Stop training to wait for medical?

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injb

Pre-takeoff checklist
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I am about 6 hours into my PPL training. I've been doing just 1 lesson a week, which has been a frustratingly slow pace, but I realized a few weeks ago that I could not get a medical certificate without help, because of some fainting incidents I've had in the past.

Fast forward to now, all my tests are done and I'm ready for my exam, but I now know that it's still going to take another 6-8 weeks to actually get the cert. I didn't realize it takes that long, and it kind of throws my plan up in the air a little. I had planned to step up the pace to 2-3 flights per week as soon as I had the medical issue sorted. But I'm not sure if that makes sense now. When I first flagged the issue, my instructor said it won't delay things because we can still concentrate on cross country training. So it seems like my options are:

1. Pick up the pace but leave the solo to 2 months away, by which time I'd probably be well over 20 hours in. Is it a bad idea to leave it so late to solo if you're capable before that?
2. Keep going at 1 flight per week until I get the cert, and stick to the normal syllabus. This way, I doubt I'd be waiting on the medical cert to solo. But this slow pace feels a bit wasteful.
3. Stop now and pick it up again nearer the time I get my cert. I realize this will means I will loose what little momentum I have, and I'll probably have to repeat some of what I've learned, but my losses would be limited to the 6 hours I've done.

What would you guys do? I am flying tomorrow so I'll ask my instructor anyway. Of course, he may say "don't worry, you're not going to be ready to solo in 20 hours anyway" lol. But I wanted to throw it out there and get your thoughts on it anyway...thanks!
 
If you certain you'll get the cert, I'd keep pushing. If your CFI thinks you're ready to solo (but can't without the medical) then see if he/she is fine with continuing thru the syllabus and moving on to cross country training, navigation, instrument flight, etc. When medical arrives, get the solo stuff done.


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crash7 said:
see if he/she is fine with continuing thru the syllabus and moving on to cross country training, navigation, instrument flight, etc. When medical arrives, get the solo stuff done
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:yeahthat:
 
Spoke to my instructor, and he said the same thing pretty much. He did hint that I'm much closer to being able to solo than I realized, so it looks like I'll definitely be waiting on the cert for that, but he said even if I have to do all my solo flying at the end it's fine.
 
Be prepared to log LOTS of dual time if you keep training frequently without a med cert. I was in a similar situation as a beginning student, and wound up soloing at 95 hours after about a 4 month wait for an SI.
 
If you finish up on the "post solo" dual activities and still don't have the medical in hand so you can do the solo work, then consider doing the following:
  1. Mock Oral and Mock Checkrides. The flying bit is with an instructor, so that keeps you legal, and flying.
  2. PnP Flights with your instructor. This gets you practicing longer cross country flight planning and execution. And an excellent way to build up additional time/experience in the logbook.
 
Don't stop. Especially in the beginning of your training, you'll need to fly as often as you can to retain the info and get your muscle memory down.
 
azure said:
Be prepared to log LOTS of dual time if you keep training frequently without a med cert. I was in a similar situation as a beginning student, and wound up soloing at 95 hours after about a 4 month wait for an SI.
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Yikes, I hadn't considered that it might take that long. How common is that?

Maybe I could do other kinds of training that require an instructor anyway, like tail wheel, complex aircraft etc. But still it would suck to be waiting that long!
 
Can you find an LSA and solo in that?
 
jbarrass said:
Can you find an LSA and solo in that?
Click to expand...

Interesting idea, but probably not. I don't think my school has one, and for me finding another school to do that would probably not be any quicker than waiting for the medical.
 
injb said:
Yikes, I hadn't considered that it might take that long. How common is that?

Maybe I could do other kinds of training that require an instructor anyway, like tail wheel, complex aircraft etc. But still it would suck to be waiting that long!
Click to expand...

Waiting on FAA is never fun. I had a 90 day thing with my medical back in my training. Just kept plugging along.

Work on things like how much altitude you lose making the "impossible" turn back to runway after engine loss (up at altitude). Or go up on a Broken cloud day and pick your way up through hole. Then find another hole to spiral down through. Class B airspace.
It's stuff you won't do on your checkride, but you'll need later (possibly sooner).
Keep making it fun!


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Stop now and save money.

Sorry to be the contrarian, but if you have any doubt about getting a Third Class medical you're wasting your time and money. Taking a couple months off from flying will cause you a small refresh cost when compared to doing a bunch of extra dual.

Not the fun answer by any means, which is unfortunate, and for that I am sorry.
 
injb said:
Yikes, I hadn't considered that it might take that long. How common is that?
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Dr. Bruce reported not long ago that some of the initial medicals with SI are taking 90-ish days to work their way through the system.

You can call 405-954-4821 on non consecutive days (note: Friday and Monday are considered consecutive), tell them who you are, that you have a submission in the works, and ask about it's status. You can also ask what can be done to move along a little quicker.

And some airmen have reported success talking to their Regional Flight Surgeons. The RFS accessed the file and was willing to take action. But YMMV depending on the RFS, their workload, and the particulars of your case.
 
Dr. Bruce has been helping me, and it was from him that I got the 8 weeks estimate, based on my case. I'll be doing the exam soon so I discuss it with him.
 
I also had issues getting my medical, and I soloed at 33 hours. It actually put an end to the "10 hour solo" push that a lot of CFI's in the area tried to do. My CFI said it was the most relaxing student solo he'd ever done. We didn't even fly together that day. I got my medical in the mail, drove to the airport, he wrote my endorsement and up I went.
 
azure said:
Be prepared to log LOTS of dual time if you keep training frequently without a med cert. I was in a similar situation as a beginning student, and wound up soloing at 95 hours after about a 4 month wait for an SI.
Click to expand...
Same here, I solo'd at 112.
 
injb said:
Yikes, I hadn't considered that it might take that long. How common is that?

Maybe I could do other kinds of training that require an instructor anyway, like tail wheel, complex aircraft etc. But still it would suck to be waiting that long!
Click to expand...
If you've been working with Dr. Bruce, and have all your ducks in a row, then it all depends on the current wait time which could well be only 6-8 weeks (depends on the condition, and on the workload at the FAA at the time you apply). In my case I went in "cold", was deferred for one thing that turned out to be not an issue, and the FAA wanted more tests for something my AME didn't think they would care about. So I went two rounds with them, and each took around 8 weeks... so you can do the math. Hopefully it with go more smoothly for you. :)
 
injb said:
I am about 6 hours into my PPL training. I've been doing just 1 lesson a week, which has been a frustratingly slow pace, but I realized a few weeks ago that I could not get a medical certificate without help, because of some fainting incidents I've had in the past.

Fast forward to now, all my tests are done and I'm ready for my exam, but I now know that it's still going to take another 6-8 weeks to actually get the cert. I didn't realize it takes that long, and it kind of throws my plan up in the air a little. I had planned to step up the pace to 2-3 flights per week as soon as I had the medical issue sorted. But I'm not sure if that makes sense now. When I first flagged the issue, my instructor said it won't delay things because we can still concentrate on cross country training. So it seems like my options are:

1. Pick up the pace but leave the solo to 2 months away, by which time I'd probably be well over 20 hours in. Is it a bad idea to leave it so late to solo if you're capable before that?
2. Keep going at 1 flight per week until I get the cert, and stick to the normal syllabus. This way, I doubt I'd be waiting on the medical cert to solo. But this slow pace feels a bit wasteful.
3. Stop now and pick it up again nearer the time I get my cert. I realize this will means I will loose what little momentum I have, and I'll probably have to repeat some of what I've learned, but my losses would be limited to the 6 hours I've done.

What would you guys do? I am flying tomorrow so I'll ask my instructor anyway. Of course, he may say "don't worry, you're not going to be ready to solo in 20 hours anyway" lol. But I wanted to throw it out there and get your thoughts on it anyway...thanks!
Click to expand...
I don't know why you would stop. I had a delay in getting my medical. I would say the biggest thing is getting your CFI to restructure your lessons around this delay. It seemed like my CFI had me treading water a bit while we 'waited'(still, I wouldn't have preferred not to fly!). It was probably due to me not communicating with him and him not knowing when/if I would ever get it. Perhaps he was thinking I'd have it soon and wasn't planning around the fact that it will be delayed longer.

I wouldn't worry about accumulating extra training hours, they are still flying hours and you could argue that they are more valuable learning hours than say a post PPL flight that is straight and level for 2 hours with one landing. If you're renting it doesn't cost that much more for dual anyway.

I'm not sure why people get so hung up on separating the cost of training hours when you don't stop paying when you're done!
 
It to mention, flying is fun. How is flying with an instructor a waste of money? If I knew I couldn't get a medical, I still would have taken training if I could afford to, just for the fun of it.

If you're only getting license for a job, and you don't find flying fun enough to do it anyway, then yeah, it's a waste. But you're probably getting into the wrong career.
 
Salty said:
It to mention, flying is fun. How is flying with an instructor a waste of money? If I knew I couldn't get a medical, I still would have taken training if I could afford to, just for the fun of it.

If you're only getting license for a job, and you don't find flying fun enough to do it anyway, then yeah, it's a waste. But you're probably getting into the wrong career.
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Yeah that. I can't solo right now because everyday pretty much when I fly is 25-30 kts wind. That isn't stopping me from flying and as a bonus getting used to moderate chops with a 8500 hr guy next to me. I have my medical, but life happens and u can loose ur medical any day as well. If u think on those lines, no point in flight training at all. Train , train and then train some more. Just the other day I did a high altitude training to see what the effects of hypoxia would be in my case. World is pretty small at 14000 ft. Some would say it's a waste of money, I disagree as long as u r 3njoying every bit of it. And I would rather do something for the very first time with a CFI rather than other way around. If u run out of things to do, do hood work in actual IMC, get your night flights out of the way. I am going for a xc this Saturday, and I am not solo yet. With the wind condition at my home drone, I am guessing it will be a while before I can solo

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WannFly said:
Yeah that. I can't solo right now because everyday pretty much when I fly is 25-30 kts wind. That isn't stopping me from flying and as a bonus getting used to moderate chops with a 8500 hr guy next to me. I have my medical, but life happens and u can loose ur medical any day as well. If u think on those lines, no point in flight training at all. Train , train and then train some more. Just the other day I did a high altitude training to see what the effects of hypoxia would be in my case. World is pretty small at 14000 ft. Some would say it's a waste of money, I disagree as long as u r 3njoying every bit of it. And I would rather do something for the very first time with a CFI rather than other way around. If u run out of things to do, do hood work in actual IMC, get your night flights out of the way. I am going for a xc this Saturday, and I am not solo yet. With the wind condition at my home drone, I am guessing it will be a while before I can solo

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While you're waiting for your SI, see if you can hook up with one or more pilots you trust that make $200 hamburger runs or trips to places you'd like to visit. Split the flying and the total cost if it's a rental or just the gas if the pilot owns the plane. Mix this with some dual every few weeks to make sure you're not developing bad habits and to get some good landing practice. For a lot less money than you'd have to pay for the one to two hrs of dual each week needed to stay current and not lose ground you get to have some fun as well as some "real world" experience.
 
Well the wait is finally over. I ended up stopping the training for quite a while - first my instructor left and then I got a letter from the FAA asking for more tests. I started to get worried that it might take a really long time, or I might be denied. So I pretty much stopped completely for a few months. But today I finally have my 3rd class medical cert in hand (thanks to Dr Chien!).

Hopefully I can knock off the cobwebs and get my solo done soon :)

For anyone who's interested, it was 18 weeks from the date of the exam to when the cert was issued, and that was with all recommended tests done in advance of the exam.
 
injb said:
Well the wait is finally over. I ended up stopping the training for quite a while - first my instructor left and then I got a letter from the FAA asking for more tests. I started to get worried that it might take a really long time, or I might be denied. So I pretty much stopped completely for a few months. But today I finally have my 3rd class medical cert in hand (thanks to Dr Chien!).

Hopefully I can knock off the cobwebs and get my solo done soon :)

For anyone who's interested, it was 18 weeks from the date of the exam to when the cert was issued, and that was with all recommended tests done in advance of the exam.
Click to expand...
Great! Now start a new thread so we can follow your progress or update the long running So, Student Pilots.... thread.
 
Had you stuck with it, you could have started instrument training! No worries, just get back in the cockpit and get flying.
 
Good to hear things went well.. Enjoy your training...:)
 
azure said:
Be prepared to log LOTS of dual time if you keep training frequently without a med cert. I was in a similar situation as a beginning student, and wound up soloing at 95 hours after about a 4 month wait for an SI.
Click to expand...
95 hours?!

You must have been joyriding a lot!
 
injb said:
Interesting idea, but probably not. I don't think my school has one, and for me finding another school to do that would probably not be any quicker than waiting for the medical.
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Were you denied a medical? World of difference vs just going LSA from the start.
 
paflyer said:
95 hours?!

You must have been joyriding a lot!
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Nope, just regular training (dual). It was either that, or stop and get rusty and have to learn all over again. The joyriding happened after I soloed and switched flight schools; I did 7 solo XCs (the last 4 really joyrides with my CFI's signoff) and finally took the checkride at nearly 250 hours.
 
azure said:
Nope, just regular training (dual). It was either that, or stop and get rusty and have to learn all over again. The joyriding happened after I soloed and switched flight schools; I did 7 solo XCs (the last 4 really joyrides with my CFI's signoff) and finally took the checkride at nearly 250 hours.
Click to expand...
Wow, that is a LOT of joyriding. I'm coming up on my first year post PPL in Oct. I won't have near that.
 
jbarrass said:
Can you find an LSA and solo in that?
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FWIW, that's not an option once someone applies for the medical. Once a medical is applied for, either you get it or you are done.

61.23 "Have been found eligible for the issuance of at least a third-class airman medical certificate at the time of his or her most recent application (if the person has applied for a medical certificate);"
 
Skyrys62 said:
I would never have made it that long...but I'm glad you hung in there. You obviously have a passion for it, and that is great.
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Not even close. I wasn't struggling at all, I was having lots of fun and putting the checkride off for no good reason except test anxiety. My CFI should have have put his foot down as soon as I had all the requirements down, which could have been around 120 hours except for the night dual. He was way too accommodating, even better enabling. A great CFI though, an acro pilot who was restoring a Pitts. One of the highlights of that summer was a bit of spin training, and later an introduction to IFR flight in actual and shooting an ILS. One of the funnest summers I've ever had - but I could have done all of that after getting my PPL.
 
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