Got FAA medical yesterday but something unexpected

flhrci

flhrci

Final Approach
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David
I went to get a second class medical yesterday from an AME that I had never seen before in Gahanna, OH around Columbus. I already knew from the AME database he is a pilot.

The offices are shared by three doctors. So, I go check in and sit down in the waiting room. Abotu 2 mintues later, the nurse comes and gets me. She took me to another waiting room and got my confirmation number from me. This is where it was different for me.

The room had nice leather chairs, airplane models, a flat screen tv, airplane and avionics manuals, AOPA magazines and more flying paraphernalia as well as a fancy coffee machine and microwave. It is a pilot's lounge!

I was surprised to see this in a doctor's office. It was really nice and shows his love of flying. Made me feel at home there, to an extent.

The exam rooms though, typical exam rooms although they are in a fairly new building. Just thought I would share. Physical went well also.

Any other Doctor's offices out there like that?

David
 
Kinda off topic, but when I step into a brand spanking new looking health facility with lots glitzy stuff the first thing that pops into my head is "can I afford treatment here?"
 
bnt83 said:
Kinda off topic, but when I step into a brand spanking new looking health facility with lots glitzy stuff the first thing that pops into my head is "can I afford treatment here?"
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Funny, when I step into a medical facility that is old and worn with old magazines, even if it is clean, I wonder if this place cares about its cliens or reinvests any of it's money in doctor CE or new equipment or pays for qualified staff; or are they tightwads all around trying to make as much profit as possible without spending any money and very low standards.
 
My AME's exam room is decorated with lots of interesting flying memorabilia. Among the displays are photos of his grandmother, who was a well-known pioneer aviatrix in the Northwest:
Edith Foltz Stearns was one of the pioneer aviators of her day. She was a Charter member of the Ninety-Nines, a premier organization of licensed women pilots. Foltz had been an early barnstormer. She also flew in several of the early air derby races, coming in second in the low-powered division in 1929. When she applied for the Air Transport Auxiliary she held a Commercial license with a flight instructor's rating and had logged over 4000 hours of flight time. Foltz traveled to England with the fourth group of American women arriving in England in June 1942. She served with the ATA until June of 1945. Upon her return to the United States Stearns continued her flying. She flew in several air races and taught instrument flying to Naval Cadets at Corpus Christi Texas.
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Just yesterday I had a business meeting with another local physician whose grandfather, John Pliska, built and flew the first aeroplane built in the State of Texas, basically a scratch-built copy of a Curtiss Pusher. That airplane, now restored, is on display at the Midland Airport.
 
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My AME operates out of his hanger which makes for a really cool experience. He has a pristine V-Tail Bo in the hanger, and then his "office" is in the back, walled off separate from the main area. Tons of flying stuff scattered around.
 
My AME is in the FBO. Though it is pretty bare bones. No real waiting room, just some chairs in a hallway.
 
My AME has all sorts of junk including a whole lot of antique early TV's, shortwave equipment, and a really obese ancient cat.

His biography (from one of the mysteries he wrote says):

R.A. Comunale is a semi-retired physician in family practice and a specialist in aviation medicine who lives and works out of his home office in McLean, Virginia. He enjoys writing, gardening, electronics, pounding on a piano, and yelling at his dimwitted cat. He describes himself as an eccentric and iconoclast. The cat has taken out a restraining order.

The other books have differing last sentence about the cat.
 
My AME's office is also in the FBO building, so his waiting lounge is the FBO. You may know him as our own Dr. Bruce!
 
flyingron said:
My AME has all sorts of junk including a whole lot of antique early TV's, shortwave equipment, and a really obese ancient cat.

His biography (from one of the mysteries he wrote says):

R.A. Comunale is a semi-retired physician in family practice and a specialist in aviation medicine who lives and works out of his home office in McLean, Virginia. He enjoys writing, gardening, electronics, pounding on a piano, and yelling at his dimwitted cat. He describes himself as an eccentric and iconoclast. The cat has taken out a restraining order.

The other books have differing last sentence about the cat.
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The doc is certainly all of that. And you wonder if he's really up to speed. Then you look at some of the stuff on the walls (fellowships and awards and such), and it's both impressive and RECENT.

I'm not looking forward to when he becomes fully-retired.
 
When I live in LGB my MD & AME was Jimmy Carter's roommate @ Annapolis.. He didn't have a pilots lounge but loved to talk about flying.

The guy was a treasure trove of aviation lore and had a gazillion old naval aviation pics on the wall and relics about the office.

It was a sad day when he retired!
 
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I switched to Communale after my former AME who was a retired Navy flight surgeon finally hung it up entirely. Most of the medical was listening to old war stories. It was when he got out of the business I tried the guy who sent me a post card when my medical expired. That was a disaster. Not only did it needlessly ground me for three months, but I found out years after the fact that had the FAA known all the stuff this doc did wrong he'd have probably been decertified. I like Communale because when you ask for an appointment they usually ask how soon you could get over there.
 
The AME I went to for my first (and only so far) 3rd class medical was an old retired army doc. I'm pretty sure he was a pilot too, I found him through some website listing of AMEs. What I do remember is that as we were finishing up he confirmed my age and then said "Well, at your age the medical is good for five years and I sure hope to be retired by then so I won't give the usual 'see you next time'!"
 
:confused:

I've never been to an AME's office that wasn't decorated with airplane stuff.
 
flyingron said:
I switched to Communale after my former AME who was a retired Navy flight surgeon finally hung it up entirely. Most of the medical was listening to old war stories. It was when he got out of the business I tried the guy who sent me a post card when my medical expired. That was a disaster. Not only did it needlessly ground me for three months, but I found out years after the fact that had the FAA known all the stuff this doc did wrong he'd have probably been decertified. I like Communale because when you ask for an appointment they usually ask how soon you could get over there.
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I went to Comunale for my medical too and was surprised when I was basically asked, "well, you wanna come in today?" His office has a bunch of model airplanes and some aviation magazines lying around.
 
My AME doesn't have an official office, we just meet at the Waffle House I give him $200 in small unmarked bills and he hands me my 3rd class certificate. :rofl: Funny my mechanic meets me at the same place for annual sign offs!:dunno:
 
Funny, my AME (soon to be former) isn't a pilot and doesn't have any aviation related stuff in his office. I get the idea he's only an AME for the expanded clientele.

On the other hand, my general family doctor isn't an AME, but is a pilot and has airplane stuff all over. I've been trying for years to convince him to become an AME...
 
N747JB said:
My AME doesn't have an official office, we just meet at the Waffle House I give him $200 in small unmarked bills and he hands me my 3rd class certificate. :rofl: Funny my mechanic meets me at the same place for annual sign offs!:dunno:
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On a related question, how far south do I have to fly to find a Waffle House?
 
My AME has his office in a small 700 square foot old house with 4 seats in the waiting room 2 exam rooms and his office is 10 feet from the door and his wife works the desk. Great guy, retired USAF flight surgeon who was a commercial pilot before he joined the service. The office is in a more populated city but he signed me off to fly up to his house at a private air park where he keeps half a dozen or so old taildraggers.
 
I think that for my next medical I will fly out and see Dr. Bruce, if he has time for me. I'll use the excuse that all the AMEs around here are incompetent (they aren't), so that I can finally meet this vastly knowledgeable and generous man in person!
 
I've only had two AMEs so far. The first was mediocre and deferred me for something that an AME like Dr. Bruce could have gotten me in the office, once I'd gotten all the paperwork in order. Not knowing any better, I had three physicals with him before he finally disappeared from his practice (literally, he stopped coming in to work, his staff even had no idea what happened to him). But he did have aviation periodicals and pictures of airplanes in the office where I first saw him.

My current AME is first rate, does pre-exam consults and can get telephonic permission to issue for many things straight from OKC is necessary. He has a few aviation pictures, some magazines, and a poignant tribute to his predecessor, Dr. Marc Ross, just inside the door. (Dr. Ross was a much-loved, even legendary, AME in this area.)

Ben, you won't be disappointed by Dr. Bruce. I thought about flying down to get my 3rd class with him a couple of times, but both those times, I would have needed to consent to being abused by the TSA, something I avoid at (almost) all costs. Luckily, we still have one, actually two, excellent AMEs up here
 
My AME is very well known and well respected by all who come into contact with him, Dr Busch based at Kissimee Gateway airport in Florida, he is ex navy pilot and surgeon, his offices in a hanger are full of aviation memorabilia from his service days. A great character and AME.
Added bonus is once the medical is out of the way, you get to take a walk across the ramp and visit Stallion 51 where they operate warbirds out of including the infamous P51 "Crazy Horse" The doc is also very much part of the Stalion 51 operation.
 
spinfire said:
On a related question, how far south do I have to fly to find a Waffle House?
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Just about anywhere that serves sweet tea will have Waffle Houses nearby!:D
Do you have Chick-fil-a?
I forget our northern brothers and sisters won the war, but lost all the great culinary battles of the 20th Century! :D:D
 
HighFlyingA380 said:
Funny, my AME (soon to be former) isn't a pilot and doesn't have any aviation related stuff in his office. I get the idea he's only an AME for the expanded clientele.

On the other hand, my general family doctor isn't an AME, but is a pilot and has airplane stuff all over. I've been trying for years to convince him to become an AME...
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The family doctor that I had 50 years ago matched that same MO.
He never did convert (and has since retired)
such is life
 
N747JB said:
Just about anywhere that serves sweet tea will have Waffle Houses nearby!:D
Do you have Chick-fil-a?
I forget our northern brothers and sisters won the war, but lost all the great culinary battles of the 20th Century! :D:D
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No sweet tea in Ohio but we have Waffle House all over!

Biscuits and gravy as well as grits, yuck! :mad2:

David
 
flhrci said:
No sweet tea in Ohio but we have Waffle House all over!

Biscuits and gravy as well as grits, yuck! :mad2:

David
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Was gonna say there is a waffle house not 3 miles from me here in Medina OH
 
HighFlyingA380 said:
Well, I've never been up that way in order to try the authentic local cuisine. However, if you'd like to donate so I could fly up that way, I'd be more than happy to give it a try. :lol:
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Oh I wish I could afford to fly up to NYC just to live in some small little pizza joint for a week and fly home. But alas here I am in Florida eating papa johns...
 
Seanaldinho said:
Oh I wish I could afford to fly up to NYC just to live in some small little pizza joint for a week and fly home. But alas here I am in Florida eating papa johns...
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Go to the Jewish food section at your grocery store. Soak a matzo cracker in milk until it won't hold its shape. Cover in ketchup and pour cooking oil over the ketchup. Voila NY pizza.
 
Yea, my docs office is similar.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Seanaldinho said:
Oh I wish I could afford to fly up to NYC just to live in some small little pizza joint for a week and fly home. But alas here I am in Florida eating papa johns...
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If I did that, I wouldn't be able to get home since I'd probably be over MTOW.

EdFred said:
Go to the Jewish food section at your grocery store. Soak a matzo cracker in milk until it won't hold its shape. Cover in ketchup and pour cooking oil over the ketchup. Voila NY pizza.
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:rofl:
 
EdFred said:
Go to the Jewish food section at your grocery store. Soak a matzo cracker in milk until it won't hold its shape. Cover in ketchup and pour cooking oil over the ketchup. Voila NY pizza.
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I... I... I... *short circuit*

HighFlyingA380 said:
If I did that, I wouldn't be able to get home since I'd probably be over MTOW.

:rofl:
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I would treat it as some sort of pilgrimage. Fasting for a week beforehand.
 
Mine has aviation and photography stuff all over.

This time had a new doc, spent the time BSing about a Cessna 180 he wants to buy
 
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