The Pilots Bill of Rights 2 was passed on December 15 by the senate and has moved to the house (Tennyson, 2015). After it is passed by the House of Representatives it will move to be signed by the President and into law. With the current FAA funding extension ending in March of 2016 it is likely that we will either see another extension to the funding (Tennyson, 2016). It may also be likely that with the funding extension we see a time extension and are left waiting on the FAA.
With the passing of this Pilot's Bill of Rights, many more opportunities will open up for pilots who have been denied their medicals or have quit pursuing it all together out of loss of hope. Many people may be welcomed back to flying as many adequate pilots are out there that have been unable to pass a medical and will hopefully be allowed to fly again soon. This can also save a lot of money and give some personal input with airmen's own personal doctors by dropping the need to see an AME and only being required to see a personal doctor every 4 years and taking an online course every 2 years (Bertorelli, 2015).
The third class medical reform will be a great change in aviation and especially great for GA. It will not just allow older folks to fly again, but will allow competent pilots of any age to fly. Many great pilots who haven't been able to fly have moved down and flown light sport aircraft for years to get around the medical problem. Those pilots will no longer be oppressed by the FAA's medical requirement and I hope this help in growing general aviation.
References
Bertorelli, P. (2015, October 1). In Third Class Medical Reform: Hope's Not Misplaced. Retrieved from http://www.avweb.com/blogs/insider/Third-Class-Medical-Reform-Hopes-Not-Misplaced-224941-1.html
Tennyson, E. A. (2016, January 14). In Next steps for medical reform. Retrieved from http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2016/January/14/Next-steps-for-medical-reform
Tennyson, E. A. (2015, December 15). In Full Senate passes medical reform. Retrieved from http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/December/15/Full-Senate-passes-medical-reform
Hey John I do agree with you that the medical reform will open up more opportunities for pilots who couldn't obtain a medical certificate through the FAA's current standards. My only fear is that some of these redeemed pilots may have some conditions that are latent but can be triggered without warning or while in flight.
ReplyDeleteIt will be very interesting to see how well this will work if passed. I do agree in the sense that those who had medical complications should be granted the opportunity to fly again, but at the same time, there is a reason why they were revoked of their medical and deemed unsafe to fly. That is why I believe this whole third class medical reform will be extremely interesting. Once the first incident occurs with somebody who had a previous medical condition, the media will blow this whole thing up.
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