Highway Bill
 

Does anyone know if the medical amendment attached to the Highway Bill is still in the Bill? The senate blocked a number of amendments in their Sunday session including the ones to defund Planned Parenthood, the IMF, and the one to void Obamacare. I cannot find if the Pilots Bill of Rights 2 is attached, anyone know?

Something I did not see mentioned, is that pilots like me who have held a private pilot license almost forever, who now fly with no medical, fly "beneath the radar" so to speak. No organization has any idea how many of us are out there or how safe or unsafe we are. Makes it hard to argue one way or the other since no valid numbers are available..

If pilots like you were a hazard, it would be all over the NTSB's "probable cause" lists. But as someone already pointed out, stalls low and slow and VFR into IMC are still the big killers....

I have a difficult time envisioning how a 3rd class medical exam could have prevented these "near misses." I believe someone else already made this point as well. What you seem to be describing is a need for the FAA to contact the pilot that broke bravo. As far as the other pilot, and I am no expert, it sounds like you were VFR as well. I presume that ATC would have vectored you around a potential conflict if you were under their control????

I don't mean this as a criticism but you seem to be one of the pilots that don't enjoy flying, and simply believe the sky should be empty of everyone else. THAT seems to me to be a very dangerous flying attitude in itself.

Some other observations. Don't we have 10+ years of proven history in the form of LSA data that supports the lack of need for the 3rd class medical? Also, I cannot remember reading a single incident report that exposed a general lack of ability or competence as might be the case with these hypothetical pilots from Florida that should not be allowed on the road anymore. Incidentally, I believe that is what we have a BFR (FR??) for. At a minimum the flight review process is certainly better equipped to deal with pilots that have outlived their ability to be safe in the sky.

At any rate, your arguments seem to be directed at the GA population collectively, regardless of the potential benefit of the 3rd class medical exam or lack thereof.

Just one other opinion.:)

Get up in the mornin, get on the bus! Be an airline pilot like like the rest of us! Places to go, important people to meet, better not get up or you might lose your seat. Bus riiiider! Really, you guys aren't all that. I'm a mechanic, so I know.

Pretty sad how the pilot community can be so easily divided just because some pilots think they are more equal than others.

You can track HR 1062 and S 571 here:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/s571
and
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr1062

Wow, feel the love. :(

I know not all pilots support reforming or removing the requirements for medical certificates for a limited subset of private pilots, which is what we're talking about here. As an old guy with very little flight time (neither by choice), I have a lot of respect for the experience and professionalism of professional pilots... but we all put our pants on one leg at a time and we all turn to dust in the end. And yes, I can imagine how an airline pilot who has had to dodge some idiot doing something really stupid (busting Bravo, crossing the ILS, flying IMC without IFR clearance and talking to ATC, etc) could develop a little bit of an attitude toward GA pilots in general. You don't really see the tens of thousands of us who don't cause you heartburn every day.

Still, those kinds of things have always happened, and always will. What we're talking about here is not barring people from flying who have no medical condition that would prevent them from safely doing so. In my case -- as well as those of several other pilots I have talked to -- their doctors agree that there is no reason they can't fly. There are no risk factors that would cause undue peril to the public. Still, there is some condition that keeps them from being able to pass an FAA third class medical exam. I know for sure that I personally am at far less risk now than I was when I had a valid medical certificate. Still, the FAA would never give me another one. Stupid? My GP, my cardiologist and a couple of AMEs I have talked to think so. I am not an expert, but it seems the criteria have not been kept up to date with medical advances over the past 30 years or so.

The really frustrating part of this is the "medical death penalty". If you know you can't get a medical cert and just let it expire, you can still fly LSA until you decide you're no longer fit to fly -- which nearly all of us are realistic about. But if you even try for an SI and get turned down, you're done flying even LSA - period, forever. Even if you would otherwise be fine to fly LSA. It's stupid. It needs to change, but the FAA has made it quite obvious that they will do anything they can to avoid making even minor changes.

+1
 

+1 Cosponsor for H.R. 1062 and H.R. 1086! :)

Perfectly said - an absurd and senseless paradox possible only in the world of government bereaucracy.