Rockymountain
Pre-takeoff checklist
One day your friend calls you up, and asks if you want to get some PIC time in a Beech 18?? ;-)
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To BasicMed or Stay with 3rd Class
- Thread starter TulsaWeather
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Rcmutz
Cleared for Takeoff
So, if I can hold both a basic med and 3rd class, if something comes up on the 3rd class exam, why not just exercise my flight privileges under BM. If it is a issue that would require grounding under 3rd class, why would one want to fly under BM knowing you had a grounding situation.
Plus, if it is one of the grounding issues under 3rd class, I’m sure my BM doc would not sign off for me to fly.
Rcmutz
Cleared for Takeoff
If you miss your AME appointment, if you have BM as well, no problem. Fly under the BM.
Mason
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Mase
So, if I can hold both a basic med and 3rd class, if something comes up on the 3rd class exam, why not just exercise my flight privileges under BM. If it is a issue that would require grounding under 3rd class, why would one want to fly under BM knowing you had a grounding situation.
It may not be a grounding issue per se, as much as it is the time, effort, and $$$ to show the issue is irrelevant to safety and merits a Special Issuance.
Rcmutz
Cleared for Takeoff
But if it requires a SI, it is grounding until the SI is granted. For example, if you are diagnosed with OSA, you are grounded until you go through the steps for a SI, and the SI is approved. Another example, a heart issue. Don’t think the FAA wants you flying around with a heart issue until the SI is granted?
Don't confuse grounding with unsafe. Two very different things.
Let's suppose you miss submitting a compliance report. Under a 3rd Class SI, you're grounded. Does that mean you have a condition that would make flying unsafe? Of course not! Your condition is exactly the same; you just didn't submit some paperwork. So you're perfectly safe to fly under Basic Med.
Keep in mind that the FAA does NOT prescribe treatment; they simply assess (and sometimes monitor) a condition. Not having their assessment does not mean you are physically unable to fly safely. My own SI was for an autoimmune condition, and OKC required a bunch of paper and test results and a statement from my physician before they assessed me safe to pilot a plane. The "grounding situation" you're concerned about is bureaucratic paperwork; the medical situation is unchanged by anything OKC does.
All Basic Med does is substitute the judgement of my physician (a well-qualified specialist) and me for the judgement of some OKC docs who have never seen me, are not specialists in the field of concern, and are not responsible for the quality of my treatment. Whose decision do you think is more sound?
idahoflier
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idahoflier
I am going on six years with BasicMed because I was tired of the SI BS associated with OSA. If I were you I would continue with the Third Class if you're sure there won't be any issues getting it. I would also get a physician to fill out and sign the BasicMed CMEC and then file it away. The BasicMed CMEC will be good for four years. If you find yourself in a situation in the future where you don't think you will pass the Third Class then you can take the online course and test and you're all set with BasicMed...
Mason
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Mase
This is why some Issues require a one-time SI before Basic Med can be used, and some issues do not.
dbahn
Pattern Altitude
So, if I can hold both a basic med and 3rd class, if something comes up on the 3rd class exam, why not just exercise my flight privileges under BM. If it is a issue that would require grounding under 3rd class, why would one want to fly under BM knowing you had a grounding situation.
None of those assumptions are actually true:
1. There are many, many situations that would require self-grounding under an FAA medical. Even the AME will often admit that some of those are completely ridiculous. With Basic Med it's your discretion vs. the FAA cubicle-run decision making, which typically requires more document and more testing.
2. The Basic Med doc is not under anything close to the same constraints as the AME, and in practice no one really has oversight on the doc providing Basic Med the way the FAA does over the AME. It's common sense medicine over stringent cookbook algorithms.
The real pitfall is showing up for a AME medical after filling out MedXpress and discovering an issue on that visit. You run the risk of getting a denial that you can't get out of without considerable time and expense, and in that case Basic Med is off the table.
For example, I switched to Basic Med because my Special Issuance required me to have a head and neck MRI every year for 5 years for malignant melanoma. That wasn't so bad for a few of those years when insurance paid for them, but when insurance companies decided (and agreed with the oncologists) that there was no medical reason to have that test, Basic Med allowed me to fly safely without spending $5k per year for a medically unnecessary test, and without having some other finding trigger a whole new pathway of demands from CAMI.
There's a good reason that apparently there are some 60,000 pilots operating on Basic Med now, and it isn't because it's somehow more dangerous having the FAA uninvolved.
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dbahn
Pattern Altitude
Good example. OSA is really a fatigue issue and it's a back door entry for the FAA to manage it. A physician doing a Basic Med exam uses his own discretion to decide whether that poses a safety issue or not, and he doesn't need the extensive/expensive documentation checklist to make that decision.
Rcmutz
Cleared for Takeoff
Basically, exactly what I have done, except I have also taken the class, so I am good to go if I feel I won’t be able to pass a 3rd class. My point in all this is what is the AME going to uncover that my personal Doctor, who I see for my annual shortly before my AME, won’t uncover. So I see no risk in maintaining the 3rd class at this point in time.
PaulMillner
Line Up and Wait
The problem is that you don't know what you don't know... every third class medical is a dance with a snake that can turn venomous!
That risk goes away with BasicMed... unless you use the third class extra stuff (Canada? Changing soon...) go BM. May not have to change docs, but my PCP does my BM every year for free as pasty of my physical. Woohoo!
PaulMillner
Line Up and Wait
that's old data! Mexico and the Bahamas are on board with BasicMed, and Canada is finally coming along, at the speed of bureaucracy...
Paul
Rcmutz
Cleared for Takeoff
“The real pitfall is showing up for a AME medical after filling out MedXpress and discovering an issue on that visit. You run the risk of getting a denial that you can't get out of without considerable time and expense, and in that case Basic Med is off the table.”
I guess it all depends on your AME and the relationship you have with him. If you fill out the MedExpress, there is nothing saying you actually went for the exam and were denied. You just decided not to peruse the 3rd class and went BM.
I guess it all depends on your AME and the relationship you have with him. If you fill out the MedExpress, there is nothing saying you actually went for the exam and were denied. You just decided not to peruse the 3rd class and went BM.
Rcmutz
Cleared for Takeoff
Actually I have seen cases of people with OSA so bad, they fall asleep in the middle of talking to you. I knew one air taxi pilot that in conversation sitting around the FBO with folks, if someone else was yakking he would doze off. We used to call him Sleepy. Oh and he did make use of the autopilot in the 421 he flew. Hope his passengers or ATC kept talking to him.
Yep! The FAA needs to update their own FAQ!
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3G
Your choice, just realize unless your physician is reviewing the AME guide CACI worksheets, and decision criteria your personal doc has no idea wha the FAA is looking for.
PaulMillner
Line Up and Wait
That's not accurate. If the AME opens the MedExpress, using the number you furnished him, then the alternatives are only to issue, defer, or deny. There's no walking away.
A smart approach, *if* your AME will cooperate, is to print out the BasicMed so the AME has it to look at... then schedule a consultation rather than an exam. Show the AME the BasicMed data, but don't give 'em the number code. If the consultation comes out AOK, then commence the exam.
Unfortunately, some AME's offices are not set up to allow that... office staff INSISTS on having the code and launching before you ever see the doc. Bad thing...
Paul
PaulMillner
Line Up and Wait
Haha! It's not like going to confession... the Third Class only requires reporting the past three years of medical visits. (Initial comparison for those of us who go to confession less often than every three years...)
In any case, my med visit summary is in my income tax file every year... grab the last three, and I'm good to go!
Paul
PaulMillner
Line Up and Wait
AOPA’s Mark Baker gave a brief update on this at Sun ‘n Fun. He says the Canadians are conceptually on board, but the administrative steps are cumbersome. It may come to pass that ICAO adopts a BasicMed option next year, and that will make it easy for Canada to come on board. Fingers crossed!
Paul
Chip Sylverne
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Quit with the negative waves, man.
From the FAA website:
"The primary goal of the airman medical certification program is to protect not only those who would exercise the privileges of a pilot certificate but also air travelers and the general public."
What's missing from this statement is that by certifying a pilot is "physically fit to fly" process also places a certain legal and political liability on the FAA for issuing a certificate. The FAA is doing everything it can to protect itself from scrutiny at the expense of the pilot, at least at the level of the class 3.
Basic Med puts an end to that game.
"The primary goal of the airman medical certification program is to protect not only those who would exercise the privileges of a pilot certificate but also air travelers and the general public."
What's missing from this statement is that by certifying a pilot is "physically fit to fly" process also places a certain legal and political liability on the FAA for issuing a certificate. The FAA is doing everything it can to protect itself from scrutiny at the expense of the pilot, at least at the level of the class 3.
Basic Med puts an end to that game.
Yes, and Basic Med requires the same reporting, so I don’t think being on Basic Med would complicate switching back to class 3.
Rcmutz
Cleared for Takeoff
“A smart approach, *if* your AME will cooperate, is to print out the BasicMed so the AME has it to look at... then schedule a consultation rather than an exam. Show the AME the BasicMed data, but don't give 'em the number code. If the consultation comes out AOK, then commence the exam”
Glad you brought this approach up. My AME actually requests I bring a copy of the MedExpress file. He looks that over, asks if I have seen my PP, asks if there a were any issues, then conducts a VERY basic exam, and then goes into what he needs to to finish up the paperwork. So I guess he is doing exactly what you were suggesting.
Glad you brought this approach up. My AME actually requests I bring a copy of the MedExpress file. He looks that over, asks if I have seen my PP, asks if there a were any issues, then conducts a VERY basic exam, and then goes into what he needs to to finish up the paperwork. So I guess he is doing exactly what you were suggesting.
dbahn
Pattern Altitude
There is no "number code" with Basic Med like there is with MedXpress. The only thing that can happen with a "failed" Basic Med exam is that you correct the deficiency or find another physician with a different opinion. Either way the FAA doesn't know about it.
Whenever you do anything with the AME, he or she needs to be careful not to put their own FAA relationship in jeopardy. A physician doing basic med has no such relationship.
OneCharlieTango
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OneCharlieTango
The only pros to Class 3 are Canada, high altitude, and big airplanes. Period.
The most important pro to BasicMed is that it allows you to take care of your health without worrying what Uncle Sam thinks about it. Everyone thinks they're healthy until they get the news. When that happens to you, you don't want to think about the FAA.