Good for another year.

Vance

Gyroplane CFI
Staff member
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
18,346
Location
Santa Maria, California
Aircraft
Givens Predator
Total Flight Time
2600+ in rotorcraft
I went to the doctor for my second class medical yesterday.

I am 68 and my father lost his medical when he was mid-50s. My mother had a pharmacy full of medication for high blood pressure by the time she was my age.

I felt a lot of apprehension over the process and the potential for it to impact my life in a negative way.

My last AME, Wallace, used to prescribe medical marijuana and lost that business when they made marijuana legal in California. He decided it was not worth keeping the office open just for his AME business so he retired without notice to his clients.

I asked my pilot friends and most either used the Wally in Lompoc or had some out of the area AME.

I went on line and found an AME in Pismo Beach, Wendy.

She looked young enough to be my daughter and asked for my money up front like some other services I used as a youth.

The physician’s assistant spent some time trying to understand how a person blind in one eye could get a class two medical when vision must be corrected to 20-20. She had not seen a SODA before.

I failed the eye test and had to go get a note from my ophthalmologist on his prescription pad saying my vision was corrected to 20-20 after a quick eye exam.

Wendy put in the wrong number and could not get my application from FAA Medxpress.

Somehow none of this affected my blood pressure although it did raise my resting pulse.

I was multitasking trying to manage the failed eye test and what I imagined was my wife’s mistake on the number so I took quite a while to pee into a little bottle. They were planning to go to lunch at noon so I had a pee soon or get thrown out of the office.

With some help from my ophthalmologist and after drinking a lot of water I am good to go for another year.
 
Don't you just love it? You were not safe to fly without the piece of paper. I believed these rules until one day I flew down to the local airfield to get some avgas. I got down there and found I didn't have my billfold. EEK!!! NO MEDICAL!!! NO PPL!!! and the real true kicker: No credit card. Now do I need a medical to fly? Didn't that day. Do I need a PPL to fly? Didn't that day. I sure did need my credit card though. That set my priorities.
 
I don't think I'll bother renewing mine in May. I think I can do what I wish with just the BasicMed. It allows all my intended operations (including instructing) with the odd exception of acting as a safety pilot for my friends' instrument currency. The FAA's interpretation (for now, anyway) is that Congress set the new rules only for acting as PIC, but a safety pilot is a non-PiC required crewmember, so a medical is still needed. It's a pretty twisted idea; the PIC doesn't need a med certificate but the SIC does.
 
Congratulations Vance. Glad to read you passed another medical.

I'm surprised a Physician Assistant performed the exam instead of the AME. It is to my understanding that only an AME can perform the physical for it to be valid. That being said, I've heard from others that has not been the case in their experiences.

For years, I received my flight physicals only from Army or Air Force Flight Surgeons. I never went to a civilian AME. It was just my personal preference since military flight surgeons are the most up to date on aerospace medicine, and I was able to receive the flight physicals free of charge.

There's a Senior AME at Camarillo Airport, William Scott Jr. OD. He's a retired US Navy Flight Surgeon & Test Pilot, and works as an Emergency Physician in addition to being a Senior AME. He's a good option for your next exam. He performs all the exams himself as any AME should, and is very good at special issuance medicals

Wayne
 
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