Special Issuance Question

M

Mr.Tig

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I am in the process of applying for my first 3rd class medical and know I will receive a Special Issuance. If I receive a SI will I have to go to the doctor every year to get updated documentation to submit to the FAA? Or after the first SI do I note "previously reported no change" and receive the medical from the AME?

A little background. I've always wanted to fly and started lessons. I put off the medical because its about a 1-2 hour drive to a reputable AME. I always been real healthy so I didn't think much about passing a physical until I started researching the FAA requirements. I had a diagnosis of cervical dystonia years ago. This is basically a very minor tremor that is inherited. It is not present 90-95% of the time, There is no pain, no chance of incapacitation, no medications taken, has not changed in ten years, and not noticeable unless you are a doctor looking for it. I started reading the Guide for AME's and the FAA grouped dystonia with diseases that people die from like Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. Needless to say I was completely shocked and immediately knew the FAA was going to have a field day with my dream of being a pilot. I can get a letter from my neurologist and submit to FAA, but am curious if I am going to have to jump through hoops yearly to keep my PPL. I hate to spend 10k on a PPL and then have my medical yanked in a year or two.
 
When you have a special you have two requirements to fulfill....Flight physicals at the schedule appropriate to you class, and ANNUAL documentation of the special condition. Simple tremor is a six year authorization in which the AME reads your doc’s record and issues off of it, and then sends the record in...

If the tremor is not Parkinsonism the Special is pretty simple. But if it is Parkinsonism you may be aware that it eventually is associated with dementia......and you’re saying you don’t want annual care, anyway, for such?

You could win the first SI however and go to Basic med, however.....
 
Thank you for the super fast response. I am not familiar with the six year authorization. Does this mean after the first approval the AME can grant the SI for a period of six years, but then will have to defer back to the FAA after this time period?

This is definitely not Parkinson's. I originally went to the doctor to confirm this and received the cervical dystonia diagnoses. I have since gone yearly mainly to maintain my status as a patient.
 
Chris Scherry said:
I got my SI after a heart attack. As long as I don't have another one that particular SI is good forever.
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So you were deferred to the FAA by the AME after you disclosed the heart attack. Then supplied the documentation to the FAA, and received the SI. Is the AME obligated to defer the decision to the FAA for every physical after you receive the SI?
 
Mr. Tig said:
Thank you for the super fast response. I am not familiar with the six year authorization. Does this mean after the first approval the AME can grant the SI for a period of six years, but then will have to defer back to the FAA after this time period?
Click to expand...

I got an authorization for a Special Issuance for a Class 3 medical as a result of a new minor (in my opinion) medical condition . It has a 6-year expiration too, but requires that, in addition to renewing the Class 3 with an AME every two years (due to age), I have to submit a status report from my regular doctor regarding that medical condition at the same time.

Complex process. At this recent exam, my AME, after several phone calls to Oklahoma regarding a much more serious medical event in my history, issued me the Class 3 on the spot. Within about two weeks I got a corrected Class 3 in the mail from Oklahoma along with the authorization for Special Issuance based on a completely different medical problem, and a very minor one at that. They showed no interest in the other one. I'd never heard of the whole Special Issuance process before. In my 50 years as a pilot, getting a Class 3 medical was always kind of a simple non-event. In the scheme of things I guess, it's been one of the more minor inconveniences of getting old.
 
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Mr. Tig said:
Thank you for the super fast response. I am not familiar with the six year authorization. Does this mean after the first approval the AME can grant the SI for a period of six years, but then will have to defer back to the FAA after this time period?

This is definitely not Parkinson's. I originally went to the doctor to confirm this and received the cervical dystonia diagnoses. I have since gone yearly mainly to maintain my status as a patient.
Click to expand...
The 6-year authorization means that SI will expire after 6 years. I don't know how it works for all SIs, but for mine (sleep apnea), FAA simply sends another letter saying it's been extended an additional 6 years.

The SI will be good for 6 years. If it has an annual requirement, mine does, then your medical will only be valid for one year. You don't need a physical exam every year, just on your normal schedule. But you will have to either see an AME or deal with FAA annually. Some years you just need to turn in your SI paperwork, other years you need to turn in that paperwork plus get a medical exam.

After that SI expires in 6 years, FAA will have to send you a new letter. In my case, they simply mail it. For others, they may require some additional documentation before they send it to you.
 
Mr. Tig said:
So you were deferred to the FAA by the AME after you disclosed the heart attack. Then supplied the documentation to the FAA, and received the SI. Is the AME obligated to defer the decision to the FAA for every physical after you receive the SI?
Click to expand...
I had a current 3rd class medical when I had my heart attack. I never contacted my AME. I called the FAA Medical Dept in OKC and worked directly with them to get the special issuance. It took me four months from start to finish.
I've since gone Basic Med.
 
Thank you for the replies. I’m going to move forward with the attempt and see what happens. It’s going to be a slow process but I’ll try to update when I know something. I hope it can be helpful to others.
 
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