A
Asking for a friend
Guest
General question: Regarding medical status, what conditions or procedures are you required to tell the FAA about when they occur, i.e. PRIOR to your next medical exam? From reading on here, I think the list is pretty short.
Specific question: a friend of mine (yes, really) had a detached retina several months ago. It seems to be healing well and his vision is 20/40 uncorrected. He has a 3rd class medical but it's still good for at least another year. His long-time AME, when he called to ask about its effect on his medical, told him that my friend needs to report it to the FAA for evaluation before he flew again. The reasons the AME gave, at least as relayed to me, were somewhat vague along the lines of "if they find out, or if something happened and they found out you didn't report it before flying, there could be problems".
I don't think this is correct, based on what I've read on this board. Obviously he has to report this at his next medical exam, if he chooses to have another. He may elect to go Basic Med. But I don't think there is any immediate reporting to be done, is there? How would it be reported anyway?
He did self-ground while it was healing, and has recently flown a few times with another pilot. His eye doctor warned him against high-g maneuvers, but otherwise considers him fine to fly (and drive and such).
Any wisdom is appreciated. Any official source documentation would also be great, so I can show him something better than "these guys on the internet say..."
Thanks!
Specific question: a friend of mine (yes, really) had a detached retina several months ago. It seems to be healing well and his vision is 20/40 uncorrected. He has a 3rd class medical but it's still good for at least another year. His long-time AME, when he called to ask about its effect on his medical, told him that my friend needs to report it to the FAA for evaluation before he flew again. The reasons the AME gave, at least as relayed to me, were somewhat vague along the lines of "if they find out, or if something happened and they found out you didn't report it before flying, there could be problems".
I don't think this is correct, based on what I've read on this board. Obviously he has to report this at his next medical exam, if he chooses to have another. He may elect to go Basic Med. But I don't think there is any immediate reporting to be done, is there? How would it be reported anyway?
He did self-ground while it was healing, and has recently flown a few times with another pilot. His eye doctor warned him against high-g maneuvers, but otherwise considers him fine to fly (and drive and such).
Any wisdom is appreciated. Any official source documentation would also be great, so I can show him something better than "these guys on the internet say..."
Thanks!