1st Class Medical / TBI

K

Karen K

Guest
Hello, My 17 year old son has been taking private pilot lessons and would like to someday become a commercial pilot. He had an auto accident late last year and suffered a TBI. He was unconscious for 6 days and had a shunt put in place to reduce the inter-cranial pressure during this time. He is recovering and is ready to resume his flying lessons. His FAA medical is due in October and I am wondering if he will be able to pass the physical due to having had a Traumatic Brain Injury. Will this automatically disqualify him from a First Class Medical License? I can't afford to continue to invest in the lessons if he will not be able to pursue his dream of flying as a career one day. Any advice from seasoned professionals?
 
Sorry, I have a nephew that was in his 20's when had his wreck, 10 years later he has no short term memory, can remember stuff before accident, but 90% of anything won't rember the next day. He had a drain tube installed to keep fluid from building up on his brain. So I understand all to well, no idea on what it will take if can pursue his dream. Not a pilot yet. Best of luck!
 
Karen K said:
Hello, My 17 year old son has been taking private pilot lessons and would like to someday become a commercial pilot. He had an auto accident late last year and suffered a TBI. He was unconscious for 6 days and had a shunt put in place to reduce the inter-cranial pressure during this time. He is recovering and is ready to resume his flying lessons. His FAA medical is due in October and I am wondering if he will be able to pass the physical due to having had a Traumatic Brain Injury. Will this automatically disqualify him from a First Class Medical License? I can't afford to continue to invest in the lessons if he will not be able to pursue his dream of flying as a career one day. Any advice from seasoned professionals?
Click to expand...
You need advice from a senior AME. There are a couple of them on here.
 
I'm not an AME, so take this with a grain of salt... I'm still fairly confident this won't be a permanent disqualifier (PM me if you're interested to know why), but there will almost certainly be a mountain of hoops to jump through first, and it will probably be at least a couple of years before he can be considered for an FAA medical certificate. Dr. Bruce Chien or Dr. Lou Fowler are the people to ask about this, and one or both may be along in a few hours to tell you what you will ultimately need.

But for now, since you say his medical is "due" in October, that means he has already been issued an FAA medical certificate at least once? In that case, he may be eligible for Basic Med, a new non-FAA form of medical "certification" that would allow him to continue flying lessons and solo flying, and to take the checkride. The longer the time since the TBI, the easier it will likely be to go back to FAA medical certification, as long as you have all of the documentation that the AMEs say you will need - which is likely to be voluminous, and easier to obtain now than in a few years.

Best of luck to your son in his recovery and flying career.
 
addressing the 3 classes of FAA medical: usually ... 2 years with no adverse sequelae, on acceptable medications and passing neurocog and psychiatry evals - all classes can be obtained.
 
azure said:
he may be eligible for Basic Med, a new non-FAA form of medical "certification" that would allow him to continue flying lessons and solo flying, and to take the checkride.
Click to expand...
Adding to this for Karen's benefit...

"... if his primary physician is willing to sign off that the young man is medically cleared to fly and operate an aircraft."
 
azure said:
as long as you have all of the documentation that the AMEs say you will need - which is likely to be voluminous, and easier to obtain now than in a few years.
Click to expand...
Adding this comment for Karen's benefit...

Do a consultation with a Senior AME as soon as you can to find what documents are needed from the doctors the young man has seen to date. As Azure points out, doing so today when things are "fresh" on the doctors mind and records easy to obtain will make your gathering task much simpler than if you waited and key items are now in archive storage.

And doing it now gives you time to let the AME review the different puzzle pieces to determine if they are the correct pieces, well before any submission deadlines come into play.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Adding to this for Karen's benefit...

"... if his primary physician is willing to sign off that the young man is medically cleared to fly and operate an aircraft."
Click to expand...


And please be cautious here. If he's already had an FAA medical, it will be legal to go Basic Med and he could probably find a doc-in-a-box clinic that will do the exam and sign the paper. Many places that do DOT physicals will do FAA Basic Med.

But,...

There are reasons the FAA is cautious about these things and require multiple hoops, and as Dr. Lou says those hoops may take a couple of years. Please don't put this young man into an airplane, regardless of it being legal, unless you're certain he's truly fit. The car crash and TBI is bad enough; don't compound it with a plane crash.

Health first, flying second.
 
Half Fast said:
And please be cautious here. If he's already had an FAA medical, it will be legal to go Basic Med and he could probably find a doc-in-a-box clinic that will do the exam and sign the paper. Many places that do DOT physicals will do FAA Basic Med.

But,...

There are reasons the FAA is cautious about these things and require multiple hoops, and as Dr. Lou says those hoops may take a couple of years. Please don't put this young man into an airplane, regardless of it being legal, unless you're certain he's truly fit. The car crash and TBI is bad enough; don't compound it with a plane crash.

Health first, flying second.
Click to expand...
Agreed. The safest course might be to consult an AME who also does Basic Med, since such a physician would be in the best position to judge whether Karen's son is safe to fly. I would avoid doc-in-the-box clinics that specialize in DOT physicals. There are many AMEs who do Basic Med exams; always ask up front, and make it clear that's what you're going for, NOT an FAA medical.

Depending on where the family is located, someone might even be able to recommend an AME for Basic Med.
 
Karen, the FAA will only approve with a shunt in place if the shunt is not active. If the shunt is functioning and is integral to his well being, it cannot be certified. The agency is not interested in watching the subtleties of a minimal pressure hydrocephalus appearing with its subtle congnitive impairment.

If the shunt is inactive and a neurosurgeon will testify to that, and his $2,800 neurocognitive profile is competitive to known aviators in the same decile age group, he can get a certificate, any class. I have a couple of these.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top