Syncope and 3rd Class Deferral

[onegorgeousgiraffe]

Good Evening, everyone.

I'm a student pilot currently waiting on my deferral to twitch. Everything was submitted July 12th and since then has been "under review."

Several years ago, while on active duty, I was rushing in the morning and partially choked on some cereal. I fixed it but the pain caused me to lose consciousness for a few seconds. My gf called 911 and I was taken for eval. Long story short, the doc I had was an ass and tried to medically separate me for it. I went through an entire medical board process and even flew to DC to argue my case in person. They found me completely fit to continue service. As part of it I had extensive workups from Cardiology and Neurology and the only recommendation they had was to chew my food better. It's a completely normal and expected bodily response.

It's recently hit 90 days and I'm ready to solo if not for the medical deferral. I'm reading accounts from others that are taking much less time (~6 weeks) and am basically asking for a reality check here: is this abnormal? The people on the phone each week are very nice and have put me on the "list of people who's cases haven't moved in a while but we admit this list does nothing but it makes you feel better, I guess?" list.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Magman]

Patience but verify?

I also had syncope. Twice.

Med part later.

How were your records submitted?

After a long wait a doc bud enquired on my behalf at Oshkosh.

FAA said they never received them!

Of course the feds are to blame. Wrong!

It turns out the AME never sent them in!

My case required faxing 55 pages of records.

I was told this might have been easier with Regional rather than Oklahoma.

Once everything was delivered it went well.

It could be there are negative comments from the “ Donkey Doc” along with

positive tests that have to be sorted out.

My belief is if you can document this as an “ accident” with causal factors

you may have it resolved in your favor.

Syncope Sucess Story

 

[onegorgeousgiraffe]

All of the records were pdfs I scanned in and sent to my AME. The exam itself was on 6/29 and the last few documents were received by the FAA on 7/12. I sent them to the AME electronically so I figured he sent them to the FAA that way, as well. Although I have read about how much of what is sent to the FAA is sent through the mail and has to be scanned in. Sounds utterly archaic in this day-and-age.

The tests all came back negative and had no negative comments other than "patient advised to chew food completely, otherwise no physiological issues." I have been calling once a week. It's only getting frustrating now because I'm ready to solo and move on in training but I can't until this comes back. Still, I was in the military for 11 years. I know what waiting is like. It just seems odd that there has been no movement on this, no response...nothing the entire time. I've read plenty of other recent accounts of people hearing back at least something within a week or so.

 

[bbchien]

well today they are totally down. AMEs, OKC, everyone. At least through 5:00PM tomorrow.

 

[Magman]

As I said . Verify.

Two years ago I was told ; no paper or email.

Everything I sent had to be via fax.

I have no idea if the same applies to AMEs .

You may want to confirm just what was actually sent and who received it.

i believe using fax will tell you that.

 

[onegorgeousgiraffe]

well today they are totally down. AMEs, OKC, everyone. At least through 5:00PM tomorrow.

Well that's unfortunate, but a couple of days isn't going to make a big difference in the end. I appreciate the update, though. It seems you are the resident expert people look to on these matters. Is this wait time abnormal? Last week, after almost three months of waiting the person I spoke to said I should expect them to want my VA rating statement, and that it will probably set everything back by three months. I would have been happy to send that months ago but I'm just being advised of it now.

As I said . Verify.

Two years ago I was told ; no paper or email.

Everything I sent had to be via fax.

I have no idea if the same applies to AMEs .

You may want to confirm just what was actually sent and who received it.

i believe using fax will tell you that.

I will ask them next week when I call specifically what documents they have to verify they received everything. I guess it also wouldn't hurt to give my AME a call and see if they can verify what they sent and how they sent it. I haven't spoken to them since July.

 

[bbchien]

Well that's unfortunate, but a couple of days isn't going to make a big difference in the end. I appreciate the update, though. It seems you are the resident expert people look to on these matters. Is this wait time abnormal? Last week, after almost three months of waiting the person I spoke to said I should expect them to want my VA rating statement, and that it will probably set everything back by three months. I would have been happy to send that months ago but I'm just being advised of it now.



I will ask them next week when I call specifically what documents they have to verify they received everything. I guess it also wouldn't hurt to give my AME a call and see if they can verify what they sent and how they sent it. I haven't spoken to them since July.

It depends....on whether it's routed to specialty review or to general review. I wouldn't be able to tell without knowing a LOT more....

 

[Dave Arata]

I submitted my information at the end of July. Still waiting. Under review, as well. I found it hilarious that the FAA's med division was "down" today when I tried to call for my weekly blow off. Of course they were...

 

[forks]

Mine's been in the "review pile" since mid-June.

 

[bbchien]

I submitted my information at the end of July. Still waiting. Under review, as well. I found it hilarious that the FAA's med division was "down" today when I tried to call for my weekly blow off. Of course they were...

...through at least 5:00 PM today. When they do a major shutdown, frequently it's on a Thursday so that they can get 4 days if they have to. It's "calamity jane" at the switch, it would appear.

 

[Dave Arata]

...through at least 5:00 PM today. When they do a major shutdown, frequently it's on a Thursday so that they can get 4 days if they have to. It's "calamity jane" at the switch, it would appear.

I was actually elated to not receive the predictable response from Jane and was excited to be blown off in a whole new and exciting way!

 

[onegorgeousgiraffe]

Mine's been in the "review pile" since mid-June.

Well misery loves company so I feel a bit better now, knowing I'm not alone.

It depends....on whether it's routed to specialty review or to general review. I wouldn't be able to tell without knowing a LOT more....

I will ask the next time I call if they can tell me which one it has gone to. I'd like to imagine it'd be general review but I wouldn't be surprised either way.

 

[onegorgeousgiraffe]

I heard back from the RFS's office. Their rep said that my file is "still awaiting review by a staff physician." He did say he sent a message for them to take a look at my file, but I am really surprised that it seems they haven't even looked at it yet. I'm not upset, just frustrated. Fingers crossed it comes up in the order soon.