FAA sends letter to do standard track almost a year after I was issued a medical through ADHD fast track

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I recently got a nice happy letter from the FAA that I need to voluntarily surrender my medical because of ADHD and Unspecified Anxiety. It wasn’t a flat out denial, but it was more of the wording of “you do not meet the medical standards, you have 14 days to voluntarily surrender your medical.” Also, this letter said nothing about supplying more documentation, so that’s not my issue. However, I worked with my AME for my first class medical and we have both agreed that I’m on the FAST TRACK AND have NOT had symptoms and medication in the past 4 years, I submitted a personal letter, I submitted all other documentation required, made an appointment with my doctor that gave me the diagnosis when I was way younger and provided them the fast track documentation.

The letter tells me I need to be off medication to do the standard track, but I haven’t been on it for years?? I also tried to call the number for questions about the letter but it’s sending me around in different phone numbers that lead me nowhere.

I’m at a loss. My AME says they will call the FAA about this issue and see what the actual reason is. Also, maybe I can’t interpret FAR regulations as the FAA sees it, but does 14 CFR 67.407 ever come into play? I went through this process and was issued a medical on June 30, 2025, I then get a letter saying that I need to do standard track instead in May of 2026.
 
You are at a loss because faa aeromedical is wholly and totally disfunctional. Don’t even try to make sense of it… just keep trying. Do not expect it to EVER “make sense”.

Number one, contact your congress critter to move things up to unacceptably slow.

I’d contact Sen Ted Cruz’s office and offer this experience to him for his audit of this process.

DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Don’t take any of it personally, it’s not you.

Consider an attorney. No, it’s not gonna make them mad or sad… it’s just expensive but usually slightly more effective. There really aren’t any good lawyers for this, just some that know the players. This isn’t a legal issue, but rather a form of bribery really.

The best bet is a effective doc, but you’re already working with one… and they seem to not like switching docs and refuse to give you any method of figuring out the crappy ones… this is a catch 22.

By effective I mean able to get things into and out of the system, has nothing to do with medical acumen.

Consider contacting PMHC or P4HR advocacy groups.

Good luck!
 
Ughh. Hate reading this. I sometimes consider switching from BasicMed so I can fly to Canada. This was a great reminder of why to avoid the FAA medical mess since I can.
 
The obligation of the AME, if he "fast tracks " you, is to provide substantiation of every item that makes you eligible for fat track, and he has to send it in. If for example the record does not show ABSENCE of recurrency ("E" below):

1778689466525.png

or you had multiple meds concurrently at anywere in your course, the agency will BARF on it and isuse the letter you describe.

(A) Means the prescribers' entire record, reviewed. That includes the record of any counselor.
(B) is Pharmacy 10 year report, even though it only se sez 2 years. Why? you have to show LACK of dual meds.
(C) 10 year pharmacy report
(E) Is (a) both for recurrency and for exclusion that anyone has called out MDD, Dysthymia or Seasonal Affective Disorder


It's a lotta work for the AME and ....I hate to say this, "he failed". I've done about 2 dozen of these and turned away a guy who said "your requirements for documentation are excessive", but I have never been reversed on the use of this direction. The AME has to document EVERYTHING convincingly and SEND IT IN.

Hire a lawyer? YGBSM. All he can ask is, was the above satisfied, and FAA obviously thinks NOT. Get ye to a HIMS AME (FAA psych trained, but not for HIMS per se) with all your records and figure out what was lacking. The fix might however involve a HIMS psychiatry evaluation as most of these are special issuaable. Even the HIMS psychiatrist is cheaper than the attorney (for some here, that a "knee jerk" reflex).

Years ago Warren Silberman said to me, "Bruce, it's the AMEs....."
He was mostly correct. That AME just got a "z" error on his recored. Those are important in an AME's renewal.

AND to the OP, if you've been on it for years, FAA thinks that is "recurrent anxiety disorder" because your docs kept you on the meds ("in fear that symptoms would return") for so long. A garden variety AME would not know this.

B
 
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Tools said:
You are at a loss because faa aeromedical is wholly and totally disfunctional. Don’t even try to make sense of it… just keep trying. Do not expect it to EVER “make sense”.

Number one, contact your congress critter to move things up to unacceptably slow.

I’d contact Sen Ted Cruz’s office and offer this experience to him for his audit of this process.

DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Don’t take any of it personally, it’s not you.

Consider an attorney. No, it’s not gonna make them mad or sad… it’s just expensive but usually slightly more effective. There really aren’t any good lawyers for this, just some that know the players. This isn’t a legal issue, but rather a form of bribery really.

The best bet is a effective doc, but you’re already working with one… and they seem to not like switching docs and refuse to give you any method of figuring out the crappy ones… this is a catch 22.

By effective I mean able to get things into and out of the system, has nothing to do with medical acumen.

Consider contacting PMHC or P4HR advocacy groups.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you for this response! I will take everything into consideration. Hoping for the best!
 
bbchien said:
The obligation of the AME, if he "fast tracks " you, is to provide substantiation of every item that makes you eligible for fat track, and he has to send it in. If for example the record does not show ABSENCE of recurrency ("E" below):

View attachment 152017

or you had multiple meds concurrently at anywere in your course, the agency will BARF on it and isuse the letter you describe.

(A) Means the prescribers' entire record, reviewed. That includes the record of any counselor.
(B) is Pharmacy 10 year report, even though it only se sez 2 years. Why? you have to show LACK of dual meds.
(C) 10 year pharmacy report
(E) Is (a) both for recurrency and for exclusion that anyone has called out MDD, Dysthymia or Seasonal Affective Disorder


It's a lotta work for the AME and ....I hate to say this, "he failed". I've done about 2 dozen of these and turned away a guy who said "your requirements for documentation are excessive", but I have never been reversed on the use of this direction. The AME has to document EVERYTHING convincingly and SEND IT IN.

Hire a lawyer? YGBSM. All he can ask is, was the above satisfied, and FAA obviously thinks NOT. Get ye to a HIMS AME (FAA psych trained, but not for HIMS per se) with all your records and figure out what was lacking. The fix might however involve a HIMS psychiatry evaluation as most of these are special issuaable. Even the HIMS psychiatrist is cheaper than the attorney (for some here, that a "knee jerk" reflex).

Years ago Warren Silberman said to me, "Bruce, it's the AMEs....."
He was mostly correct. That AME just got a "z" error on his recored. Those are important in an AME's renewal.

B
Click to expand...
Hello, thanks for your response! I have provided to my AME all documents that related to my ADHD/unspecified anxiety (all medical/doctor notes, and all other relating documents) which should've justified that I've been off medication for 5+ years now and that I've never taken any other meds for any other purposes and haven't exhibited any more symptoms. For the rest of the image provided, there is nothing in my records that I could find to prove that I don't have any of these items and why I would I have to show justification if I didn't report it in my application? I don't know how else I can prove that I'm eligible when I read off of both the AME guide and the document checklist provided by the FAA themselves. Thank you again for this reply!
 
bbchien said:
The obligation of the AME, if he "fast tracks " you, is to provide substantiation of every item that makes you eligible for fat track, and he has to send it in. If for example the record does not show ABSENCE of recurrency ("E" below):

View attachment 152017

or you had multiple meds concurrently at anywere in your course, the agency will BARF on it and isuse the letter you describe.

(A) Means the prescribers' entire record, reviewed. That includes the record of any counselor.
(B) is Pharmacy 10 year report, even though it only se sez 2 years. Why? you have to show LACK of dual meds.
(C) 10 year pharmacy report
(E) Is (a) both for recurrency and for exclusion that anyone has called out MDD, Dysthymia or Seasonal Affective Disorder


It's a lotta work for the AME and ....I hate to say this, "he failed". I've done about 2 dozen of these and turned away a guy who said "your requirements for documentation are excessive", but I have never been reversed on the use of this direction. The AME has to document EVERYTHING convincingly and SEND IT IN.

Hire a lawyer? YGBSM. All he can ask is, was the above satisfied, and FAA obviously thinks NOT. Get ye to a HIMS AME (FAA psych trained, but not for HIMS per se) with all your records and figure out what was lacking. The fix might however involve a HIMS psychiatry evaluation as most of these are special issuaable. Even the HIMS psychiatrist is cheaper than the attorney (for some here, that a "knee jerk" reflex).

Years ago Warren Silberman said to me, "Bruce, it's the AMEs....."
He was mostly correct. That AME just got a "z" error on his recored. Those are important in an AME's renewal.

AND to the OP, if you've been on it for years, FAA thinks that is "recurrent anxiety disorder" because your docs kept you on the meds ("in fear that symptoms would return") for so long. A garden variety AME would not know this.

B
Click to expand...
Wanted to make an amend to my previous reply too since I just saw this edit, I already gave the FAA my 10-year pharmacy record and it shows I stopped having medication 5+ years ago, which should make me eligible for the fast track? I never got any medication for my anxiety, only ADHD and again, that was 5+ years ago.
 
this is why no one wants to disclose anything to faa regardless of severity
as once you get deferred you enter a twilight zone with little recourse other than blind attempts of appeasement ....... if you have AOPA they have advocate that can try to get through but your AME is best advocate in my experience as at least they have to call him back.

I would also reach out to other pilots that had similar that you can find and document their process getting back medical cert to know what to expect and if you are being treated fairly and normally.... there's often a wide range of requirements made and timelines you can cite if drawn out.

I wish you best of luck.
 
AlphaPilotFlyer said:
this is why no one wants to disclose anything to faa regardless of severity
as once you get deferred you enter a twilight zone with little recourse other than blind attempts of appeasement ....... if you have AOPA they have advocate that can try to get through but your AME is best advocate in my experience as at least they have to call him back.

I would also reach out to other pilots that had similar that you can find and document their process getting back medical cert to know what to expect and if you are being treated fairly and normally.... there's often a wide range of requirements made and timelines you can cite if drawn out.

I wish you best of luck.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the response! Yep, I'm just awaiting to hear what my AME will get back from the FAA! I have a Student AOPA subscription, so I'll see if that helps with anything, haha! I'll try and see if there are other pilots who went through this, I think I know someone at my flight school who went through some similar process, but I'll just have to look around. I really appreciate your response, thank you for the encouragement!
 
AlphaPilotFlyer said:
this is why no one wants to disclose anything to faa regardless of severity
as once you get deferred you enter a twilight zone with little recourse other than blind attempts of appeasement ....... if you have AOPA they have advocate that can try to get through but your AME is best advocate in my experience as at least they have to call him back.

I would also reach out to other pilots that had similar that you can find and document their process getting back medical cert to know what to expect and if you are being treated fairly and normally.... there's often a wide range of requirements made and timelines you can cite if drawn out.

I wish you best of luck.
Click to expand...
 
MauleSkinner said:
Nobody has specifically addressed this, but it sounds to me like that’s how you ended up with the letter.
Click to expand...
The thing is, it’s been way past 60 days if that’s the case! I was wondering if that regulation applies at all to my situation. Thanks for acknowledging it though! :)
 
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