"Jerry Springer" wrote in message
...
Ron Wanttaja wrote:
On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:55:43 -0700, Jerry Springer
wrote:


Let them keep flying but at least have an AME give them a "4th class"
physical every two years with basically the same restrictions as the currnet
SPL.


The medical requirements haven't changed, only the documentation. The same
conditions that make you ineligible for a third class medical *also*
disqualify
you for Sport Pilot. It isn't a "Fourth Class," it's just the ability to
self-certify like glider pilots.

Hi Ron, your points are well taken. Do you really believe that a lot
of people that are not accountable to anyone but themselves for their medical
conditions are really going to ground themselves when they should? I
understand there is not a "4th class medical" but there should
be a monitoring system to watch people that are flying with known physical
conditions.

There is a monitoring system today; it is the pilots around you and the
people who rent you planes. Sure, you can own your own plane and fly it out of
your own pasture and nobody will ever know, but those lucky people are a tiny
minority. The simple fact is that the statistics do not support medical
certification. A visit to the AME once every two years does virtually nothing
to screen you for medical incapacitation over the following two years,
particularly sudden incapacitation.

There is also a large "test population" (glider pilots) that has been
flying around for decades without medical screening that shows no statistical
difference in medically related accidents compared to the general population of
pilots. Do glider pilots always stop flying when they should? No,
unfortunately they don't. But those people go through the same peer pressure
that you see at your local airport when a pilot starts to decline. Declining
"senior" pilots are encouraged to fly with a friend, encouraged to choose a new
licensed pilot for "co-mentoring", and if all else fails, they are encouraged to
leave, first subtly, and finally bluntly. I have seen the painful process
unfold several times.

Vaughn