Here is a short summary of the experience I had trying to secure a medical waiver for an eye condition in case any of you are up against such an issue. This took place several years ago, so things could be a bit different now. I have been giving consideration to getting back into aviation now that my kid is out of college and I have some avbucks available since college and Pharmacy school aren’t bleeding me dry.
It has been several years since I have served as PIC due to an unfortunate medical condition which left me with vertical double vision. To make the situation more entertaining, the image is constantly yo-yoing up and down. What is amazing about the condition is that the only time it was ever a factor with flying was when I was at the top of a loop and was attempting to look “up” to acquire the horizon…what I saw were two horizons, one of which that was stacked on top of another and tilted about 20 degrees. I adapted to this image by using my flight instruments at this stage of the loop in order to make certain I was referencing the “correct” horizon. Once I had mastered this technique, I never had an issue with the condition interfering with safe flight. The brain is amazing…I never had difficulty with landing on the “correct” runway.
I had an endless series of registered mail exchanges with the FAA while working through the medical waiver process. The FAA was not very good to work with, and my medical ended up lapsing due to the requests for more reports from more specialists. I finally reached out to my Senator and had them light a fire under the FAA. About a week later, I was phoned by the FAA and told to expect a letter offering the chance to perform a SODA flight. This set into motion another series of funny circumstances…
My local FSDO did not have an examiner on staff with a tailwheel endorsement, and on top of that, they were unwilling to fly with me in my RV-8 since it was Experimental. I suggested a C-152 rental as an option, but they came back stating the examiner preferred a C-172 so we would not be overly cramped. I had never flown a 172, so I went to a local flight school and rented one for an hour in order to learn how it flew…after flying the RV-8, I was not impressed… After getting a few landings under my belt, I figured I would not embarrass myself too much with the examiner.
The big day arrived and I met the examiner. We discussed my medical condition. He laughed when I told him “I saw twice as much as he did.” which was a great way to start our SODA flight…laughter. I had already pre-flighted the 172. As we walked up to the plane, he climbed up and loosened the fuel cap and confirmed we had fuel. After he climbed down, I climbed up and confirmed that he had put the caps on correctly. When I got down, he asked me what I had done, and I told him I was confirming that he had put the caps back correctly. He then told me he was confirming that the caps were on correctly and that he would now have to check them again since I had touched them….ummm….ok…this is going to be a long pre-flight if we have to keep checking each other’s work over and over. At this point, I was beginning to think I was going to have a bad ride…
I explained to him that I only had one hour in the 172, so it was going to take me a bit longer to work through the engine start checks and so forth…he was ok with the delay since it was in his best interest that I get everything right. Once we got in the air, he was much more relaxed and we had a great flight. I pointed out traffic to him and gave him a good idea of what I was actually seeing. After about 30 minutes, he told me to take him back to the airport and that if I didn’t kill him when landing, we were good to go. He told me it was clear that I was well-adapted to the condition. After shutting down, I asked him what the next steps were going to be, but he only said I would be hearing from FAA HQ in time…uggh!
A couple of weeks later, I received my special issuance medical which made me very happy! Due to the slow-motion registered mail method of exchanging information, the process took months. It seemed archaic that the FAA did not allow email, but I guess they were trying to send some business to their Federal buddies at the USPS… I ended up so frustrated with the process that I stopped flying. The SODA process had cost me several thousand dollars. The good news is that I was never denied a medical, so I can resume flying with the Basic Medical program when I decide to get back into the game down the road…
It has been several years since I have served as PIC due to an unfortunate medical condition which left me with vertical double vision. To make the situation more entertaining, the image is constantly yo-yoing up and down. What is amazing about the condition is that the only time it was ever a factor with flying was when I was at the top of a loop and was attempting to look “up” to acquire the horizon…what I saw were two horizons, one of which that was stacked on top of another and tilted about 20 degrees. I adapted to this image by using my flight instruments at this stage of the loop in order to make certain I was referencing the “correct” horizon. Once I had mastered this technique, I never had an issue with the condition interfering with safe flight. The brain is amazing…I never had difficulty with landing on the “correct” runway.
I had an endless series of registered mail exchanges with the FAA while working through the medical waiver process. The FAA was not very good to work with, and my medical ended up lapsing due to the requests for more reports from more specialists. I finally reached out to my Senator and had them light a fire under the FAA. About a week later, I was phoned by the FAA and told to expect a letter offering the chance to perform a SODA flight. This set into motion another series of funny circumstances…
My local FSDO did not have an examiner on staff with a tailwheel endorsement, and on top of that, they were unwilling to fly with me in my RV-8 since it was Experimental. I suggested a C-152 rental as an option, but they came back stating the examiner preferred a C-172 so we would not be overly cramped. I had never flown a 172, so I went to a local flight school and rented one for an hour in order to learn how it flew…after flying the RV-8, I was not impressed… After getting a few landings under my belt, I figured I would not embarrass myself too much with the examiner.
The big day arrived and I met the examiner. We discussed my medical condition. He laughed when I told him “I saw twice as much as he did.” which was a great way to start our SODA flight…laughter. I had already pre-flighted the 172. As we walked up to the plane, he climbed up and loosened the fuel cap and confirmed we had fuel. After he climbed down, I climbed up and confirmed that he had put the caps on correctly. When I got down, he asked me what I had done, and I told him I was confirming that he had put the caps back correctly. He then told me he was confirming that the caps were on correctly and that he would now have to check them again since I had touched them….ummm….ok…this is going to be a long pre-flight if we have to keep checking each other’s work over and over. At this point, I was beginning to think I was going to have a bad ride…
I explained to him that I only had one hour in the 172, so it was going to take me a bit longer to work through the engine start checks and so forth…he was ok with the delay since it was in his best interest that I get everything right. Once we got in the air, he was much more relaxed and we had a great flight. I pointed out traffic to him and gave him a good idea of what I was actually seeing. After about 30 minutes, he told me to take him back to the airport and that if I didn’t kill him when landing, we were good to go. He told me it was clear that I was well-adapted to the condition. After shutting down, I asked him what the next steps were going to be, but he only said I would be hearing from FAA HQ in time…uggh!
A couple of weeks later, I received my special issuance medical which made me very happy! Due to the slow-motion registered mail method of exchanging information, the process took months. It seemed archaic that the FAA did not allow email, but I guess they were trying to send some business to their Federal buddies at the USPS… I ended up so frustrated with the process that I stopped flying. The SODA process had cost me several thousand dollars. The good news is that I was never denied a medical, so I can resume flying with the Basic Medical program when I decide to get back into the game down the road…
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