. No one ever died from getting a bad grade. And by the way, to the OP, Ivy League schools aren’t that big a whip. My students don’t have an easy time getting past me, but they don’t faint or get sick from the exertion. Some get sick though, some dramatically so. Most that do understand their health is more important than their academic progress.
 
No one ever died from getting a bad grade.

Well if you ignore the suicides over bad grades this is true. But that's like saying smoking cigarettes doesn't kill anyone, its the cancer that does so.
 
Personally I think the OP needs to get his priorities straight. It was school. No one ever died from getting a bad grade. And by the way, to the OP, Ivy League schools aren’t that big a whip. My students don’t have an easy time getting past me, but they don’t faint or get sick from the exertion. Some get sick though, some dramatically so. Most that do understand their health is more important than their academic progress.
A lot of pressure at Ivy League to perform and get top grades. Especially if your parents bribed... er, paid a lot of money to the right folks - to get you in.
 
There are a few of us here on POA that could give "Faint of Heart" a discovery flight and he could realize stress far greater than a semester at an Ivy League school. :)

A few minutes of acute stress is a bit different than four months or more of chronic stress. False equivalence.
 
If the stress from school is enough to make you pass out, what might happen under the life or death stress that occasionally happens when you're PIC?

Have you ever fallen asleep doing something relaxing like reading a book or watching TV, how do we know you won’t fall asleep doing something else relaxing like flying?
 
If the desire to fly is recreational, there are many paths into the sky that don't require a medical.

Yes, there are. Gliders, motor gliders, light sports, ultra-lights,...

But all can induce stress. It's stressful to learn to fly, to learn to land, etc. One of the greatest stressors (so I've heard) is talking to ATC. And I haven't mentioned the short-term stress of handling an in-flight emergency.

Faint of Heart might be able to learn to fly, but beforehand it might be a good idea for him to learn how he will react to stress, and learn some means of handling it.
 
It's stressful to learn to fly, to learn to land, etc.
I found that to be the case in landing gliders. You only get one chance at it and the energy you have to achieve that once is in the pattern is the maximum amount you will have.
 
A lot of pressure at Ivy League to perform and get top grades. Especially if your parents bribed... er, paid a lot of money to the right folks - to get you in.
There exists tremendous pressure to do this at all schools. For my students many want into professional programs that that are highly selective.
 
Well if you ignore the suicides over bad grades this is true. But that's like saying smoking cigarettes doesn't kill anyone, its the cancer that does so.
Suicide is caused by depression, among other things. The vast majority of students get bad grades don't kill themselves. The vast majority of those who smoke get cancer. Many get emphysema, all smell bad and waste tons of money buying the stupid things. Within the walls of the Steinholme anyone found smoking is assumed to be on fire and dealt with appropriately.
 
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