Basicmed findings

This blog just got promoted to a fraternity, apparently.

Do we get matching jackets now that we’re ‘the boys’?”
 
bbchien said:
Boys it took me half a career to effect a small change at FAA (an ON SSRI evaluation pathway). Most of you don't remember that in 2023, 24 AMEs were relieved of appointment for issuing certificates ON SSRI 2003, petition in 2006, FAA resisted until 2010). If you want to know about disability just look at the Family Practice doc's waiting area. They KNOW and they GET IT. They also knew that the ones they issued were just "better functioning" on their Prozac (and that's not everybody, some are really basket cases....but they knew who was who).

And more recently, about two years to effect a second smaller, administrative change. Carp all you want but it all you do is carp, carp, carp, carp, carp, and if you do not approach Congress, sit down and and ST_U.

I've done my part. And I'm not having any heckling from the "didn't raise a finger" guy in the balcony.
complain, complain, complain, complain, complain,complain, complain, complain, complain, complain...
and do nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing.

Did I fail to say, "and do nothing"? Did nothing?
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I don’t think anybody here disputes your personal contributions doc, the axe to grind is with the FAA, how they apply their own “medicine” and engage in much more than “administration.”
 
bbchien said:
They also knew that the ones they issued were just "better functioning" on their Prozac (and that's not everybody, some are really basket cases....but they knew who was who).
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I completely understand that some people being treated on medication are just managing the symptoms to the point of being "less severe" or "less frequent". I've met quite a few in my years on this Earth.

The FAS says that all you have to do is go seek mental health treatment early so that it doesn't compound and become something more significant down the road. But seeing a counselor or a therapist when you're starting to feel like, let's say grief right? That's a perfectly human response. And you're receiving an SSRI. You're going to have the exact same scrutiny and the exact same deferral period and the exact same risk of not getting a medical as if you were seeing a psychiatrist for schizophrenia. So it's not practical to go see someone early on when you're going to be judged the same all the way through.

It's this group of people...which can be any one of us. Life events happen to every one of us. Due to evolution wiring us with negativity bias, bad events have a more profound effect on us than good ones. Some of these events invoke a completely and humanly normal emotional response. Yet an AME can opine on any display of normal human emotion as "unstable" or "needing to be medicated" or "this person needs help". All that AME has to do is decide they don't like you for one reason or another, and you can end up in this situation.

It is this that has created the silence culture that is prevalent in the aviation industry.

I had a friend who went through the HIMS process. He was ultimately issued a HIMS Special Issuance, but the medical certificate was expired by the time he received it. So he made an appointment with his HIMS AME for a new medical certificate, which is a two hour drive from where he lives.

He shows up for the appointment and is informed that he needs to fill out the MedXpress application. He says "Oh yeah no worries, let me just do it on my phone." and they tell him no, that he'll have to reschedule the appointment. Naturally, he's frustrated because he took the day off of work to make the 4 hour round trip and now it's all for nothing. He reschedules and leaves.

The next day, he receives an email stating that the HIMS AME is revoking his HIMS sponsorship and will no longer be working with him!

It's as if we're just expected to be good little airmen and not make any waves, not display normal human emotion, etc or risk losing our medical. It shouldn't be like this.
 
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Jon Wilder said:
I completely understand that some people being treated on medication are just managing the symptoms to the point of being "less severe" or "less frequent". I've met quite a few in my years on this Earth.

The FAS says that all you have to do is go seek mental health treatment early so that it doesn't compound and become something more significant down the road. But seeing a counselor or a therapist when you're starting to feel like, let's say grief right? That's a perfectly human response. And you're receiving an SSRI. You're going to have the exact same scrutiny and the exact same deferral period and the exact same risk of not getting a medical as if you were seeing a psychiatrist for schizophrenia. So it's not practical to go see someone early on when you're going to be judged the same all the way through.

It's this group of people...which can be any one of us. Life events happen to every one of us. Due to evolution wiring us with negativity bias, bad events have a more profound effect on us than good ones. Some of these events invoke a completely and humanly normal emotional response. Yet an AME can opine on any display of normal human emotion as "unstable" or "needing to be medicated" or "this person needs help". All that AME has to do is decide they don't like you for one reason or another, and you can end up in this situation.

It is this that has created the silence culture that is prevalent in the aviation industry.
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That’s exactly what I’ve been arguing, I’m in total agreement. Someone working with work related anxiety/high stress job or grieving a death in the family or something of the like should not be treated the same exact way as somebody that has suicidal ideation, and yet here we are.
 
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UTLonghorn_1979 said:
This blog just got promoted to a fraternity, apparently.

Do we get matching jackets now that we’re ‘the boys’?”
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No. You're relegated to the bleachers. The point is do something productive and stop complaining. Always making a stink but not doing anything constructive.


UTLonghorn said:
I had a friend who went through the HIMS process. He was ultimately issued a HIMS Special Issuance, but the medical certificate was expired by the time he received it. So he made an appointment with his HIMS AME for a new medical certificate, which is a two hour drive from where he lives.

He shows up for the appointment and is informed that he needs to fill out the MedXpress application. He says "Oh yeah no worries, let me just do it on my phone." and they tell him no, that he'll have to reschedule the appointment. Naturally, he's frustrated because he took the day off of work to make the 4 hour round trip and now it's all for nothing. He reschedules and leaves.
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Your friend sounds super well prepared...not Showed up to a busy office without a Medxpress and expects the doc to push others aide for his unpreparedness. I also wonder (sounds like) if during the eternal (inexcusable FAA) wait, he kept up with his proof of sobriety, AA, and group aftercare for if he had not, the HIMS AME is by definition to terminate the special issuance or he gest dismissed as by definition the guy is NOT in remission.

Don't be a "Piece of work"

BradZ said:
Some people like to complain. Some people like to enact change. If you really think “the FAA really needs to get their head out of their a**es” why not come aboard set things straight? If working for a federal agency is beneath you, run for Congress.
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I love this quote.
 
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bbchien said:
Your friend sounds super well prepared...not Showed up to a busy office without a Medxpress and expects the doc to push others aide for his unpreparedness. I also wonder (sounds like) if during the eternal (inexcusable FAA) wait, he kept up with his proof of sobriety, AA, and group aftercare for if he had not, the HIMS AME is by definition to terminate the special issuance or he gest dismissed as by definition the guy is NOT in remission.

Don't be a "Piece of work"
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He kept up with everything. He was simply there to renew the medical. He expressed his frustration with having to reschedule the appointment after taking the entire day off and having to make a 4 hour round trip drive, but that isn't anything out of the ordinary. He said his piece, rescheduled the appointment, and went about his day. The HIMS AME just up and dropped him.
 
Wonder how vociferously he “expressed his disappointment” to be told to never come back
 
And there are few and fewer of us remaining.....and I am decreasingly willing to "tolerate s_it".

Last week, I dressed down one of mine who just made it to HIMS phase 2. Then, he started missing meetings "I can't meet from 43,000 feet" was his reply.

I replied "convince me you're in remission"
"He replied, "how do I do that?"
"well you can start by telling me about living and working step 4, or I can send you to the HIMS psychiatrist (I can do that) and let him tell me". That will take at minimium, two months and you'll be down and have time to think about your situation and so will your part 91 employer.

Further: "you'll have plenty of time to get to meetings when you're down after March 31. Keep it up and I'll outright revoke you. Your stuff has to be adequate and you have to get it to me on time (not 7 weeks late and sporadically), monthly: that is federal spec. Not running your own program is defined as "not in recovery" by the agency. I am not going to keep nagging you for your documentation. I tolerate a lot of laxity if I know the pilot is actually in recovery, but now that you're cavalier, you are going to be held to the line. And, you can petition to change HIMS AMEs. I will gladly let you go but the FAS will call to discuss what's going on and I'll tell her. Last time this happened was in 2011, and the pilot and I got a letter saying, "We don't think so (as to a change)". Man, I would have so loved to be rid of that guy (2011's guy). He was such an a-_ole. And he whined on the phone incessantly, burned up time, and I did eventually, get him off of HIMS.

Jon: Sound like your guy just didn't meet the stds for preparedness or of courtesy and respect, that he had to meet, to remain in that HIMS AME's practice, and so he discharged him. I'm sure that AME wrote to the FAA record that not for recovery reasons, he had to discharge that man from his care (that's HIS RIGHT, we are not public utilities), and that he would release him to any willing other HIMS AME. And I can accomplish that transfer, in ten days if need be. I DON'T TAKE ABUSE and NOR CAN A HIMS AME ACCEPT ABUSE of STAFF, from an airman. I can be sued by staff for a hostile workplace.
 
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Jon Wilder said:
He kept up with everything. He was simply there to renew the medical. He expressed his frustration with having to reschedule the appointment after taking the entire day off and having to make a 4 hour round trip drive, but that isn't anything out of the ordinary. He said his piece, rescheduled the appointment, and went about his day. The HIMS AME just up and dropped him.
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What made him think that he could renew his medical without filling out MedXpress?
 
Palmpilot said:
What made him think that he could renew his medical without filling out MedXpress?
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He was brand new to the Special Issuance Process and this would be his first interim renewal. Don’t shoot the messenger here, but if I were to guess, he probably thought he only did the MedXpress at the two year mark from his most recent MedXpress and the interims are just issued at the 6 month AME visit so long as he still meets the Authorization requirements. That’s my best guess.
 
Either way he won’t be going back to that ame and will have an even longer drive most likely
 
Jon Wilder said:
He was brand new to the Special Issuance Process and this would be his first interim renewal. Don’t shoot the messenger here, but if I were to guess, he probably thought he only did the MedXpress at the two year mark from his most recent MedXpress and the interims are just issued at the 6 month AME visit so long as he still meets the Authorization requirements. That’s my best guess.
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....and my best guess was that he was "a wee little bit demonstrative".
Don't do that s_it. It's where you eat, for god's sake...
 
bbchien said:
And there are few and fewer of us remaining.....and I am decreasingly willing to "tolerate s_it".

Last week, I dressed down one of mine who just made it to HIMS phase 2. Then, he started missing meetings "I can't meet from 43,000 feet" was his reply.

I replied "convince me you're in remission"
"He replied, "how do I do that?"
"well you can start by telling me about living and working step 4, or I can send you to the HIMS psychiatrist (I can do that) and let him tell me". That will take at minimium, two months and you'll be down and have time to think about your situation and so will your part 91 employer.

Further: "you'll have plenty of time to get to meetings when you're down after March 31. Keep it up and I'll outright revoke you. Your stuff has to be adequate and you have to get it to me on time (not 7 weeks late and sporadically), monthly: that is federal spec. Not running your own program is defined as "not in recovery" by the agency. I am not going to keep nagging you for your documentation. I tolerate a lot of laxity if I know the pilot is actually in recovery, but now that you're cavalier, you are going to be held to the line. And, you can petition to change HIMS AMEs. I will gladly let you go but the FAS will call to discuss what's going on and I'll tell her. Last time this happened was in 2011, and the pilot and I got a letter saying, "We don't think so (as to a change)". Man, I would have so loved to be rid of that guy (2011's guy). He was such an a-_ole. And he whined on the phone incessantly, burned up time, and I did eventually, get him off of HIMS.

Jon: Sound like your guy just didn't meet the stds for preparedness or of courtesy and respect, that he had to meet, to remain in that HIMS AME's practice, and so he discharged him. I'm sure that AME wrote to the FAA record that not for recovery reasons, he had to discharge that man from his care (that's HIS RIGHT, we are not public utilities), and that he would release him to any willing other HIMS AME. And I can accomplish that transfer, in ten days if need be. I DON'T TAKE ABUSE and NOR CAN A HIMS AME ACCEPT ABUSE of STAFF, from an airman. I can be sued by staff for a hostile workplace.
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This is the reality pilots need to hear. The HIMS process only works because AMEs like you are willing to do it at all, and that goodwill is not unlimited. The program exists to keep pilots flying, not to accommodate pilots who treat compliance as optional. Monthly documentation on time, showing up to meetings, working the steps are not suggestions; they are the terms under which the FAA trusts you with a medical. Treating your HIMS AME as an obstacle rather than an advocate is the fastest way to end your career. Respect the process and the people running it.
 
pilotprep said:
This is the reality pilots need to hear. The HIMS process only works because AMEs like you are willing to do it at all, and that goodwill is not unlimited. The program exists to keep pilots flying, not to accommodate pilots who treat compliance as optional. Monthly documentation on time, showing up to meetings, working the steps are not suggestions; they are the terms under which the FAA trusts you with a medical. Treating your HIMS AME as an obstacle rather than an advocate is the fastest way to end your career. Respect the process and the people running it.
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The process is not infallible. Even HIMS AMEs are beginning to question things...like why they're having to subject an airman, who is now 40+, to 14 random UAs because of a DUI they got back when they were 19.

But let's not kid ourselves. The HIMS program, as far as the major airlines go, is a federally funded program. The airline pays for the program, then sends a bill to the government, and the FAA reimburses them. It's a money mill. That's why HIMS AMEs do what they do. And that's why the airlines are quick to throw any airman under the HIMS bus for any teeny tiny little offense they can.

Attorney Joe LoRusso has stated that "Delta is the absolute worst offender of the HIMS program, and will throw any pilot into the program for any reason they can justify even on a threat. The pilot is then put on either a "contract A" or a "contract B", and those contracts essentially say that that pilot is the ownership and property of Delta. They're never going to drink, they're never going to use another substance again, they won't even steal a pen from the training center. Delta has them completely. And because they're now marked with the "HIMS Scarlet A", they're not going over to American, which is the second worst offender, they're not going over to Jet Blue, they're not going over to Spirit, they're not going over to United. They're essentially property of Delta. So in a pilot shortage, the airline is able to put their claws in and keep that pilot functional and obedient within the airline. So it's in their best interest to tout the HIMS program as like a "Don't worry about it. We're gonna get you treatment. It's gonna be an easy program. You're gonna get paid during it. Not a big deal ya know, don't worry about it at all." That's what's happening behind the scenes."

One of his cases where ...an airline pilot and a mechanic were dating the same flight attendant. The FA ends up choosing the pilot over the mechanic. The pilot shows up for an early flight, like a 5AM flight. The mechanic obviously knows he's flying that flight. The mechanic calls the airline and says "I just saw him walking into the plane. He's drunk." The pilot gets met by his EAP at the airplane. They don't blood test him or anything like that. They just say "Hey, we got a report that says you're drunk. We need you to go and get an evaluation by our HIMS doctor." Of course the pilot's like "Alright, no problem, I'm definitely not drunk but I'm happy to get an evaluation."

The evaluation ended up being in a city where he's not located, so they told him to "Pack your bags for a 30 day rehab just in case the psychiatrist says you have a problem." And sure enough, the pilot ends up being admitted.

This is a great example of rather than doing an investigation, the airline heard the words "drunk" and "airplane" in the same sentence and said "We gotta cover our ass on this one. Put him into rehab and get him onto the HIMS Program. That way we can ensure that he'll never drink again."
 
JonWilder said:
But let's not kid ourselves. The HIMS program, as far as the major airlines go, is a federally funded program. The airline pays for the program, then sends a bill to the government, and the FAA reimburses them. It's a money mill. That's why HIMS AMEs do what they do. And that's why the airlines are quick to throw any airman under the HIMS bus for any teeny tiny little offense they can.
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Correction to this completely misinformed assertion. The Airlines pay for it. FAA HIMS funding is in a annual appropriation for the 6 or seven staff that administer it.

JonWilder said:
One of his cases where ...an airline pilot and a mechanic were dating the same flight attendant. The FA ends up choosing the pilot over the mechanic. The pilot shows up for an early flight, like a 5AM flight. The mechanic obviously knows he's flying that flight. The mechanic calls the airline and says "I just saw him walking into the plane. He's drunk." The pilot gets met by his EAP at the airplane. They don't blood test him or anything like that. They just say "Hey, we got a report that says you're drunk. We need you to go and get an evaluation by our HIMS doctor." Of course the pilot's like "Alright, no problem, I'm definitely not drunk but I'm happy to get an evaluation.
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Funny. I defended one of those. And won because the Hair test was negative. Game, Set and Match.

Better advice however is, "There are many fish in the sea"...
....and I'm defending one as I write this. The real issue here is that the anonymous complainant is wayyy too shielded and experiences Zero consequences. And so, I tell my pilots, "best just to be totally sober-so that when the Hair test or the blood PETH is needed it will CERTAINLY BE NEGATIVE". END of Case!
 
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funny how the loudest guys in a string are the least informed.....(IN the proud tradition of POA!)
 
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