ADHD Special Issuance

Tyler Grommesh

Filing Flight Plan
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Jul 24, 2021
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Tyler Grommesh
@bbchien

I’ve been perusing the forums for cases similar to mine. I have a childhood ADHD diagnosis and also a deferred class one medical application. I never would’ve thought in a million years that the FAA would consider it a disqualifying condition. I’m terrified that I’ll never be allowed to fly.

I’ve been in contact with an FAA neuropsychologist and she seems adamant that If I show any signs of ADHD that the FAA will bar me from getting my medical. But looking at other stories on this forum; most cases that I’ve seen have ended in success!

While it is annoying and very expensive — I’m fine to jump through the hoops and wait for the FAA to make their decision and hopefully receive a special issuance. I just want some idea of what my chances of success are before I spend +$3000.

To give you some idea of my history, my grades were never that great but my GPA in high school and college were always above 2.5. I spent 4 years working toward a bachelors in aerospace engineering but recently decided to enroll in a professional pilot program at a local technical college and drop my aerospace degree. I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2008 (I would’ve been nine years old) and stopped seeing that doctor in 2013 (14 years old). I haven’t taken medication for ADHD since then. So I do have five years of doctors notes detailing my diagnosis. Not sure if that’s good or bad. If I do in fact have ADHD and it wasn’t a misdiagnosis, I think I have learned to manage it really well over the last ten years. Hence why I got off the medication.

I also understand from what I’ve gathered that class one medical applications are prioritized. So could it be sooner that 4 months that the FAA makes a decision?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer me.


Tyler Grommesh
 
If you haven’t consulted with a FAA HIMS Medical Examiner, do that next. You already have a deferral which started the process. Good luck with the process as it unfolds.
 
I spent 4 years working toward a bachelors in aerospace engineering but recently decided to enroll in a professional pilot program at a local technical college and drop my aerospace degree.


If you were on the threshold of completing a BS in aero, why on earth wouldn’t you finish it before starting pilot training? You do realize that the major airlines will require you to have a degree, right?

Besides that, if you can’t get the medical, or if you lose it in the future, that engineering degree could keep you fed and sheltered.

My advice is to finish that BS while you pursue the medical. Don’t blow money on pilot training until you have the medical. You won’t even be able to solo without the medical.
 
Yes, Tyler, Dr. Chien is the man, you’ve come to the right place.

In another post you said, “I think I do have ADHD but I have gotten really good at managing it.” No. That won’t fly, literally. Better to believe you don’t have it unless proven otherwise. We see stories like yours all the time. Kid gets diagnosed and given pills but finds out after a while he can function perfectly fine without the meds. Some do have it, and maybe you do, but it is also over diagnosed when kids have trouble staying focused in school for reasons having nothing to do with them having a disorder.

I can’t say if you have it or not, but it’s possible you don’t. Bruce won’t steer you wrong.
 
If you were on the threshold of completing a BS in aero, why on earth wouldn’t you finish it before starting pilot training? You do realize that the major airlines will require you to have a degree, right?
I will actually have a degree (albeit an associates) if I am able to enroll in the professional pilot program at WSU Tech. I’ve never found the lecture style of teaching very conductive to my learning. I love learning practical things that I know are going to be useful in making me better at my job. The classes in the professional pilot program are all very practical. They have also structured them so that rather than taking 5 classes at the same time for 16 weeks, you take 1 class for 2 weeks or so, then move on to the next, and the next until you graduate. I really love that style. And just for the record — even though I spent four years on the aerospace degree, I wasn’t even half way to finishing. I failed or dropped a lot of classes and had to retake a lot of them. I fear that that won’t help my case if the FAA looks at my transcripts in detail and not just my GPA.
 
If you were on the threshold of completing a BS in aero, why on earth wouldn’t you finish it before starting pilot training? You do realize that the major airlines will require you to have a degree, right?

Besides that, if you can’t get the medical, or if you lose it in the future, that engineering degree could keep you fed and sheltered.

My advice is to finish that BS while you pursue the medical. Don’t blow money on pilot training until you have the medical. You won’t even be able to solo without the medical.

This is a very good point. It could take a year or more to sort out the medical. And yes, you did say class ONE meaning you intend flying to be a career? In that case definitely work on a plan B in case the testing ends up showing you do have ADHD. If aerospace engineering isn’t your thing for one reason or other that’s okay, but do something.

I took five years getting a worthless Bachelor of Arts double major before I decided to go for a BS in Mechanical Engineering, stayed in school another three years to complete that. Some of us are late bloomers settling on a career choice.
 
.. I love learning practical things that I know are going to be useful in making me better at my job….

Doc Bruce gave you some very practical guidance in post 3. Follow it. If you won’t focus on the process for as long as it will take to see it thru to the end, don’t waste his time please.
 
I will actually have a degree (albeit an associates) if I am able to enroll in the professional pilot program at WSU Tech. I’ve never found the lecture style of teaching very conductive to my learning. I love learning practical things that I know are going to be useful in making me better at my job. The classes in the professional pilot program are all very practical. They have also structured them so that rather than taking 5 classes at the same time for 16 weeks, you take 1 class for 2 weeks or so, then move on to the next, and the next until you graduate. I really love that style. And just for the record — even though I spent four years on the aerospace degree, I wasn’t even half way to finishing. I failed or dropped a lot of classes and had to retake a lot of them. I fear that that won’t help my case if the FAA looks at my transcripts in detail and not just my GPA.


So where will you be if you’re enrolled in a professional pilot program with no medical for a year or more? Or if you never get a medical?

Good pilots always have backup plans. What’s yours?
 
So where will you be if you’re enrolled in a professional pilot program with no medical for a year or more? Or if you never get a medical?

Good pilots always have backup plans. What’s yours?
Right now I have a stable engineering job at the National Institute for Aviation Research. I’ve been there for three years and my manager has made it clear that he has no intention of getting rid of me and even told me that once I finish school, he would offer me a direct employment position. At any rate — the job pays pretty well. Certainly enough for me to live on my own comfortably. I have no problem working there full time until my medical is approved (If it’s approved). If I’m denied then I probably will continue with my AE bachelors.
 
And just for the record — even though I spent four years on the aerospace degree, I wasn’t even half way to finishing. I failed or dropped a lot of classes and had to retake a lot of them. I fear that that won’t help my case if the FAA looks at my transcripts in detail and not just my GPA.


Y’know, I have to wonder whether your academic performance might have been better had you stayed on the ADHD meds.
 
Y’know, I have to wonder whether your academic performance might have been better had you stayed on the ADHD meds.
I think If you gave any college student Adderall they’re academic performance would be better — regardless of if they had ADHD or not. I’ve looked at the common “symptoms” and I would say I exhibit very few of them very infrequently. It’s just a matter of weather that’s because I don’t have it or that I’m good at managing it. I would also say that the odds of me having a misdiagnosis are high. When I was diagnosed I was going through a very rough time in my life. Lot’s of issues with my family. My parents were never married and I switched houses quite frequently back and forth. The man my mom was married to at the time was really cruel to me… Yadda yadda yadda. In my last three years of high school things started to stabilize for me. My grades reflected that. That would’ve been 2014 incidentally. So that could be a strong piece of evidence as to why I was seeing the psychiatrist and she was putting me on mood and ADHD medications. None of which I ever thought really solved the problem.
 
I think If you gave any college student Adderall they’re academic performance would be better — regardless of if they had ADHD or not.

There’s controversy over whether it actually helps or is just placebo effect (in those without actually having ADHD) but there is no doubt that it has become commonly misused among high school and college students. It’s an amphetamine, not that different from meth. That’s not bad per se; stimulants are appropriate in the right setting (dopamine agonists for Parkinson’s comes to mind) but like any pharmaceutical that makes you “feel good” they’ll tend to be widely abused, especially if you have a high rate of prescriptions given out by PCPs without a full diagnostic investigation, and that often seems to be the case these days, in children no less, and I don’t think anyone will dispute that what you do with children will normalize it in their minds.

I’ve looked at the common “symptoms” and I would say I exhibit very few of them very infrequently. It’s just a matter of weather that’s because I don’t have it or that I’m good at managing it. I would also say that the odds of me having a misdiagnosis are high. When I was diagnosed I was going through a very rough time in my life. Lot’s of issues with my family. My parents were never married and I switched houses quite frequently back and forth. The man my mom was married to at the time was really cruel to me… Yadda yadda yadda. In my last three years of high school things started to stabilize for me. My grades reflected that. That would’ve been 2014 incidentally. So that could be a strong piece of evidence as to why I was seeing the psychiatrist and she was putting me on mood and ADHD medications. None of which I ever thought really solved the problem.

Even psychiatrists will prescribe without doing a full work up. We don’t know what’s in your record and I encourage you not to post it here, just keep that between you and Bruce. The FAA will get to the bottom of it and figure out whether you really have it or not, possibly requiring testing and serial interviews with the right psychiatrist. You can’t go by just one thing like whether you are a hands on learner instead of a lecture hall learner, or fell apart at one point in life because of situational circumstances. There’s no single marker for it, it’s more like a preponderance of the evidence sort of thing.

Mood medications too? That’s going to complicate your case. I’d say you’re in for a long haul if there is a chance, but just listen to Bruce.
 
Y’know, I have to wonder whether your academic performance might have been better had you stayed on the ADHD meds.
Depending on the school and the class load, a 2.5 in an engineering program may not be bad at all. Drugged or not.

Teaching/learning style is a big part of it, too. That's finally getting the recognition it deserves. And in some program, a 4.0 grade average tends to get pushed into graduate programs, research, and academia. One doesn't need a 4.0 to be a good and qualified engineer. (Cue the old joke: "what do you call someone that got a 2.0 in medical school? You call them 'doctor'").

While I probably would have finished the engineering degree before moving on, I understand the allure of the associates program and pilot career.
 
Depending on the school and the class load, a 2.5 in an engineering program may not be bad at all. Drugged or not.

Well, he did say that in 4 years he was less than halfway finished, so I doubt the load was excessive.


(Cue the old joke: "what do you call someone that got a 2.0 in medical school? You call them 'doctor'").


Q - What do you call someone that got a 2.0 in engineering?

A - You call them a Boeing engineer. At Lockheed I wouldn’t have even interviewed them.

;)
 
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