5 ms·

A good quarter of the country is medically barred from ever flying Can you explain this further?

by exhilaration 4y ago

selectodude 4y ago
If you’ve basically ever taken an SSRI, or been to a shrink, you auto-fail your medical.
- madrush2014 4y ago
  I didn't see that as a black-label warning on the drug information sheet for fluoxetine, or even as being a minor side effect. My shrink didn't mention anything about auto-failing a PPL medical either, but I suspect that was because he was a Freudian.
nimish 4y ago
Just about everyone who has ever undergone psychiatric care cannot ever get a medical. There is technically a process but it is extremely difficult and expensive. Some conditions are uniformly disqualifying, for good reasons. But it results in a perverse situation where a regular person can choose to either get mental health care or fly, but not both.
- rkochman 4y ago
  People also choose to lie to the FAA.
- madrush2014 4y ago
  I know reality is sometimes different from official policy, but for the record, straight from the horse's mouth: https://www.faa.gov/pilot-mental-fitness https://www.faa.gov/pilot-mental-fitness For me it's completely moot. I can't even have someone else fly me anymore--I have an (apparently untreatable) eustachian tube dysfunction. ...which is probably for the best given my bearish position on aviation.
heelix 4y ago
Pilots don't suffer from depression, smoke pot, take many types of medication as a child, or have many other issues because if you did - the FAA might pull your medical and you can't fly after that. It can cost tens of thousands to try to get the FAA to let you fly again if a medical gets botched. And that is still an if...
- blantonl 4y ago
  Pilots don't suffer from depression, smoke pot, take many types of medication as a child, or have many other issues Oh my sweet summer child.
bsder 4y ago
Getting treated for cancer, for example, effectively bars you from flying. There are lots of medical things like this. If these things are that bad, those same people shoudn't be driving either. And this is probably true. However, if you applied these same restrictions to driving, people would absolutely go nuts on you.
- GeoffKnauth 4y ago
  No, that is not true. I got treated for cancer two years ago (surgery and radiation), it was contained (not metastatic), I have twice since passed a Class 2 Medical. I talked to my Aeromedical Examiner, I talked with my treating doctors, they talked to each other, it worked out -- so far.

A good quarter of the country is medically barred from ever flying Can you explain this further?

selectodude 4y ago

If you’ve basically ever taken an SSRI, or been to a shrink, you auto-fail your medical.

madrush2014 4y ago
I didn't see that as a black-label warning on the drug information sheet for fluoxetine, or even as being a minor side effect. My shrink didn't mention anything about auto-failing a PPL medical either, but I suspect that was because he was a Freudian.

nimish 4y ago

Just about everyone who has ever undergone psychiatric care cannot ever get a medical. There is technically a process but it is extremely difficult and expensive. Some conditions are uniformly disqualifying, for good reasons. But it results in a perverse situation where a regular person can choose to either get mental health care or fly, but not both.

rkochman 4y ago
People also choose to lie to the FAA.
madrush2014 4y ago
I know reality is sometimes different from official policy, but for the record, straight from the horse's mouth: https://www.faa.gov/pilot-mental-fitness https://www.faa.gov/pilot-mental-fitness For me it's completely moot. I can't even have someone else fly me anymore--I have an (apparently untreatable) eustachian tube dysfunction. ...which is probably for the best given my bearish position on aviation.

heelix 4y ago

Pilots don't suffer from depression, smoke pot, take many types of medication as a child, or have many other issues because if you did - the FAA might pull your medical and you can't fly after that. It can cost tens of thousands to try to get the FAA to let you fly again if a medical gets botched. And that is still an if...

blantonl 4y ago
Pilots don't suffer from depression, smoke pot, take many types of medication as a child, or have many other issues Oh my sweet summer child.

bsder 4y ago

Getting treated for cancer, for example, effectively bars you from flying. There are lots of medical things like this. If these things are that bad, those same people shoudn't be driving either. And this is probably true. However, if you applied these same restrictions to driving, people would absolutely go nuts on you.

GeoffKnauth 4y ago
No, that is not true. I got treated for cancer two years ago (surgery and radiation), it was contained (not metastatic), I have twice since passed a Class 2 Medical. I talked to my Aeromedical Examiner, I talked with my treating doctors, they talked to each other, it worked out -- so far.