FAA Special Issuance Medical - And High School

MrAviator180

MrAviator180

Pre-Flight
Joined
Aug 16, 2013
Messages
57
Location
Alaska
Display Name
Display name:
MrAviator
Ok, so now that I have my medical after the ADHD hoops, I am still under trial. They are requiring that I re-submit for a new medical in 1 year.

With this submission, I will need to attach:

-A report from my CFI
-Report from flight school (Back from when I was on, and now while I'm off medication)
-Grades

And if it all checks out, I'll be good for another year, or let off to a normal issuance medical cert.

-----------------------------------
Here is the issue:

I'm not a whiz when it comes to Algebra 2. It just so happens that I'm taking a difficult class this year. I am currently failing it.

If I were to fail the semester in one class, would the FAA seriously revoke my license to fly?

My grades are A's and B's otherwise. Same as they were before.

Any info?


Thank you.
 
Flying aside, I suggest you buckle down and pass Algebra 2. Take a look at all the resources available to you, and use them to pass the class.

Not lecturing, just saying. The 'ole "you can do it if you try" applies here, with the caveat that you might have to try REAL hard.

Signed,

A dude who made plenty of mistakes in college
 
asechrest said:
Flying aside, I suggest you buckle down and pass Algebra 2. Take a look at all the resources available to you, and use them to pass the class.

Not lecturing, just saying. The 'ole "you can do it if you try" applies here, with the caveat that you might have to try REAL hard.

Signed,

A dude who made plenty of mistakes in college
Click to expand...

Will do, thanks for the advice.

-MrAviator
 
Algebra 2 is hard because it requires (of many if not most people) that you do a lot of practice problems. You might find that you have to do extra work just to keep up. That is not unusual and typical of a lot of students. If you are, say, assigned a subset of problems ("odds" for example is common), do the "evens" at home. Don't skip steps, even if they are trivial. Show your work if only to yourself. If you have to spend 90-120 minutes a night on Algebra 2, do it. It will pay off as you progress in the course. It is a cumulative math course, so if you get the foundation early on, you won't have to do quite as much work outside of class; if you don't, you will have to double down later.
 
This has nothing to do with flying, but.....
Get a tutor, they are really cheap compared to burning holes in the sky. It will help you understand, get a good grade, and even keep that medical.
 
I've been lurking these forums for a while, and decided to register just to reply to your topic.

Algebra 2 can be difficult, so don't feel bad. However, from what you've said you seem to be doing very well in your other classes. You are obviously a smart kid. How did you do in Algebra 1? Sometimes when students are doing poorly in subjects, it can simply be a misfit between the teacher and the student. People think differently, you can see examples of that on this forum alone when there are discussions about making the perfect landing. Everybody understands things differently, and the same goes for Algebra. Ask a friend for help, or get a tutor. Often times somebody else might explain the same concepts in a way that just *clicks*.

And don't give up, with dedication you will prevail.
 
ja_user said:
This has nothing to do with flying, but.....
Get a tutor, they are really cheap compared to burning holes in the sky. It will help you understand, get a good grade, and even keep that medical.
Click to expand...

+1 on the tutor. My son used them and he was an A student in the IB program. They really can help.
 
John221us said:
+1 on the tutor. My son used them and he was an A student in the IB program. They really can help.
Click to expand...


Look for a college student going into education (that relatively recently passed the class you are taking), or a teacher that does it in their time off. Either can give you more attention in an hour than you get in several weeks of class.
 
As a fellow high school student and private pilot I know how hard it can be. I passed algebra 2 without too much difficulty, and the best advice I can give you is to just do the assigned homework to the full extent. Find a friend or tutor who can help explain it to you. The concepts you learn in algebra are a big part of pre-calc and calculus. (which don't get any easier ;) So just work hard in school, and the reward of flying will be completely worth it.
 
Correction: it is not your license to fly. It is your medical. Anytime you have been off of the meds for less than a year, they require a progress report a one year. This is standard stuff. Don't feel singled out.

However, if your visual and auditory attention scores were marginal, this is serious stuff. They want evidence that you can function.

One Poster here, who was in a similar but not identical situation, took 500 hours over 5 years to prove to the agency that he could hack it. And he did.

So you need to show academic AND aviation progress. You have a "provisional" certificate.

So, DO IT!
 
Last edited:
Another one for the tutor. My son hated the Algebra classes offered at his college so he has been taking the online courses with the help of a PhD candidate as his instructor. My son felt the 100+ students in a huge lecture hall was not conducive to learning. Just a thought.
 
Well, we've wandered off the FAA medical topic and on to math education - so I'll throw in my 2 cents.

I think a lot of students struggle with math because it is often taught by (and textbooks are written by) math majors. People who see the math as an end in itself. It's easy to loose sight of the practical uses for the math. And the fact of the matter is that math is the language you need to describe how the physical universe actually operates.

Why did Sir Issac Newton (you've heard of him, right?) invent calculus? Was it because he wanted to make life miserable for students for the rest of eternity? No. He invented it because he had to. Newton believed that he was discovering the natural laws that God had created to run the universe. But - how could he prove that his laws of gravity and motion actually applied to the whole universe? You can do experiments to demonstrate them on the surface of the Earth - but he needed to show that they were fundamental laws that applied to all of Gods Creation. How would do you experiments with the Sun and the planets to show that the laws applied beyond the earth? Simple. Invent and use calculus to show that the well known motions of the moon and plants (as described by Kepler's Laws) were explained by the same laws of gravity and motion that could be shown to apply on the surface of the earth.

Calculus is the language which describes how things move - cars, airplanes, falling rocks - how electric circuits work, etc. etc. etc. If you want to be able to understand and control how things work -if you want to understand how a wing really generates lift (the FAA explanation is pretty much a fairy tale) - you have to be able to do the math. And to get to calculus (the math you really need), you have to understand algebra.
 
Last edited:
algebra is not rocket science. School work is not rocket science. You are not the lowest common denominator in the student population. There is someone less capable than you that will manage fine. You just need to sit down and put the hours. Anyone can learn and master a subject matter, but what varies is the amount of time each individual takes. Push hard and you will not regret it. Plus, you have a great motivator, which is FLIGHT! good luck. practice makes perfect my friend.
 
MrAviator180 said:
Ok, so now that I have my medical after the ADHD hoops, I am still under trial. They are requiring that I re-submit for a new medical in 1 year.

With this submission, I will need to attach:

-A report from my CFI
-Report from flight school (Back from when I was on, and now while I'm off medication)
-Grades
Click to expand...
That's a first for me -- never heard of the FAA asking for anyone's high school report card before.

And if it all checks out, I'll be good for another year, or let off to a normal issuance medical cert.
Click to expand...
Good. So study hard, get a tutor if you need, focus, do well, and move on.

I'm not a whiz when it comes to Algebra 2. It just so happens that I'm taking a difficult class this year. I am currently failing it.

If I were to fail the semester in one class, would the FAA seriously revoke my license to fly?
Click to expand...
As a semantic point, you do not yet have a "license to fly" -- that comes when you get your Private ticket. And even if you did, that's not the certificate against which they would take action on this issue -- that would be your medical certificate. As for whether they'd pull your medical just because you failed Algebra, I haven't the foggiest idea since I've never heard of the FAA reviewing anyone's high school report card before.

Although I do, in a way, kind of like the idea of like the idea of the FAA making sure your studies come before your flying. :wink2:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top