PPL head injury medical exam

[economy-statement-33]

I had a discovery flight last year and was thinking to enroll at flight school.

In Dec 2023 I had a mild head injury, brain bleed, multiple skull fractures. Now that I have recovered well, I took another discovery flight to see if I have any motion sickness. I was fine.

Other than tinnitus (which will go away soon for sure), I don’t have any health issues, vision issues, neuro issues or hearing problems. I had 2 hearing tests during initial days of my head injury and it was clear.

The flight school I instructor spoke to suggested to have a consultation with AME but don’t fill the medexpress because once you fill it, it will be in your record permanently.

I spoke with few AME’s in the North Dallas and none of them are ready to do a consultation before filling the medexpress.

Anyone from Dallas area knows an AME who can do a consultation first without filling the faa medexpress paperwork?

I was waiting to get a PPL and something or the other is stopping me. Some years back its a citizenship issue, other time its increased work commitments and now its the head injury.

Am I even eligible to get a medical certificate? I also started ground school on Sportys.

Please suggest.

 

[bbchien]

I don’t have the cite at bedside but it is iirc two years minimum from blood on the brain and four years with a skull fracture….i’ll look in the AM….

 

[douglas393]

I will try to be nice.. Not sure what you mean by brain bleed, but the combination of multiple skull fractures, and brain bleed is almost certainly much more than a mild head injury.

 

[robin ardoin]

I will try to be nice.. Not sure what you mean by brain bleed, but the combination of multiple skull fractures, and brain bleed is almost certainly much more than a mild head injury.

Not necessarily. Yes, I have treated patients with such injuries. ‘Brain bleed’ can cover anything from mild parenchymal contusions to full out hematoma. The short/long term effects are very circumstantial.

 

[Lindberg]

I had a discovery flight last year and was thinking to enroll at flight school.

In Dec 2023 I had a mild head injury, brain bleed, multiple skull fractures. Now that I have recovered well, I took another discovery flight to see if I have any motion sickness. I was fine.

Other than tinnitus (which will go away soon for sure), I don’t have any health issues, vision issues, neuro issues or hearing problems. I had 2 hearing tests during initial days of my head injury and it was clear.

The flight school I instructor spoke to suggested to have a consultation with AME but don’t fill the medexpress because once you fill it, it will be in your record permanently.

I spoke with few AME’s in the North Dallas and none of them are ready to do a consultation before filling the medexpress.

Anyone from Dallas area knows an AME who can do a consultation first without filling the faa medexpress paperwork?

I was waiting to get a PPL and something or the other is stopping me. Some years back its a citizenship issue, other time its increased work commitments and now its the head injury.

Am I even eligible to get a medical certificate? I also started ground school on Sportys.

Please suggest.

It's normal for them to ask you to fill out the medxpress before the consult. Fill it out, print the form, and remove the confirmation code. That's key. As long as the AME doesn't enter that code into the computer, your application will not go "live." If he tells you he won't be able to help, then your application will just time out in the system.

If by "North Dallas," you mean Frisco, you're on the right track. If not, send me a PM.

 

[bbchien]

I just looked. FAA agrees with Douglas. With intracranial bleeding or depressed fracture, or if you've had unconsiousness for more than 24 hrs assoc. with the trauma, you can't be certified until 4 years has passed; and at that time you will need the FAA neurocognitve Eval, plus a current neurologist eval and new MRI (Hemosiderin weighted).

If anything, I would do sport pilot, for now. Application at this time is a pretty certain denial. I would not fill out any application at this time. when you get denied it's NOT EVEN SPORT PILOT.

That's from an FAA internal doc whcih I cannot publish

 

[economy-statement-33]

I will try to be nice.. Not sure what you mean by brain bleed, but the combination of multiple skull fractures, and brain bleed is almost certainly much more than a mild head injury.

When I was discharged from the hospital, they mentioned it as Mild. And I was fully conscious expect for a minute or two when I fell. I don’t know how the AME sees it as.

 

[economy-statement-33]

It's normal for them to ask you to fill out the medxpress before the consult. Fill it out, print the form, and remove the confirmation code. That's key. As long as the AME doesn't enter that code into the computer, your application will not go "live." If he tells you he won't be able to help, then your application will just time out in the system.

If by "North Dallas," you mean Frisco, you're on the right track. If not, send me a PM.

I am in the Frisco area. Anyone you know who can do a consultation with me before they enter the code?

 

[Lindberg]

I am in the Frisco area. Anyone you know who can do a consultation with me before they enter the code?

Dr. Stephan M Kramer, DO - Senior AME - Frisco, TX

Dr. Stephan M Kramer, DO, US FAA Designated Senior Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) offers Class 1, 2 and 3 Pilot Medical Exams in Frisco, Texas

flightphysical.com

Kramer works with a lot of hard cases. It may be that your path is to wait. If so, he'll tell you. If your goal is just to fly, then waiting for a medical and doing the flying that you can without one in the meantime may be your best option. It's probably worth the few hundred bucks to get his opinion.

 

[Lindberg]

When I was discharged from the hospital, they mentioned it as Mild. And I was fully conscious expect for a minute or two when I fell. I don’t know how the AME sees it as.

Here's the FAA's guide for AMEs:

https://www.faa.gov/ame_guide/media/Head-Injury.pdf

This prescribes a 6-month, 12-month, or 5-year recovery period, depending on the injury's severity, followed by FAA review. What exactly is in your records is important. So you'll want to share those with Kramer.

 

[bbchien]

Say Hi to Steve, whom I see ~one wednesday evening a ~month - but don't fill out a medxpress. he's got the same page I do. LET YOUR CODE EXPIRE (60 days).

 

[douglas393]

Not necessarily. Yes, I have treated patients with such injuries. ‘Brain bleed’ can cover anything from mild parenchymal contusions to full out hematoma. The short/long term effects are very circumstantial.

Do not necessarily disagree, but again not nothing about his circumstances just having his descriptions, not withstanding there are many definitions as to what a mild head injury really is, the forces that result in skull fractures, and "brain bleed" are such that it is unlikely his injuries would be described as mild. I have found such classifications useless, but such is life. What is important is sequelae, and residual issues. What i find sad is the number of posts I see here where people are more interested in figuring out a way to either become a pilot, or continue flying, when the real issue should be making sure they health issues are properly managed.

 

[Albany Tom]

I'm not going to comment on the medical stuff. But I will say that if you have docs that say you're OK to fly now, that sport pilot sounds like a good way to start. You'll get in the air, and if you're with a regular CFI I believe all of your training hours will be count toward dual training for private later. I say this not as a CFI, but as someone that did sport first then PPL. It's perhaps not the fastest route, but it might be for you, and for me it gave me a chance to fly more aircraft and get my tailwheel first.