Recent content by BrianR

Yes. Extensive post-mortem drug testing is routinely performed by the FAA toxicology laboratory following fatal accidents. If you're dead, you can't object, and no court order is required. On the other hand, AFAIK there's no means for the FAA to compel a pilot to submit to testing following a...

Another Turo fan here. I've used them several times over the past year without the slightest issue. Prices are typically in a range similar to pre-covid rental car companies. And there's usually at least some availability at all but the smallest airports. In fact, each time I've tried to...

No disrespect to the OP, but I see a lot of posters willing to just blindly accept that the psychiatric diagnosis was incorrect. What we have is a poster claiming misdiagnosis, without any evidence to support that conclusion (which he would be ill-advised to post here regardless). The...

I'm not convinced there was anything wrong with the autopilot. I have a fair number of hours in a Mooney with the Century 2000, same AP as the accident pilot's Debonair, although the plane I flew had electric trim, which hers reportedly did not. Lacking electric trim, the up/down buttons would...

That trip was in a DA40, and IIRC, it was late afternoon/early evening. I don't recall my altitude, but it was likely 6500 or 8500 headed west. They did ask a couple questions about my destination (KUES) and proposed heading before issuing the bravo clearance, but they couldn't have been...

I dunno, I haven't flown that much in the area, but after always reading the horror stories, I've been pleasantly surprised. I've flown VFR up and down the shoreline a few times, always with flight following, and they've been very pleasant. And last time I flew to OSH, a few years ago, coming...

Not that new. I held an SI (third class) for T1DM starting back around 2010. (And Dr. Bruce was the originator of mine, back in the day when he could get telephone approval for third class!) However, the SI for first and second class hasn't been around that long, could be the four years...

I held an SI for years that had the "not valid for any class after..." which had nothing to do with substance abuse or mental health. That's the standard verbiage on an SI. Not sure about what other conditions lead to a six month medical.

Not sure I'd trust any generic AME on this one, as it requires pretty detailed knowledge of what the FAA wants to see. While I'm sure any diligent AME could figure it out, it seems that some of them just want the easy cases, and don't want to be bothered with the ones requiring a bit more time...

It is certainly attainable, if your diabetes is adequately controlled and you are sufficiently motivated, and you have no other disqualifying conditions. Here's the applicable link from the aviation medical examiner's guide, setting forth exactly what is needed to obtain a first, second, or...

I had the NG to 12.5 with 3 people several times, no issues, good climb performance.

Yes, that's how I would interpret it.

Yes. Don't submit until you have everything in hand they're going to ask for. If you do (and a proactive, knowledgeable AME such as Dr. Chien will assure this is the case before submitting) you'll wait...and wait...and wait...and eventually, get a letter in the mail with the details of your...

Hello Flyabetic, As a long-time holder of a special issuance for type 1 DM before I switched to BasicMed, I can speak with some knowledge on this. Everything the FAA will need is listed here...

It's not the PCP's responsibility to know the medical requirements for pilot medical certification. Most PCPs are stretched so thin these days they barely have time to pee during their workday. Now if your PCP happens to also be a pilot or AME, sure, they're going to know, but that's not 99%...