I think part of the problem is as others have insinuated is that teaching flying is a commercial entity, and the risks of a student failing a medical and losing business because of this are far outweighed by the monetary benefits. Furthermore, I think most CFI's and schools for that matter, probably do not feel they are qualified to make those decisions. Finally, I would bet that the number of people that cannot pass the third class medical are quite small in comparison to the number that pass, and requiring someone to undergo a medical before flying may scare off some people who would otherwise get bit by the bug and then see the medical as something necessary. That being said, I do find it interesting that SCUBA has taken the exact opposite approach, and requires everyone who dives to have medical clearance by their phyisician(I realize its not the same as a AME certified class three medical) prior to training(at least it was when I took training in the early 80's and then recurrent training in the late 90's, and advanced training in the early 2000's).
When I trained medical clearance from your physician was part of the initial application. My initial training was with the old YMCA program(no longer exists) with an ex navy seal, and then repeat with PADI, and some NAUI mixed in for some of the advanced courses, and then back to PADI.
Maybe that was the way it was done. In any case, it was a lot more proactive initially than what is done in aviation. The first time anything medical was discussed with me was just before my solo and that was to tell me to schedule my medical. How difficult would it be for the FAA to require some sort of screening medical form to be part of the initial documents to be filled out for flight training.
I think I'm at liberty to say that the OP apparently was issued today by the agency.
No, I didn't have anything to do with this. But the waiting WILL drive you nuts.
