Finally got my medical today after 7 months!

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zolmok

Filing Flight Plan
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Nov 20, 2023
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Zolmok
I've been battling a deferred medical. I saw my AME in December of 2023 and got deferred. I had no idea what I was doing, I just knew it was time for me to be a pilot. I was 51 at the time and I've been putting this off for one reason or another my whole life. At any rate I had open heart surgery when I was 6, 45 years ago. Both my parents are gone and I am not really sure what all happened and I don't have any documentation about it. The AME called it an "undocumented procedure" and deferred me, and rightfully so, I think it was the right call. The FAA got back to me and asked me to get a current history and clinical examination from my cardiologist. The thing is, after that surgery, I've been perfectly healthy ever since, I don't have a cardiologist, I don't even take any medications at this point. So I found one, did a consultation, handed them the letter and he said something like "well you look fine to me, but I can't just make the recommendation, I need to do some due diligence" so he asked me to do 2 scans, a CT-SCAN and an echocardiogram. I did those, then had a follow-up consultation to go over them. Everything looked OK to the cardiologist so he wrote a recommendation, I bundled up everything, mailed it back to the FAA, and waited... and waited, and waited some more, then started calling. Each time they would tell me that they did receive my paperwork but no one has had a chance to look at it yet. Any further prompting was met with a that's all we can tell you right now, call back in 7-10 days. I would also check the medexpress site and it was stuck on "action required". Then the day before yesterday it moved to "final review" and today it finally got approved, so I expect I'll receive it in the mail next week. That was a very long 7 months. I've been training the whole time, I have 37 hours at this point. I've been held up by my medical for the last 2 months. We've just been doing lapse around the pattern for an hour or so each week as weather permits just to keep my skills fresh. I'm flying again tomorrow and hopefully we're going to schedule my solo, I can't hardly believe it!
 
Congratulations! When I had a medical delay, I called AOPA. They were able to call some special number, and it seemed like it broke things free. Of course that was 10 years ago now.
 
I did call them. I was told there wasn't anything they could do :(
 
zolmok said:
I've been battling a deferred medical. I saw my AME in December of 2023 and got deferred. I had no idea what I was doing, I just knew it was time for me to be a pilot. I was 51 at the time and I've been putting this off for one reason or another my whole life. At any rate I had open heart surgery when I was 6, 45 years ago. Both my parents are gone and I am not really sure what all happened and I don't have any documentation about it. The AME called it an "undocumented procedure" and deferred me, and rightfully so, I think it was the right call. The FAA got back to me and asked me to get a current history and clinical examination from my cardiologist. The thing is, after that surgery, I've been perfectly healthy ever since, I don't have a cardiologist, I don't even take any medications at this point. So I found one, did a consultation, handed them the letter and he said something like "well you look fine to me, but I can't just make the recommendation, I need to do some due diligence" so he asked me to do 2 scans, a CT-SCAN and an echocardiogram. I did those, then had a follow-up consultation to go over them. Everything looked OK to the cardiologist so he wrote a recommendation, I bundled up everything, mailed it back to the FAA, and waited... and waited, and waited some more, then started calling. Each time they would tell me that they did receive my paperwork but no one has had a chance to look at it yet. Any further prompting was met with a that's all we can tell you right now, call back in 7-10 days. I would also check the medexpress site and it was stuck on "action required". Then the day before yesterday it moved to "final review" and today it finally got approved, so I expect I'll receive it in the mail next week. That was a very long 7 months. I've been training the whole time, I have 37 hours at this point. I've been held up by my medical for the last 2 months. We've just been doing lapse around the pattern for an hour or so each week as weather permits just to keep my skills fresh. I'm flying again tomorrow and hopefully we're going to schedule my solo, I can't hardly believe it!
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Congratulations!!! I'm in the middle of a deferral myself, just over 1.5 years in, but I'm pretty sure I have a resolution in sight...if still another 6-12 months.

Enjoy the skies!
 
My worst one- we're re-updating the psychiatry eval ($$s) and doing his THIRD deferred flight physical to keep his application current in DC. (Sigh).
 
bbchien said:
My worst one- we're re-updating the psychiatry eval ($$s) and doing his THIRD deferred flight physical to keep his application current in DC. (Sigh).
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In reality/practice, if you're declined, but given reconsideration upon further info, are you back at the bottom of the pile for review, or because DC is theoretically more familiar with your case, is it a faster process??

I've been super transparent on this forum with my situation. My HIMS AME said I needed to update my evaluations for the sertraline use, but now need 6 months of negative drug/alcohol testing before resubmitting to the FAA.

Thanks, Dr. Chien!
 
UTLonghorn_1979 said:
In reality/practice, if you're declined, but given reconsideration upon further info, are you back at the bottom of the pile for review, or because DC is theoretically more familiar with your case, is it a faster process??
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I don’t know if you’re asking when the faa requests more reports from you after submitting for an si or if you’re asking if you’re formally denied then ask for reconsideration. In both of those cases at least in my situation it took 5 months after giving the repetitive reports they asked for to hear back from them and a formal reconsideration letter it took 10 months to hear back.
 
George S said:
I don’t know if you’re asking when the faa requests more reports from you after submitting for an si or if you’re asking if you’re formally denied then ask for reconsideration. In both of those cases at least in my situation it took 5 months after giving the repetitive reports they asked for to hear back from them and a formal reconsideration letter it took 10 months to hear back.
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I was sent a denial, but the same letter said they would reconsider after another round of SSRI evaluations + now addressing the alcohol component.

Wondering if that’s treated as brand new submission or “still in process/review.”
 
UTLonghorn_1979 said:
Wondering if that’s treated as brand new submission or “still in process/review.”
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More than likely it’s going to be treated as a brand new submission. When in doubt just assume the FAA will make it take longer than it needs to, that way you don’t have any expectation and won’t be as disappointed.
 
George S said:
More than likely it’s going to be treated as a brand new submission. When in doubt just assume the FAA will make it take longer than it needs to, that way you don’t have any expectation and won’t be as disappointed.
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Hoping for the best.
 
I hope you can fly BasicMed and never have to deal with those M***********s again. In any case, congratulations.
 
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