I was previously deferred due to a SSRI but I'm no longer taking it

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I applied for my third class medical certificate and had the exam in August 2013 and it was deferred because I was taking sertraline for minor depression at the time. I discontinued the sertraline shortly after (I think in February 2014) because it was no longer needed and have not been on any medicine since then. The AME that I went to is no longer doing aviation medical certs so I had to find another one. I called another one and explained the situation and they asked me to get a letter from the doctor that prescribed the sertraline stating when it was prescribed and discontinued which I did get from my doctors office. My certificate was never denied, just deferred and I never pursued special issuance or did anything else with it. I haven't made the appointment with the AME yet. If I make an appointment with this new AME, will he be able to just issue the certificate or will I be deferred again? Are they going to need more documentation other than the letter from my primary doctors office?
 
I have pretty strong empirical evidence that suggests that they will need a note from the doc stating that you are off the med but that you are doing ok and no longer require it.

If it was officially denied, they wont issue it on the spot but will have to submit the doc's letter and then one day like 3 weeks later you will know nothing but just out of curiosity will check the airmen database and see your name and then call and they will be like Oh crap! Did you want that mailed to you or do you want to swing by and pick it up.

I read that in the Far-Aim or something
 
I went from near death bacterial infection and amputated limbs to issued a special in 69 days. I waited another two weeks for flight eval with local FSDO due to the missing body parts.
 
If it was deferred, eventually one of two things happened -- either it was issued or it was denied. They don't just leave it in the "hold" basket forever waiting for you to provide the requested additional information. I'd suggest checking with the Aeromedical folks via your Regional Flight Surgeon (your local FSDO can provide contact information) to find out for sure what the status of that previous application is before you fill out another application. Beyond that, your best bet would be to contact an expert in this field like Dr. Bruce Chien, ATP, MD, AME. You can reach him either on the AOPA Forums or via his web site.
 
Contact Dr. Chien via his website noted about.

Dr. Chien 'participated' in the writing of the SSRI protocol for the FAA Aeromedical Division. He knows the rules better than they do . . .

Don't bother talking to anyone here -
 
comanchepilot said:
Contact Dr. Chien via his website noted about.

Dr. Chien 'participated' in the writing of the SSRI protocol for the FAA Aeromedical Division. He knows the rules better than they do . . .

Don't bother talking to anyone here -
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Good advice on just about all subjects here on PoA. :lol:
 
Having studied this as a purely theoretical exercise, first check the status of the deferral.

If it is still in Deferred status, have your Physician write a letter stating the diagnosis of situational stress or whatever, the duration of the medication usage, that you have had X number of followup checkups and have had no recurrence of the original diagnosis, and continue to be off the medication with no adverse effects or recurrence.

Send that to the FAA with a cover letter requesting regular issuance and the pertinent identifying information to the proper FAA office (listed on the website Im sure.) You might also include a copy of the FAA flow chart of SSRI usage stating that if you are off the meds for 90 days with no issues then it is a regular issuance.
 
It's unlikely that it's still "deferred" after 18 months. They typically deny if you don't respond in 90 days or so. He's gotta start over.

If this was a transient problem (dealing with some event like the death of a family member or something), it would be straight forward. However, I suspect that the underlying condition is not resolved based on what he said. My wife managed to convince the FAA without a deferral that getting rid of an extra 170 pounds (her ex-husband) took care of all the issues, but it was still deferred I believe.

In the past this was resolvable with some testing and an evaluation from a board cert'd psyCHIATRist (i.e., MD). Doc Bruce mentioned recently over on the red board that he thinks it requires a HIMS AME (like himself) at this point.

You need to be working with an AME that knows what he is doing or you're going to be sitting in deferral (or refusal) land for a long time.
 
flyingron said:
It's unlikely that it's still "deferred" after 18 months. They typically deny if you don't respond in 90 days or so. He's gotta start over.
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Not only that, the applicant will probably have to answer "yes" to the question about whether you have ever had an FAA medical application denied, and that opens a big can of worms. As stated above, the OP needs to find out what happened to that deferred application and obtain expert advice on how to proceed before submitting anything else to the FAA (either directly or via an AME).
 
comanchepilot said:
Contact Dr. Chien via his website noted about.
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Personally I would contact Gary Crump at AOPA he has many resources that will point you in the right direction.

Dr. Chien 'participated' in the writing of the SSRI protocol for the FAA Aeromedical Division. He knows the rules better than they do . . .

Don't bother talking to anyone here -
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That is part of the problem which results in many airmen taking one of 4 possibly outdated and probably unsuitable medications.
What we have is probably better than nothing, but don't kid yourself that it is anything more than a band aid on an arterial bleed.
Stephen.
 
Bonanza said:
Personally I would contact Gary Crump at AOPA he has many resources that will point you in the right direction.

That is part of the problem which results in many airmen taking one of 4 possibly outdated and probably unsuitable medications.
What we have is probably better than nothing, but don't kid yourself that it is anything more than a band aid on an arterial bleed.
Stephen.
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Well, the real fix is approaching with the change in medical rules, but it brings up an interesting question. Say you're keeping your N-tail plane in NZ, will you be lol to fly it there without a medical?
 
Unregistered said:
I applied for my third class medical certificate and had the exam in August 2013 and it was deferred because I was taking sertraline for minor depression at the time. I discontinued the sertraline shortly after (I think in February 2014) because it was no longer needed and have not been on any medicine since then. The AME that I went to is no longer doing aviation medical certs so I had to find another one. I called another one and explained the situation and they asked me to get a letter from the doctor that prescribed the sertraline stating when it was prescribed and discontinued which I did get from my doctors office. My certificate was never denied, just deferred and I never pursued special issuance or did anything else with it. I haven't made the appointment with the AME yet. If I make an appointment with this new AME, will he be able to just issue the certificate or will I be deferred again? Are they going to need more documentation other than the letter from my primary doctors office?
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Do you need a first or second class medical? Do you fly planes over 6000lb GW?

If not, this question will be moot shortly.
 
Henning said:
Do you need a first or second class medical? Do you fly planes over 6000lb GW?

If not, this question will be moot shortly.
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I suspect, not at all moot if the previous medical was rejected.

I see no reason that the FAA would not include the bureaucratic ass covering language that they used for Sport Pilot.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
I suspect, not at all moot if the previous medical was rejected.

I see no reason that the FAA would not include the bureaucratic ass covering language that they used for Sport Pilot.
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I do. Sport Pilot was the proving grounds for the concept, they had to limit exposure as much as possible, while still being able to attain significant data.

The data is in, and it showed sufficient that the language that I have seen is all indicating a non restrictive mode which is best for the FAA as well as it reduces workload. The language I see is 6000lbs, VFR, IFR, Multi, Single, Amphib... everything. If you aren't charging money, go away, you're not our problem, just go fly and quit your bitching.

From what I see, leaving this issue wouldn't make sense to the overall interest of anyone.
 
The data is never all in, there is always more to gather. This will be yet another phase of the "experiment", and even the PBOR2 tells the FAA to continue to monitor safety statistics and write a report after 5 years. They will still want to cover their butts, particularly if they pre-empt Congress by taking action on their own before the bills pass. Even so, I expect the "never denied" catch-22 will still apply.
 
azure said:
The data is never all in, there is always more to gather. This will be yet another phase of the "experiment", and even the PBOR2 tells the FAA to continue to monitor safety statistics and write a report after 5 years. They will still want to cover their butts, particularly if they pre-empt Congress by taking action on their own before the bills pass. Even so, I expect the "never denied" catch-22 will still apply.
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If they were being cautious, they would have had a VFR restriction, I'm betting they are being expeditious. I was surprised to see no IFR prohibitions.

Either way, if you are not in a hurry, you can wait a couple of months and possibly save a bunch of money and hassle. I give better than even odds that your problem disappears itself.
 
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Henning said:
If they were being cautious, they would have had a VFR restriction, I'm betting they are being expeditious. I was surprised to see no IFR prohibitions.
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There are two "theys" here - Congress and the FAA. Congress covers their butt by demanding a report after five years. The FAA has always been more cautious. If they pre-empt the legislation, I wouldn't be surprised to see a VFR restriction too. I just can't see the FAA doing away with the catch-22 in any scenario, and it's not mentioned in the bills.
Either way, if you are not in a hurry, you can wait a couple of months and possibly save a bunch of money and hassle. I give better than even odds that your problem disappears itself.
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A couple of months? I'd say that's a bit overly optimistic. A couple of years, more likely.

I hope I'm wrong. I would very much like to see this whole rigmarole go away post haste, I just don't hold out a lot of hope for that in the short term.
 
Look at the demographics of this board, I bet the Republican congress pushes on this one, they need all the cheerleaders they can get coming into the election cycle. If they present it and cause hype now and fail to come through by election time, they will hurt themselves by coming off as same old hot air, no action BS politicians.
 
Henning said:
Say you're keeping your N-tail plane in NZ, will you be lol to fly it there without a medical?
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To be honest, I am not sure what the rules are. When I used to keep my N reg Bo in NZ I flew with an NZ license and medical because I was also flying NZ reg planes.
I believe that you can still fly an N reg plane there on a US license so I would presume that if the medical requirement were to go away you would not need one to do so.
Stephen.
 
You can fly an N reg anywhere in the world on a FAA ticket. The only issue I see with all of this is that ICAO was formed and we became signatory to to standardize everything globally. I have a feeling that the final wording will contain a Domestic Use Only provision. I was just wondering if you had heard any reaction from that side.
 
Henning said:
You can fly an N reg anywhere in the world on a FAA ticket. The only issue I see with all of this is that ICAO was formed and we became signatory to to standardize everything globally. I have a feeling that the final wording will contain a Domestic Use Only provision. I was just wondering if you had heard any reaction from that side.
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Many countries (such as Canada) do not recognize the "drivers license" as a medical, so even though your PP may be valid, your "medical" is not and you can't legally cross the border into Canada under the sport pilot rules.

You can, however, fly to the Bahamas.

I don't know about New Zealand.

But, back to the original topic, a well qualified AME who is used to working with special issuances would likely be able to get the OP a valid medical. Dr. Chien is just one of these. An AME that says "send it to the FAA and see what happens" should be avoided like the plague. The trick is to find out ahead of time.
 
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Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
I don't know about New Zealand.
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I do know that in 20 years of flying an N reg aircraft there no one ever asked to see my license or medical so I guess it doesn't really matter one way or the other.
I flew to Australia, New Caledonia and several other Islands. The only time I ever got asked for documents was when I flew the Bo back to the US and landed in Hilo HI.
Stephen.
 
Bonanza said:
I do know that in 20 years of flying an N reg aircraft there no one ever asked to see my license or medical so I guess it doesn't really matter one way or the other.
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It would matter a lot if something went wrong, like a flight violation or accident, and the local aviation authorities became involved.
 
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