"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 16:15:22 GMT, "Colin W Kingsbury"
wrote:

I know pilots who spend hundreds of
dollars every 12-18 months for tests to keep their Special Issuance. A
lot
more pilots give up on getting a special issuance before being _denied_.

Can you or someone explain how this works? I've been told to bring a
narrative history of asthma to my next aero-med physical, and I think
some other documentation. (It's a year away.) When does this sort of
precaution turn into a Special Issuance, and when does a Special
Issuance turn into a denial?

When the AME can't issue on the spot it's called a deferral. It goes to the
Civil Aeromedical Bureau in OK City, and the officials there make a
decision. They might just issue it, or they might ask for more information.
Lather, rinse, repeat. At any point, they can (a) issue a standard medical
(b) deny you outright or (c) grant a special issuance. "Denial" means you're
out of options, until they change the standards (as with insulin-dependent
diabetes or many cardiac conditions).

A special issuance is a certificate with limitations, and are often granted
with a shorter duration so that they have the opportunity to review your
condition more regularly. Increasingly they are devolving responsibility for
handling renewals down to local AMEs or the regional flight surgeons so that
not every SI renewal has to go through Oklahoma. It depends on the condition
but in some cases now your local AME can handle renewals on the spot, the
first time it still has to go through the old-fashioned way.

I've found AOPA to be helpful when I've had questions in the past, they can
help advise you on what you should and should not say. There are also a
handful of consultants out there who handle people with potential problems.
Basically they have doctors on staff who are not AMEs (so you can confess
everything to them in confidence) but know the system and can help make sure
you put the best foot forward. If you ask around a group of commercial
pilots I'm sure they'll know people in your area.

-cwk.