How many pilots actually have a backup plan for losing their medical?

Willevans

Willevans

Filing Flight Plan
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Sep 15, 2026
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Will Evans - Pilot Money Advisor
One thing I've become increasingly curious about is how pilots think about the financial side of medical certification.

Most spend a tremendous amount of time protecting and maintaining their medical, but I wonder how many have thought through what would happen financially if they couldn't fly for 6 months, a year, or permanently.

For those who have been through a medical issue themselves or know someone who has:
  • What was the biggest surprise?
  • Was the financial impact larger or smaller than expected?
  • Looking back, is there anything you wish you'd done differently?

Interested in hearing real-world experiences from the community.
 
Welcome.

I "know someone who has".

Biggest surprise: Wait time for FAA review of deferred medical (3-4 months even for a Part 121 pilot).
Financial impact: negligible (thank you, Union negotiators).
Looking back: Nope, took every option to insure against loss of medical. Paid for itself tenfold. Okay, maybe fivefold. Or a fewfold. Finances are not our strength, we're pilots, after all.
 
catmandu said:
Welcome.

I "know someone who has".

Biggest surprise: Wait time for FAA review of deferred medical (3-4 months even for a Part 121 pilot).
Financial impact: negligible (thank you, Union negotiators).
Looking back: Nope, took every option to insure against loss of medical. Paid for itself tenfold. Okay, maybe fivefold. Or a fewfold. Finances are not our strength, we're pilots, after all.
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Yea I’ve heard some horror stories with wait times. Did you have a loss of license policy in place? Was it through union?
 
I take it you’re referring to impact for commercial pilots? Well, in air medical I’ve had no issues (knock on wood) but I’ve seen several at work lose their medical for various (MI, aneurysm, AFIB) medical conditions. They either 1) were old enough to retire or 2) went into non flying positions. For instance, in my company some of our regional managers are in non flying positions. We have corporate safety positions where some are former pilots who lost their medical. In air medical, a lot of operations control center specialists, while required to be a pilot, don’t require a medical.

So yeah, there are options out there for commercial pilots to continue on without a medical. I’d imagine the airlines have manager positions that don’t require it. I’d think a lot of flight sim instructors have lost their medicals at some point. If you’re a hands on “top of the spear” type of person vs a “cubicle warrior” it might not be to your liking. But, gotta pay the bills somehow .
 
Willevans said:
Yea I’ve heard some horror stories with wait times. Did you have a loss of license policy in place? Was it through union?
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Loss of License from Harvey Watt was denied due to previous medical issue, but all other "insurance" options available through the company and union were in place and maximized.
 
Dealt with this on the .mil side, then later on the .civ side, but probably not the way you imagine.

When I had melanoma and went thru the Air Force process, the spectrum was anywhere from medical disqualification from flying duties to getting a waiver. But my core source of income as a military officer wasn’t in jeaporady.

When I retired from active duty and contemplated flying professionally on the civilian side, the FAAs process to regain my medical was tedious and had some uncertainty, but not much. The real challenge was finding the right AME to guide me thru the documentation gathering up front. I feel the cost was very reasonable for the services provided and I regained my FAA medical in a little over six months from the time I decided to re-apply. Ultimately, I switched to Basicmed and just fly recreationally for a lot of reasons unrelated to my medical.

The biggest surprise I had of all was the variability in attitudes of the various AMEs (even Senior and HIMS AMEs). I interviewed quite a few and asked simple questions like “what documentation do I need for my melanoma?” Many of the AMEs felt the best thing to do was just apply, defer, and see what the FAA asked for, despite it being plane as day in the AME guide. I was surprised others would not do a CACI or weren’t familiar with CACIs.

My lesson learned (and later backed up after reading the FAA medical stats book) is since most applicants are plain vanilla healthy, most AMEs have little experience when it comes to anything other than being able to issue in office. It’s almost as though what goes on after “defer” is as much a mystery to them as it is to the pope. And they’re okay with that.
 
TCABM said:
My lesson learned (and later backed up after reading the FAA medical stats book) is since most applicants are plain vanilla healthy, most AMEs have little experience when it comes to anything other than being able to issue in office. It’s almost as though what goes on after “defer” is as much a mystery to them as it is to the pope. And they’re okay with that.
Click to expand...

Yep. And that’s why it’s great to have a few guys like Dr Bruce and Dr Lou (where’s he been, anyway?) in the game. And also why Basic Med is a good thing.
 
I would liquidate all my assets, downsize AF and move somewhere less expensive with a little bit of land and get about 10 dogs and a part time job at Home Depot.
Flying was my plan B. I don't have a plan C. I think I would be happy coming home smelling like lumber and being greeted by a gaggle of rescue dogs.
 
TCABM said:
The biggest surprise I had of all was the variability in attitudes of the various AMEs (even Senior and HIMS AMEs). I interviewed quite a few and asked simple questions like “what documentation do I need for my melanoma?” Many of the AMEs felt the best thing to do was just apply, defer, and see what the FAA asked for, despite it being plane as day in the AME guide. I was surprised others would not do a CACI or weren’t familiar with CACIs.
Click to expand...
At my first medical exam post melanoma excision, I dutifully reported it. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. My AME shook his head and told me it was disqualifying.

But I got lucky. My AME asked me if I could get a letter from my specialist saying (a), (b), (c), etc. by the next day. I could, did, and my AME issued the medical certificate. He warned me to expect the letter from CAMI with SI continuing requirements. It came.

Punch line: the letter also took the time to talk about my seasonal hay fever.
 
midlifeflyer said:
At my first medical exam post melanoma excision, I dutifully reported it. I didn’t know what I didn’t know. My AME shook his head and told me it was disqualifying.

But I got lucky. My AME asked me if I could get a letter from my specialist saying (a), (b), (c), etc. by the next day. I could, did, and my AME issued the medical certificate. He warned me to expect the letter from CAMI with SI continuing requirements. It came.

Punch line: the letter also took the time to talk about my seasonal hay fever.
Click to expand...
My glaucoma SI (with yearly checkup requirements) mentions that I must wait eight hours after taking sildenafil before flying.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I would liquidate all my assets, downsize AF and move somewhere less expensive with a little bit of land and get about 10 dogs and a part time job at Home Depot.
Flying was my plan B. I don't have a plan C. I think I would be happy coming home smelling like lumber and being greeted by a gaggle of rescue dogs.
Click to expand...

Sure, but your wife and kids would find you eventually.....
 
This is one of the unmentioned risks of becoming a professional pilot and certainly of trying to do it after age 50.
 
unmentioned? Nah everybody is aware of it, they just handwave it away as a low-probability sunk cost. Optimism bias appears a bigger professional requirement to enter this labor space than the pedestrian aptitude required to monitor an FMS for a living. Heck, they even make light of not having a plan in this very thread. A sort of functional solipsism I find very pervasive in American culture. To that I say, FAFO.

At the end of the day, the people who should really worry are the "underinsured". Not all (I argue very few) rungs of the industry provide landing options, so playing in this space is like that deadman curve I've been learning about in the helicopter thread. Once you get out of it, you have options to recover from loss of license.

Problem is, that deadman curve is the inverse area of the helicopter one. Single-income [child-rearing] households not at an employer with robust in-house LTD, are just playing with fire. We've also had folks on this thread admit that HW stiffed them btw; that's the typical industry offering that purports to cover you to age 65. That's the equivalent of an employer stiffing you on 20 years' worth of pension. That's not a gee chucks situation, that's life altering and violence inducing. Most pylet employers don't even offer in-house LOM/LoL.

The more practical approach is as has been highlighted before: treat it like a side gig you can do without, and have a reliable adult pedestrian pay the big boy bills and look after the children. That's a pretty tall order given civilian zero-to-hero training costs these days. Or roll the dice as primary payer if you think the marriage can survive the socioeconomic downgrade by loss of income proxy. Given the cultural prevalence of hypergamy in american marital life, that's the real low-percentage play in all of this imo.

But nobody can claim ignorance to these dynamics in internet/cloud-compute-saturated 2026. No crying in baseball.
 
hindsight2020 said:
unmentioned? Nah everybody is aware of it, they just handwave it away as a low-probability sunk cost. Optimism bias appears a bigger professional requirement to enter this labor space than the pedestrian aptitude required to monitor an FMS for a living. Heck, they even make light of not having a plan in this very thread. A sort of functional solipsism I find very pervasive in American culture. To that I say, FAFO.

At the end of the day, the people who should really worry are the "underinsured". Not all (I argue very few) rungs of the industry provide landing options, so playing in this space is like that deadman curve I've been learning about in the helicopter thread. Once you get out of it, you have options to recover from loss of license.

Problem is, that deadman curve is the inverse area of the helicopter one. Single-income [child-rearing] households not at an employer with robust in-house LTD, are just playing with fire. We've also had folks on this thread admit that HW stiffed them btw; that's the typical industry offering that purports to cover you to age 65. That's the equivalent of an employer stiffing you on 20 years' worth of pension. That's not a gee chucks situation, that's life altering and violence inducing. Most pylet employers don't even offer in-house LOM/LoL.

The more practical approach is as has been highlighted before: treat it like a side gig you can do without, and have a reliable adult pedestrian pay the big boy bills and look after the children. That's a pretty tall order given civilian zero-to-hero training costs these days. Or roll the dice as primary payer if you think the marriage can survive the socioeconomic downgrade by loss of income proxy. Given the cultural prevalence of hypergamy in american marital life, that's the real low-percentage play in all of this imo.

But nobody can claim ignorance to these dynamics in internet/cloud-compute-saturated 2026. No crying in baseball.
Click to expand...
I will not do business with HW…

Know to many that have been stiffed.
 
My backup plan is a serious liquidation followed by a new job selling cigars while budgeting within my LTD insurance payout.

I wont take the axels off my next house…
 
The role that I am currently in does not require me to be flight qualified. I do keep 293/297/299 qualified though.

I also purposely keep an EMT certificate active (going on 32 years) just in case I have to being on the boo-boo bus. In my secondary employment, it too is in a pilot role but if need be, I can transition to a non flying role.

Several years back, I had a guy get a class 1 "just to see." His AME saw it alright and he lost his medical for several years. I was glad they found his medical issue but he had no plan other than to be a pilot. He was placed on long term disability but that only paid 60% of his salary and this pilot liked OT which was not calculated in.

It's smart to keep options.
 
I don't rely on aviation for employment, just for fun.
If I ever suspect I cannot maintain my medical, I would not try to renew it, I'd sell my airplane and start flying LSAs. Most of my flying is solo anywho.
If my medical was revoked for whatever reason, I'd sell the plane and buy a part 103 ultralight.

If the FAA really wants to keep me from flying at all, they're going to need an AA gun or a SAM site.

(EDIT: I obvs wouldn't fly if I felt like I was a serious health risk)
 
I'd have to find some other way to spend all that money I now spend on flying.
I'd probably buy an RV (motorhme) and travel the country for a year or so.
 
One thing I learned during COVID is that even a quality degree is mostly worthless without recency of experience. I have two STEM degrees and really the only thing that had me sleeping at night was the big war chest we had from saving for a down payment.

So with that in mind, my backup plan is purely financial - we budget so I can go out on LTD without batting an eye. It certainly helps that I have a working spouse, but even if that weren't the case, all it would do is change the numbers.
 
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