Americans with Disabilities Act

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Here is an interesting question. Is the FAA pilot medical certification a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act? Like if they deny someone a medical because he/she has a certain disability, is that considered discriminatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act?
 
Flying is your right. Think about the Ultralight. No one can say you can not fly one.

Once you get into bigger class then its a privilege given by the FAA.
 
1600vw said:
Flying is your right. Think about the Ultralight. No one can say you can not fly one.

Once you get into bigger class then its a privilege given by the FAA.
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So what's the cutoff between right and privilege?
 
Silly, the law doesn't apply to the government. He says rolling his eyes and walking away shaking his head.
 
I believe you have a right to be reasonably accommodated. Like the SODA test for colorblindness. And like industry must do. OTOH, there's no absolute right. For example, a blind person does not have a right to drive or to fly or to be given a job requiring vision.
 
Geico266 said:
Flying is a privilege, not a right.
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About 70 or 80 years ago congress wrote into law that "A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace."

I like to think that "right" has some useful meaning, but I can be foolishly optimistic.

With respect to ADA though, I can find nothing in the ADA statute that affects FAA medical requirements; I scanned this source:
http://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm
 
Unregistered said:
Here is an interesting question. Is the FAA pilot medical certification a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act? Like if they deny someone a medical because he/she has a certain disability, is that considered discriminatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act?
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Depends what the judge decides, but you'll have to take it to court and sue the FAA first.
 
It's much simpler than all that. The ADA specifically exempts organizations with a legitimate reason for which physical qualification exists. Since Congress has determined well efore 1953,that such a legitimate reason exists, well, such a legitimate reason exists.

Score: unreg Zero. He's obviously never read the act.
 
Further, people have already taken the ADA vs. the FAA medical to court a few times and lost universally.
 
Jim Logajan said:
About 70 or 80 years ago congress wrote into law that "A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace."

I like to think that "right" has some useful meaning, but I can be foolishly optimistic.
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It does -- and it means that citizens cannot be denied the right to travel on public air transportation without due process of law (ain't gonna get into whether the "no fly list" constitutes "due process" -- that's one for the Supreme Court). But that has nothing to do with being permitted the privilege of piloting an aircraft.

With respect to ADA though, I can find nothing in the ADA statute that affects FAA medical requirements; I scanned this source:
http://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm
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Exactly.
 
Old Geek said:
I believe you have a right to be reasonably accommodated. Like the SODA test for colorblindness.
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The SODA is not an accomodation, rather an alternate test.

The accomodation is: "Not valid for night or flight under color signal control."
(Otherwise, a chromatic deficiency is disqualifying) :sad:
 
roncachamp said:
So what's the cutoff between right and privilege?
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You don't need permission to exercise a right. You need the government's permission to exercise a privilege, like driving, flying, bearing arms, broadcasting, buillding a house, hunting, fishing, etc.
 
Steve Foley said:
You don't need permission to exercise a right. You need the government's permission to exercise a privilege, like driving, flying, bearing arms, broadcasting, building a house, hunting, fishing, etc.
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Silly me. I thought that was a right given by the 2nd Amendment.


(I agree otherwise)
 
Ron Levy said:
It does -- and it means that citizens cannot be denied the right to travel on public air transportation without due process of law (ain't gonna get into whether the "no fly list" constitutes "due process" -- that's one for the Supreme Court). But that has nothing to do with being permitted the privilege of piloting an aircraft.
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Can you provide anything that supports that assertion?
 
Steve Foley said:
You don't need permission to exercise a right. You need the government's permission to exercise a privilege, like driving, flying, bearing arms, broadcasting, buillding a house, hunting, fishing, etc.
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I don't know whether to blame parents or the education system.
 
There actually are all sorts of reasonable accommodations if you are actually able to safely fly and are willing to jump through the hoops.
 
Ron Levy said:
Yes. Go read Laurence Gesell's "Aviation and the Law" from Coast Aire Publications. Fully explained in detail along with Federal court precedents on point.
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Enough of this. He's an unreg. who hasn't even read the statute he's invoking. You think he's gonna read Gesell?
 
OP here. I actually read parts of the ADA, but I wasn't so sure where should I look for regarding this scenario.
 
Doggtyred said:
From the wiki article you linked to:

By the early 1990s only two states still listed suicide as a crime, and these have since removed that classification

So... I ask again.. what laws against suicide?
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That such laws have existed until very recently appears to me, at least, to be sufficient to the point being made.
 
Originally Posted by Henning When you get to kill someone else along with yourself. Killing yourself is a right, taking others with you is a privilege.
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:rofl: Oh were it only true! Some people need killing.


roncachamp said:
Now explain laws against suicide.
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Inexplicable. They are a function of a government that thinks it knows more about what is good for you than you do. I don't care whether it is liberals or conservatives that take the blame for this, but they are the ones I was talking about in response to Henning.

Our veterinary hospital euthanizes animals all the time. It is actually one of the most peaceful times of the day (except for the wailing of the people paying us to do it). I pray to government that when the time comes that my quality of life is unacceptable, that the pain and discomfort is unbearable, when I am nothing but a burden to myself, my family and society; that I be allowed to die as humanely as we allow pets to die.
 
Doggtyred said:
What laws against suicide?
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Good question. I had always heard it was illegal too, but it was usually in the form of a joke.

Whether or not committing suicide is illegal is a pointless mind exercise. What are they going to do to you if you succeed?

Attempting suicide is against the law (sort of). The police take you to a hospital to have you evaluated and if you are considered a danger to yourself or someone else you may be committed to a hospital.

But what I disagree with is the law that ASSISTING suicide is a crime.

My neighbors (Bob and Anne) at ages 86 & 80 committed suicide a few years ago. They talked to us about it and I thought we had talked them out of it. Their biggest fear was that either the process would be painful and messy, or that they would not succeed. I talked to their family who talked to their doctor who talked to Bob and Anne and it was thought they were not serious; Until they didn't answer the phone and the son called me from out of State to go check on them. It would have been so much better if they had been allowed to have help doing it. I can find no logic justifying forcing them to live with the pain (and expense) that each of their terminal cancers was causing them.
 
I would argue that the FAA does accommodate disabilities when it reasonably can. Paraplegics can fly with hand controls. Deaf people can fly whenever a radio isn't legally required. Color blind people can fly during daylight.
 
JOhnH said:
Good question. I had always heard it was illegal too, but it was usually in the form of a joke.

Whether or not committing suicide is illegal is a pointless mind exercise. What are they going to do to you if you succeed?

Attempting suicide is against the law (sort of). The police take you to a hospital to have you evaluated and if you are considered a danger to yourself or someone else you may be committed to a hospital.

But what I disagree with is the law that ASSISTING suicide is a crime.

My neighbors (Bob and Anne) at ages 86 & 80 committed suicide a few years ago. They talked to us about it and I thought we had talked them out of it. Their biggest fear was that either the process would be painful and messy, or that they would not succeed. I talked to their family who talked to their doctor who talked to Bob and Anne and it was thought they were not serious; Until they didn't answer the phone and the son called me from out of State to go check on them. It would have been so much better if they had been allowed to have help doing it. I can find no logic justifying forcing them to live with the pain (and expense) that each of their terminal cancers was causing them.
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It's not against the law to commit suicide. Not even "sort of".

When i worked in EMS, many of my colleagues in emergency medical services used to mistakenly believe this fallacy as well. The civil commitment process for mental health is a civil, not criminal, matter.. Ergo. Not a crime.

And I've personally treated hundreds if not thousands of suicide attempts in my career. Some more than once.

A shame about your neighbors. At least they found peace. On their terms.
 
Doggtyred said:
From the wiki article you linked to:

By the early 1990s only two states still listed suicide as a crime, and these have since removed that classification

So... I ask again.. what laws against suicide?
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You've answered your own question.
 
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