getting a class III after a heart attack?

[Matthew]

A buddy of mine started flight training a long time ago, but never finished.

He was thinking about getting started again, then he had a heart attack. It's been about 4 yrs since that happened.

We were talking this morning about getting a medical after a heart attack, and I thought I'd toss it out on the board to hear about anyone else's experience, what to expect, and any gotcha's there may be along the way.

I don't know any of his details, I don't know any meds he may be on, I don't know of any existing heart damage or any other items that may be of significance.

Given all that - first of all, is it possible to get a class III after a heart attack? And if so, is there a general path that needs to be followed?

Thanks.

 

[poadeleted20]

It is possible, and Bruce is the expert on how to make it happen. He'll be here shortly.

 

[weilke]

Given all that - first of all, is it possible to get a class III after a heart attack?

Yes.

And if so, is there a general path that needs to be followed?

The general path is to gather all the information from when the event happened, cath results, recent EKG, recent Holter (long term EKG), recent echo, last note or consult letter from the cardiologist and to go to a knowledgeable AME. With a known history of coronary artery disease, he will need a special issuance medical.

He will have to demonstrate that at this time he has no pieces of the heart that receive too little blood under stress and are at risk for a further attack. There are several tests that help to demonstrate that. The FAA is quite picky in how those tests have to be performed. If the tests performed by the hospital or his cardiologist dont conform to those requirements, he may have to get them repeated before sending them in to the FAA.

 

[Henning]

It seems that cardiac conditions are the easiest to deal with, I guess since we know the most about them and the monitoring is pretty straight forward. I know at least 2 guys with a heart attack history with a first class.

 

[Matthew]

PS - I did some searching on the APOA medical site, there was a page dedicated to what needs to happen in order to qualify for a medcical after a heart attack.

 

[bbchien]

Here it is, in short:

No sooner than 6 months after the heart attack, for a thrid class, you will need:

Stress treadmill to 9 minutes (Bruce protocol) to a heart rate of (220-YourAge)*0.9, without ischemia.

Something that says your ejection fraction survived well enough (0.4). Echo or nuke scan, or initial Cath assessment if recovery was uncomplicated.

Serum Creatinine, Lipid profile, and Fasting glucose

A doctor's letter summarizing your course, your risk factors for CAD and what you have done to alter them (lost weight, quit smoking, controlled borderline diabetes, you can't "fire" your parents, etc), including a listing of all the meds, and a statment that hypertension is well controlled. Nitrates are verboten.

For a third, a NUKE scan at the end of the run is NOT necessary, but if there is any equivocal-ness to the EKGs you need the nuke, or at least a stress echo at the end of the run.

 

[Matthew]

Thanks, doctor.

I already forwarded him the info I found on the AOPA site. Yours is much more concise.

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I think this is considered an SI. Does it have any kind of renewal period? He's >40 y.o.

 

[DrMack]

If he gets the SI it will be valid for one year. The renewal next time around will take two to three months so he had best go in for his next stress test and blood work three months before expiration.

 

[bbchien]

It's an annual treadmill run, the lab and the letter.