Stegoo_86
Pre-Flight
Hello All,
I found this post on Reddit that was discussed a few days ago. I wanted to repost it here for everyone to take a look at it and see what you're thoughts may be. I know that we have a few HIMS AMEs who follow this form so I wanted to know what they thought about the upcoming changes and or work that is currently be done to help flying become more accessible.
REPOST:
A while back I had mentioned here and over at r/ATC that I was going to be going to the mental health talk here at Oshkosh. I did, and while I didn't take minute by minute notes I am gonna just write out what I remember.
The talk was split between one of EAA's Government Relations dudes (sorry if you see this I don't remember your name!) and Dr. Brett Wyrick, the Deputy Air Surgeon at the FAA. I expected it to be a complete train wreck, but it was actually pretty promising.
The first part of the talk to be honest was a bunch of "FAA is great" and "We love working with the FAA" from the EAA dude. You could see that a large portion of the audience was not really having it. Then they let Dr. Wyrick up, and he went straight to "I know it's broken. I am trying to fix it, and let me talk about how." He did say that his number one priority, and what he has told all the regional surgeons, is he wants as many people flying as he possibly can. They are tasked with figuring out how to get to "yes".
He stressed over and over when people talk about "they" with the FAA that it's really him. So I am going to use that terminology here. He really seems to want to own the problem.
Just a few things I remember:
But, as we all know, words are cheap. Let's see if things get better. But at least he seems to understand there is a massive problem and is trying to fix it.
I found this post on Reddit that was discussed a few days ago. I wanted to repost it here for everyone to take a look at it and see what you're thoughts may be. I know that we have a few HIMS AMEs who follow this form so I wanted to know what they thought about the upcoming changes and or work that is currently be done to help flying become more accessible.
REPOST:
A while back I had mentioned here and over at r/ATC that I was going to be going to the mental health talk here at Oshkosh. I did, and while I didn't take minute by minute notes I am gonna just write out what I remember.
The talk was split between one of EAA's Government Relations dudes (sorry if you see this I don't remember your name!) and Dr. Brett Wyrick, the Deputy Air Surgeon at the FAA. I expected it to be a complete train wreck, but it was actually pretty promising.
The first part of the talk to be honest was a bunch of "FAA is great" and "We love working with the FAA" from the EAA dude. You could see that a large portion of the audience was not really having it. Then they let Dr. Wyrick up, and he went straight to "I know it's broken. I am trying to fix it, and let me talk about how." He did say that his number one priority, and what he has told all the regional surgeons, is he wants as many people flying as he possibly can. They are tasked with figuring out how to get to "yes".
He stressed over and over when people talk about "they" with the FAA that it's really him. So I am going to use that terminology here. He really seems to want to own the problem.
Just a few things I remember:
- His goal for Special Issuances is 60 days from the AME deferring to their office saying Yes or No. As part of that, they have revamped all the form letters that are sent to clarify up front what is required for them to say yes... all at once. No more back and forth. No more ambiguous letters that don't really describe what's happening or what they have a problem with, or what is needed for an SI. The new letters were approved by the lawyers and have started being used this month. He hopes this also improves the problem where AMEs are sending in hundreds of pages of documentation when the FAA only needed like 4. He attributes most of that to extremely poor communication on his behalf. When people don't know what's clearly needed, they just send everything to be sure. Meanwhile that clogs up the entire system.
- He thinks 97% approval rate for Mental Health SIs is right about where he expects things to be. He shared some examples of the 3% that are being told no. Things like "The airman has shown that he can usually discriminate from voices that are real vs those that are hallucinatory".
- No more mailing in paperwork to OKC. The insanity of how the Aeromedical branch were handling stuff was boggling. They would receive your paperwork, scan it in to an electronic system at OKC, then print it back out, mail it to DC or wherever. Now your AME can upload any documentation they need online and it stays that way.
- He wants to be able to e-mail you to speed things up. However it's law that he has to use certified mail. They are trying to get language in the current FAA authorization to allow for e-mail.
- He has increased the mental health practitioner count that reviews mental health SIs by 400% the last 2 years. He is still trying to hire another 12.
- He wants to expand the AME program to Nurse Practitioners, but again that's a congressional issue so no movement.
- He wants to put as many decisions as possible in the hands of the AME. This is doctor that's actually examining you, not some nameless suit in an office building at OKC or DC. Part of that is newer guidance around mental health conditions, if your AME can get it all documented, they will be able to issue.
- In addition, he wants to drastically change the weight of practical tests such as your DPE checkrides (this is key to the ADHD problem he will address later). If you were diagnosed with ADHD in the past, but can pass an IR checkride, clearly you can focus just fine to shoot an approach. In his eyes, that speaks volumes about your ability in the cockpit.
- They have already created a streamlined process for SSRI use that allows AMEs to issue certificates in many cases. In others, there is a flowchart that shows what the FAA will want up front for an SI. Wellbutrin was just added to the acceptable SSRI list.
- If you are receiving disability compensation from the VA, you need to make sure you are disclosing those conditions to your AME. The VA is piping that data over to the FAA now.
- PTSD also has a new checklist that allows the AME to issue without contacting FAA, the big "If" there is no PTSD episodes in the last 2 years. This has become a problem for veterans of our 20+ years of wars and ties into the VA problem above.
- He wants to change most MH SIs to a "Here is your temp medical while we sort this out". He knows people are either not seeking treatment, or going to places under the radar and not telling their AME because it will affect their jobs. He wants AMEs to issue, and give the airman 180 days or whatever to gather what needs to be gathered, with reasonable assurances they will get a medical.
- The number one problem they are dealing with right now is the massive influx of young aviators who were "diagnosed" with ADHD as kids and put on Ritalin or similar meds. He lamented that so many family practice doctors were/are doing it, even though they are not mental health experts. They are still trying to figure out the answer to this, in fact the FAA have a study team on site having Oshkosh attendees perform cognitive tests as part of the process to create new tests the AMEs can use to help invalidate old incorrect ADHD diagnoses. He expects that sooner or later they will have a checklist much like SSRIs or PTSD that the AME can use to fast track everything. It will also be a "one and done" test. The practical test weighting was also brought up again.
- He acknowledges the "black box" problem. He is hoping the better letters for communication, changes to law that require formal arms length distance contact, and better AME guidance can help things along in that regard.
- He asked if anyone in the audience knew who their regional flight surgeon was. I don't think any hands went up. He then said that in almost all cases the regional surgeons have the same authority as OKC and DC and are much more accessible to your AMEs. He is trying to get things pushed out to the lowest levels possible to get people in the air.
But, as we all know, words are cheap. Let's see if things get better. But at least he seems to understand there is a massive problem and is trying to fix it.
