Third class medical legislation?

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smbaker

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smbaker
I read that there was legislation introduced this year that would replace third class medical requirements with a drivers license requirement.

Does anyone know the status of this legislation? I see lots of links about it being introduced, but nothing on whether or not it was voted on and/or when the change would take effect.

Thanks!
 
smbaker said:
I read that there was legislation introduced this year that would replace third class medical requirements with a drivers license requirement.

Does anyone know the status of this legislation? I see lots of links about it being introduced, but nothing on whether or not it was voted on and/or when the change would take effect.

Thanks!
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There are two bills in the house with their matching bills in the Senate. The General Aviation Pilot Protection Act pretty much just mandates the driver's license medical for third class. It is officially HR 1086 and S 573. The house bill is currently before the Transportation committee. The senate version is in the CST committee.

The other set of bills is the Pilot's Bill of Rights 2. This includes the medical revisions as well as some additional legal protections for pilots in enforcement actions which has a small amount of (unfounded in my eyes) controversy associated with it. The bill numbers are HR 1062 and S 571. The senate version is sitting with CST. The House version with the committee on the Constitution and civil justice (presumably to examine the implications of changing the existing sham due process for regulatory enforcement).
 
I say this will never happen. Just who will want to purchase those SLSA and LSA at six figures if one can now fly a 172 or bigger and not need the SP certificate to do it, but with the same freedoms that SP offers. It would kill the market on those airplanes.

Just for that reason I say this will never happen. It will get stuck on a desk and held up until those wanting this done are no longer around to ask for it.

I bet this is how this will play out. We will see. But if the proof is in the pudding, this is already taking place now.

Tony
 
Well it possibly will die in committee again but it's not going to be fear that it's going to devalue the LSA industry. Nobody gives a rats ass about that (in Congress at least). No the people who are going to kill it are the fat cats taking their campaign money from the AMA who thinks that getting rid of pilot medicals is somehow going to affect their bottom line. PBOR is getting a lot of administrative heat because they'll actually have to expose their sham enforcements to the light of realistic legal examination and if it starts with the FAA it might extend into other agencies as well.
 
flyingron said:
Well it possibly will die in committee again but it's not going to be fear that it's going to devalue the LSA industry. Nobody gives a rats ass about that (in Congress at least). No the people who are going to kill it are the fat cats taking their campaign money from the AMA who thinks that getting rid of pilot medicals is somehow going to affect their bottom line. PBOR is getting a lot of administrative heat because they'll actually have to expose their sham enforcements to the light of realistic legal examination and if it starts with the FAA it might extend into other agencies as well.
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I think you're spot on, Ron. If you hear some of the objections from congressmen, it sounds like it's straight out of the AMA playbook.
 
EminiTrader said:
Never gonna happen.. Simple as that.
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I disagree with this. I believe changes will be made, and I also believe that NONE of us will like them.

There is too much pressure and publicity, they have to do something to get that to go away. Right now they're trying to "slow play" it to get the focus on something else. That might work, though the chances are probably pretty low, then they'll move into "compromise mode" and that rarely works out for anyone.
 
Never say Never, I never thought the sport pilot license would have happened.:popcorn:
 
On a serious note, I don’t hold too much hope for relaxing the medical requirements for us OFs. I really expect some age restriction if indeed it does come about. The FAA has already set a precedence with going from 5 years to 2 at age 40.

Additionally I expect the AMEs to vigorously oppose relaxing the requirement. My AME works out of his house. When I got there at 0930 he was just finishing up a chap. On the table in his waiting area there were 10 charts for people he was seeing that day. If the chap just finishing was the first appointment that makes 11 medicals that day. At $80.00 for 3rd class that’s a minimum of $880 for that day alone. I expect 2nd or 1st to be more. In addition if he’s seeing someone for the first time there wouldn’t be a chart on the table. So perhaps he saw more than 11 that day.

Do you get my drift? This guy is NOT in favor of letting us off the hook. His opinion will carry some heavy weight since he’s an MD with real world experience of how unfit we pilots are.
 
According to two very knowledgable sources, both of which will remain nameless(and I don't care if you like it or not) - it will never, ever happen. Risk to legislators if relaxed and a medical accident happens far, far outweigh any negligible vote gain from the ever-shrinking bloc of pilots.

Sorry.
 
smbaker said:
I read that there was legislation introduced this year that would replace third class medical requirements with a drivers license requirement.

Does anyone know the status of this legislation? I see lots of links about it being introduced, but nothing on whether or not it was voted on and/or when the change would take effect.

Thanks!
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Will advise- as soon as Hell freezes over.
 
pmanton said:
On a serious note, I don’t hold too much hope for relaxing the medical requirements for us OFs. I really expect some age restriction if indeed it does come about. The FAA has already set a precedence with going from 5 years to 2 at age 40.
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Pilots over 40 didn't go from five years to two. They always were at two years. Instead, pilots under 40 went from two years to five.
 
There are so few AME vs. the number of licensed physicians that I doubt the AMA is throwing any support for or against the bill. AME's would still have all the professional pilots business anyway.
 
SbestCFII said:
There are so few AME vs. the number of licensed physicians that I doubt the AMA is throwing any support for or against the bill. AME's would still have all the professional pilots business anyway.
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Nope, they've already come out publicly against the proposal during last year's GAPPA and I suspect they are the ones who ratholed the FAA's NPRM at the DOT level as well.
 
flyingron said:
Nope, they've already come out publicly against the proposal during last year's GAPPA and I suspect they are the ones who ratholed the FAA's NPRM at the DOT level as well.
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It would be a sad thing to know that a few MDs who make some money doing 3rd class medicals would obstruct a process that would make GA privileges available to so many and for so much longer in their lives. GA needs this reform. MDs obviously didn't stop the SP legislation. A component of the SP movement actually makes getting an A&P a realistic proposition for many who would never have had the time. I think it will pass in some form. I was at 3 airports this weekend, and saw exactly 1 plane in operation (besides mine). Let's hope.
 
ICUDoc said:
It would be a sad thing to know that a few MDs who make some money doing 3rd class medicals would obstruct a process that would make GA privileges available to so many and for so much longer in their lives. GA needs this reform. MDs obviously didn't stop the SP legislation. A component of the SP movement actually makes getting an A&P a realistic proposition for many who would never have had the time. I think it will pass in some form. I was at 3 airports this weekend, and saw exactly 1 plane in operation (besides mine). Let's hope.
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Well, doc - sad seems to be the way it went.

As for the SP legislation, it initially had nothing to do with medical complications avoidance. It was intended to get the US in line with intl light aviation and to kill off the fat ultralight movement and bring them under the regs of the FAA.

I doubt the MDs in the office were even consulted much, or offered up much advice on the SP/LSA reg process.
 
I don't think it's the AMEs that are the issue. It's the AMA who thinks that any decrease in perceived need for the physician as an essential role in any aspect of life that is the problem.

I don't think there are many if any AMEs who are making significant money doing aviation medicals.
 
As much as I would like to see it happen, one of the biggest problems to relying on a state issued drivers license as proof of one's health is that every state has their own rules regarding renewal. In my state I can renew it online with no vision test or anything, and it is good for another 6 years. I think that politicians who are on the fence will trend toward voting no when some of these details are debated. Personally, I think relaxing some of the requirements to pass the 3rd class medical is more realistic than scrapping it altogether.
 
flytime said:
As much as I would like to see it happen, one of the biggest problems to relying on a state issued drivers license as proof of one's health is that every state has their own rules regarding renewal. In my state I can renew it online with no vision test or anything, and it is good for another 6 years. I think that politicians who are on the fence will trend toward voting no when some of these details are debated. Personally, I think relaxing some of the requirements to pass the 3rd class medical is more realistic than scrapping it altogether.
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Do you have to take a "driving review" with a certificated instructor every two years to make sure you still know how to drive to the Drivers Test Standards?
 
Seems anytime the FAA simplifies anything it takes longer and costs more. I don't think they really understand simplification, and I think that is why the bills were introduced. Probably more of an incentive to get the FAA moving than an ultimatum to remove the 3rd class.

I am hopeful it will pass but not convinced it will in the flying time I have left.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
Do you have to take a "driving review" with a certificated instructor every two years to make sure you still know how to drive to the Drivers Test Standards?
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With many drivers I encounter every day, they should....
 
mnewb1 said:
With many drivers I encounter every day, they should....
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There are two things you didn't mess with as a politician if you wanted to remain in office: the personal car and TV.
 
I got a petition for it in the mail from EAA, including a pre-stamped envelope to mail it in.

Glad to see at least one of our "representative agencies" is doing their job.
 
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