You need the psych eval to occur when off the meds. If you were within 90 days or still on the meds, you may well be denied.
The examiner in OKC MIGHT approve you, but it is not a slam dunk.
The only way to know it would be a slam dunk is if the psychiatrist's eval reflected that you had been off 90 days at time of psychiatric evaluation. The meds can hide a lot of things......which it doesn't sound like are there to begin with. Sigh.
Here's how the conversation goes:
FAS: Dr. Eaminer, I understand you certified an airman who had been on an SSRI for two years, and didn't have a PSYCHIATRIST evaluation at >90 days off the meds, is that right?
DR. Examiner: Yes. But he had credible testimony that the underlying diagnosis was an adjustment disorder.....
FAS: AND you did NOT use the federal consultant psychiatrist?
Dr. Examiner: But the diagnosis.....
FAS: Nor the federal psychiatrist himself?
...do you see where this is going? The eval at 90 days off (by someone with psychiatric BOARDS, not the family doc) is a REQUIREMENT.
...I wish you the best of luck. But if you really wanted this to get through, I'd get the psych to see you again and to write again, and fax that into the agency at 405-954-4300.
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Matthew said:
Dr - slightly off topic, but might be useful: You keep up with what's going on at FAA. How often does the average AME really get updated on the inner workings? Is there some kind of recurrent training? Or is it really up to the AME to take the initiative?
Matt: it's the paradox of "you have to be busy to keep up". Every time you do something complex, you get the opportunity to interact with the examiners. That's how you learn.
I did get invited to do (and did) "Advanced AME" which is a course for 4 guys, (you have to get invited) in which you essentially become an examiner and they grade you. This is the remains of the old "super AME" course which by reg couldn't create a field examiner empowered to issue SIs on their own (which was the original intent).
So then you have to learn and pump every bit of information from the full time examiners who each have a niche. But the guys who get invited to this- are the already busy guys.
It is really quite sweet to know the examiners personally and it goes two ways. When one of us is authorized to give an initial SI in the office, both the Federal guy and the AME are walking out on the same plank- there is a link of trust that neither will betray. It allows the agency to get stuff done. Amazingly, there are some cases in which the Federal guy says, "are you willing to fly with this guy?" and he is asking for an assessment of intangibles. If you can say, "YES", or better, "I just did his Flight Review and he was good", it can make a difference. The examiners, after all, ARE PILOTS.
I will name one guy by name: Arnold Angelisi, who is now the deputy RFS in Atlanta (went to be nearer his spouse). OKC lost a good one, Atlanta got a good one. We miss you, Arnie.
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