I have a slightly different view from some of the other posters
regarding Virtual Flight Surgeons. I started flight training last
spring (just passed my checkride last week) and naively went into the
AME and filled out the form completely, including information about
some ten-year old sports concussions I'd had, and was stunned when the
AME told me my file would have to go to Oklahoma City. I'm an AOPA
member, and talked to their people, who were friendly and helpful,
even made a call or two on my behalf, and reported back that after a
month or so I'd get a letter from OK City, would have to respond to
that, and that in another month or so after that I'd get a response to
my response. I'm a former attorney, and had seen first hand in other
contexts the kinds of stupefying attitudes often exhibited by large
government bureaucracies, so I was freaked out at this point about my
own inexperience in this area and the potential for interminable
bureaucratic inertia with no certain outcome. I had seen Virtual
Flight Surgeons mentioned in posts here, so I gave them a call. I
talked to a sympathetic physician who said he thought they could help,
but that he estimated it would cost five or six hundred dollars. This
was important to me, and I wanted somebody in my corner on a more
dedicated basis than what AOPA can do, so I went for it. Anyway, this
gentlemen made a few phone calls to his contacts in OK City, and
within about ten days I had my medical by fax. What's more, Virtual
Flight Surgeons only wound up charging me $45 because they'd had to
put so little time into it! Great folks, in my experience.

"Kevin Young" wrote in message ...
(Also posted to rec.aviation.student - apologies if you're reading it a
second time!)

My class 3 medical has been deferred to the FAA. I'd be grateful for any
advice on how to proceed and what to expect. Is this really as long and
convoluted a process as I've heard?

There are 2 companies that provide expediting services - Virtual Flight
Surgeons and Pilot Medical Solutions ... I've contacted both of them. VFS
seemed upbeat about my chances, PMS (hmm - that doesn't abbreviate well)
made it sound a lot more ominous, though I'm not sure how much that was to
encourage me to use their services. Neither are cheap. Does anyone have
experience with either of them or have any opinion on how much they can
help with the process?