About to go for my first medical

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Chad Marks

Filing Flight Plan
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Mar 7, 2017
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Chad
I am new to this forum and I've searched the threads a bit but I don't really see anything similar to my situation.

I've been wanting to get a private pilots rating since I was a child/teenager. Never really had the means to do so until it hit me just after the new year rolled into 2017 that I now have the means financially to pursue this dream so I went for it. I am now at about 25 hours with a CFI and I decided to start looking into the medical certification process. After some research I am beginning to have doubts about doing this and I am now thinking about getting a sport rating only (I have a valid drivers license and no DUI/DWI or even speeding tickets) but I figured I would seek advice here before I decide to go the Sport only route.

In 2009 I started to use drugs pretty heavily. I tend to blame my surroundings but it was 100% my choice. Up until this point (I was in my early 30's at this time) I hadn't used drugs aside from the occasional puff of marijuana. I hated drinking cause I had a bad experience with it at a young age when I decided to hang out with some older neighbors down the street who handed me a giant cup filled with half whiskey / half soda and it ended up being the worst night of my life at that point.

Anyway back to 2009 and I start using heavy drugs (I have scars on my arms to this day) and the following things happened as you would expect to happen to anyone that was doing the same thing:

I lost my job
I lost my car
I lost my apartment
I became homeless

Now sparing everyone the details I eventually in 2010 ended up in a state funded drug rehab after being at complete rock bottom. I spent a month in the rehab and completed the program and for about 6 months I lived in a halfway house going to AA/NA meetings and looking for a job and remaining clean. Eventually I found an entry level job in the tech industry for 11 dollars per hour. Seven years later I am still clean and I have a job, a car, I have a house, and I now make a damn good salary in an engineering position (why I can now afford flight lessons).

So I am wondering how likely I am to be denied a medical certificate based on this information. I have had other pilots I have met tell me to not even bring it up to the AME but that appears to be very illegal.

If I am deferred how long will it take? I have proof that I completed rehab in 2010 but I do not have any proof that I attended any AA/NA meetings in the 6 months after completing rehab. I stopped going because I had a job and that was my focus and I also felt like it wasn't needed any longer.

I have also never been arrested for anything related to drugs or alchohol. I just want to know what I should expect and wondering if I should get a sport rating only but I would like to have the option to fly in conditions other than VFR. I am not looking to become an airline or commercial pilot.

Any advice or opinions here greatly appreciated. If I have to jump through hoops for six months before I get my medical I am okay with that too I just don't want to be grounded permanently.

Thanks for reading and for your thoughts!
 
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Stop posting under your real name. Right now. Stop.

Next, contact a knowledgable AME for a consultation, Not the actual medical. Around here, Dr Bruce Chien is highly regarded.

www.aeromedicaldoc.com
 
@murphey Thanks. I already beat you to the first suggestion :) I will look into the "consultation" suggestion. Thanks for the link!
 
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Do NOT, I repeat do NOT go for a flight physical.
If you go now you will be denied.

At a minimum you need 9 months of chemical provable sobriety
Documentation of adequate and continuous recovery activities.
Concurrence of a HIMS psychiatrist and HIMS neuropsychologist.($6K) and they aren't going to concur until you have the foregoing.
Sponsorship of a HIMS AME.
Then and only then should you apply. You can't go, get deferred and expect o accomplish 9 months of work in the 60 days they give you. Not gonna happen. Then you get a special issuance in which until through 2022, you have to pee on demand, see the counselor, see the sponsoring AME quarterly, and likely go back to the psychiatrist at least once (though for a shorter eval).

You should fly light support for now. You will NOT be succeeding at a flight physical at this time.

After 10 years from 2010, a good HIMS AME can do a few random urines, get your personal statement, some letters of reference on letterheads as to your behavior, get a concurrent opinion from a HMS psychiatrist, and recommend you for unrestricted issuance.
 
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Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
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