Rampant lying on FAA Medical Form

AuntPeggy

AuntPeggy

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http://transportation.house.gov/Media/File/Aviation/Safe Pilot Committee Report.pdf

It seems that pilots who are physically or mentally unfit are posing a danger to all around them and the FAA is falling down on its duties by not ferreting out this abuse.

Inspector General Finds Pervasive Falsifications on FAA Airman Medical Certificate Applications
In July 2003, the Department of Transportation Inspector General launched an 18-month investigation into FAA’s policing of the Airman Medical Certification process. Teaming up with the Social Security Inspector General on a project called "Operation Safe Pilot," the Inspector General compared the database of approximately 40,000 airmen holding current medical certificates in the northern region of California to the database of individuals receiving medical disability pay from the Social Security Administration.10
[FONT=Garamond,Garamond]The presumption? If they’re too sick to work, they’re too sick to fly. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Garamond,Garamond]Contrary to FAA’s opinion that the problem is not widespread and therefore not worthy of the resources it might take to identify and penalize the wrongdoers, the Social Security matching study conducted by the Inspector General as well as the toxicology study performed by FAA scientists suggest that the practice is rampant. [/FONT]
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I can think of lots of ways that you can be legitimately disabled for work but medically qualified to fly. You can't work as a treetopper from a wheelchair but you can fly
 
That report refers to a 2003 investigation. Is that the one where they pulled liked 40 certificates from guys in California?

Why is this coming up in 2007?
 
mikea said:
I can think of lots of ways that you can be legitimately disabled for work but medically qualified to fly. You can't work as a treetopper from a wheelchair but you can fly
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I think if I recall correctly a lot of the pilots were receiving disability, but not mentioning the condition that allowed them to receive disability on their medicals. And since the FAA doesn't investigate medicals unless something comes up to prod them into doing so, these pilots were getting the best of both worlds.
 
smigaldi said:
That report refers to a 2003 investigation. Is that the one where they pulled liked 40 certificates from guys in California?

Why is this coming up in 2007?
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More fodder to bolster the claims of FAA understaffing and hence the need for user fees? They're playing all of the held cards...
 
Would more staffing really help this problem at all?

I knew a person whose left side went numb for a month, and couldn't walk, and couldn't talk, and couldn't do a bunch of things. He told the medical examiner that he had "the flu".

This was while they were fighting to get their medical back after an "alleged" stroke. The person is in their late 70s and has a few incidents of "the flu". I think most people tend to call those things strokes though....(PS They did get their medical back, right before they were diagnosed with cancer....yikes!)

I flew with the person but one time, they were good on the stick and rudder, but the decision making problem was just too much to get around. (One example of many: They did a takeoff uphill, into the wind, on a hot day with an overloaded 172 going the wrong way on a 1 way strip. They were trying to prove that you could take off over gross and towards the mountain. Nobody died other than the 172.)

This is one of those things where more people and more regulations probably won't help matters much. The medical form is based on integrity, and if people ain't got it ain't no regulation that can stop that. Stealing is illegal, murder is illegal....but everyday these things happen. More regs won't change matters at all, more people probably won't change matters much either. The FAA can't even get a Word template to fill out your medical forms, but hiring a bunch of people will allow them to close these "loopholes". Whatever!

--Matt
 
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And what happens when you tell the truth? You sit around waiting for an SI when there is no medical reason you shouldn't be flying. I reported my glaucoma. My vision is still 20/20. My field of vision is still normal. My pressures are under control. I submitted the required forms plus a letter from my eye doctor stating the above. Nothing is going to happen to my vision due to glaucoma in any near term time frame. My AME called OKC when he submitted the information. Thank God I am only a hobby flier and not trying to make my living this way.
 
I'm upset that the Department of Transportation is "out to get us." Did you notice that the number of active pilots has now dropped just below 600,000? And we are an aging bunch. The average age is about 45. (Based upon the current IFR magazine I read last night.)
 
What, the government it out to get us? No way! I have noticed this myself, I think that THEY are out to get ME. Remember, it's not paranoia when they are actually out to get you!

I was a competition target shooter in High school when the "assault weapons" ban went into effect. I paid $1100 dollars for a rifle, before the ban it would have cost about $600.

In college I was a rock climber, in Colorado. There was always some list of signatures to get some aspect of outdoor sports banned from the parks out there....

I started flight school in the spring of 2002. (We all remember the fall of 01, right?)

After I got my CFI, avgas jumped to nearly $4 a gallon, mainly due to taxes and political whatnot.

See, They are out to get me! Every time I find something I like to do, there is "government involvement".....

I can't wait until I actually have something to report on my FAA Medical. That "severe hangnail" will turn into a $45,000 fight to keep my license, I'm sure!

--Matt
 
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