Recent OSA diagnosis - when to see AME?

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OSA

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I was recently diagnosed with OSA and started treatment. My Sleep doc states the OSA is resolved with APAP and treatment is going well. The diagnosis was done outside of the FAA medical process (no AME referral). I started to notice symptoms of OSA this summer and went to get checked out.

My question is when to re-apply for my medical? My current 2nd class expires at the end of June. Do I wait until then and bring the appropriate paperwork from the sleep doc and the APAP report or do I go apply for a new medical and SI now with just the 30 day report?
 
I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that you are grounded as soon as you get that diagnosis, and can't get the special issuance until you show 3 or 4 months of use. Which I think is stupid, because there are probably a lot of folks going untreated out there.

Dr. Bruce or someone else who has more knowledge should be able to more accurately answer your question
 
I may be wrong, but it is my understanding that you are grounded as soon as you get that diagnosis, and can't get the special issuance until you show 3 or 4 months of use. Which I think is stupid, because there are probably a lot of folks going untreated out there.

Dr. Bruce or someone else who has more knowledge should be able to more accurately answer your question
I don't think that is correct. I keep hearing that you should wait until you have several months of treatment, but from the FAA's sleep apnea FAQ, an airman can return to flying as soon as they are tolerating therapy and have no continued symptoms of OSA.

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or.../avs/offices/aam/ame/guide/media/OSA FAQs.pdf
 
I sorta recall that you need 60 days of compliance data to apply for a fresh SI. But I'll defer to Dr. Bruce or Dr. Lou for the official requirement.

If you don't already have it, also go get the sleep lab results and the sleep doctor's readings (notes) and 'official' diagnosis. I don't recall if it's really needed, but better to have it at submission time than not. I had them for my first application way back when and it made the approval process go much faster.

For the compliance data and report, see if your APAP will allow you to download data to an SD Card and then use the SleepyHead Software (https://sleepyhead.jedimark.net/) to review the results and print the report. Using that software is useful outside of aviation, especially when you compare the data to life events such as losing weight, stress, etc.

Finally, make sure your APAP machine will record AT LEAST 1 year's worth of data without overwriting. 1 year of compliance data is required for the renewals. If your machine doesn't do a full year, then mark your calendar to do a future data grab and then don't lose that data.
 
there is some slack here ... considerable slack. I rec 2+ months and usually wrap it up with the next routine AME exam. I have never seen FAA 'action' for any delayed reporting ... even a year +. You definitely want to report at your next renewal ... and for 3rd class that may well be 1+ yr.
 
For the FIRST SI all you need is 30 days that meet standards.

The standard is 75% of nights show >6 hours' usage on the day by day bar graph.

For renewal, they want the whole year to meet standard, but If you have 3 good months they'll give it to you (and a good current status letter).
 
So is it better to apply for the SI now with just the 30 day report or wait a few months?
 
go ahead ... it will take a month + for the FAA to respond and process SI.
 
For the FIRST SI all you need is 30 days that meet standards.

The standard is 75% of nights show >6 hours' usage on the day by day bar graph.

For renewal, they want the whole year to meet standard, but If you have 3 good months they'll give it to you (and a good current status letter).
Go ahead, so long as you understand the above standard and meet it. Here's a report, readacted that JUST meets standards....the key is in the FOURTH graph on the page. Count and measure the bars...
 

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