Medical or BasicMed? (poll)

[RobertGary1]

1 hour ago, A64Pilot said:

I’ve not and things get Weird, Neighbor flies the Villages Jets for them with no insurence issues, but he’s having problems insuring him in his Bonanza as he’s 70 now I think, then to add insult to injury his wife sells aviation insurence.

Maybe the Jets are two pilot aircraft is why?

There seems to be no logic in insurence, when I bought my Mooney I had I think maybe 25 or 30 hours in type and model, but that was in 1989, since then zero Mooney time, 32 years. I didn’t need any kind of check ride or anything else, but I figured in a year with 100 hours or so more with no accidents rate would go down some, but nope it went up. So where’s the logic?

It’s based on lose lose data. A guy with his Bo is a bigger risk at age than a guy going to flight sim annually. Probably no data on the intersection of the two. 

[RobertGary1]

One issue I see is many primaries will not sign faa documents. I’d try a dot dr since they sign medicals all day. 

[A64Pilot]

7 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

What’s wrong with that? He does a soda ride and is good. He’s also a two person crew. 

We sent a CFI to Indonesia to train their pilots in the Thrush, they had an absolute fit when they found out he was blind in one eye and deaf in one ear

But Jake was probably the best stick I ever flew with, the big guy could fly

Edited May 12, 2022 by A64Pilot

[A64Pilot]

4 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

It’s based on lose lose data. A guy with his Bo is a bigger risk at age than a guy going to flight sim annually. Probably no data on the intersection of the two. 

It’s the same guy?

[A64Pilot]

3 minutes ago, RobertGary1 said:

One issue I see is many primaries will not sign faa documents. I’d try a dot dr since they sign medicals all day. 

What is a dot Dr?

[RobertGary1]

6 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

What is a dot Dr?

They’re just like ame’s but for truck drivers. They’re usually called industrial medicine doing a variety of vocational exams. 

[carusoam]

D.O.T.

Department of transportation….

-a-

[A64Pilot]

OK makes sense. Last time I had the Physician at Jax NAS sign mine, didn’t have a good plan for this year.

So how do you find a DOT Dr?

[Danb]

5 hours ago, BobbyH said:

My experience with the FAA and Basic Med is that there are many risk adverse decisions made to protect themselves.  In their minds, Basic Med is much more risky than a Class 3 medical.  They lose control (no small issue for them) and must trust a physician who doesn't report to them for certification.  I know there are many good people in the FAA and good AMEs, but I do have concerns for how their culture gets translated for General Aviation.

I personally found that my doctor, who I see annually, actually knows me better than the AME I used for years.  I walked my physician through the Basic Med hoops and he is all on board to help me stay healthy and continue to fly.  For me it feels like my physician is pulling for me while visiting the AME felt like a hoop I had to jump through flawlessly to continue to fly.  So in reality, the Basic Med certificate is much more detailed and thorough each year for me, with much less anxiety.  

I agree although it depends on the Dr my doc is a MDVIP doc concierge, I get an extremely complete physical along with vast blood tests from Cleveland Clinic, ear eyes ekg and so on, much more demanding then the third class except he won’t fail me as in the FAA med. He merely explains the results of the exam after the results of the blood tests come back.

[BobbyH]

13 minutes ago, Danb said:

I get an extremely complete physical along with vast blood tests from Cleveland Clinic, ear eyes ekg and so on, much more demanding then the third class except he won’t fail me as in the FAA med.

Ditto!

[Mooneymite]

2 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

I don’t expect to be able to fly at 75, neither of my Parents or my Brother or Sister lived that long, I assume I won’t either, but it’s obvious that a set age isn’t a way of telling if someone’s competent or not, some get dementia in their 60’s while some are sharp as a tack at 80.

Meanwhile, in the 121 world, it looks like they'll be flying longer and longer:

Retirement Age Legislation

We have recently learned that legislation could be introduced to increase the mandatory retirement age from 65 to 67, or possibly 68. The SWAPA Government Affairs Committee (GAC) is closely monitoring the issue and working with our industry partners to determine the road ahead. This has occurred rather rapidly, and we expect to see the legislation at any time.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Mooneymite

[EricJ]

7 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

I keep a class 2 as I’m also a corporate pilot, but I’m interested in basic med soon… has anyone seen insurance implications like higher rates or restrictions on coverage limits?

It's been a non-event for me.   And it's kind of nice that during all of the paperwork checks for a new rating or FR or whatever, when they ask about medical it just gets a total waiver when you're on Basic Med.   End of story, no more questions.   It's kind of cool. 

[EricJ]

2 hours ago, Danb said:

I agree although it depends on the Dr my doc is a MDVIP doc concierge, I get an extremely complete physical along with vast blood tests from Cleveland Clinic, ear eyes ekg and so on, much more demanding then the third class except he won’t fail me as in the FAA med. He merely explains the results of the exam after the results of the blood tests come back.

Same here, but the MDVIP annual slips a little every year since they seem to not like to do it until 12 months have passed, but the FAA stuff doesn't slip.   So now I have to do a mini-physical for the Basic Med and then come back for my MDVIP annual exam.   It'll slip a little more in the next four years, etc.   I was hoping it'd work out to keep those synched, but it hasn't.

 

[David M20J]

I'm a professional pilot so I keep a 1st class.  When I first started flight training I got a 3rd class and kept that one all the way through getting my hours as a flight instructor.  It wasnt till I got my first job outside of flight instruction that I got a 1st class.

[hubcap]

I keep a Class 3…I still want to fly in the flight levels from time to time.

[Seymour]

I keep a Class 3.    I hope to fly into Canada some day.

[N201MKTurbo]

I have a second class because I ferry plane every now and then and I test fly planes sometimes.

[Kmac]

Just got my last 5 year 3rd class in February.   Not sure if I will go to basic-med in 2027 or not.  My previous flight physicals were a breeze.

[DCarlton]

I'm still getting a Class 3.  I figure it's easier to find an AME than a doctor that's willing to take the time to understand and sign off on Basic Med.  How are folks finding doctors willing to support Basic Med?  Unless they're a pilot, why would they want to support a new bureaucracy they don't fully understand? 

[jaylw314]

10 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

If it wasn’t on the questionnaire and the AME didn’t ask, I didn’t volunteer information, so one year he told me that because of my age, weight and neck size I’d have to have a sleep study, so I asked why, he said I may need a CPAP, I laughed and told him I had been on one for a few years, he wasn’t amused and said I should have reported that, my answer was if the FAA thought it significant, then they should ask, why didn’t they ask?

They don't actually give a rat's behind about your CPAP.  They do care if you have sleep apnea, since excessive daytime sleepiness is a common associated symptom, and should have been a discussion with your own physician so you could make good decisions about whether you're safe to fly any given day.

BasicMed is a great tool if you actively use it to take control of your self-assessment by encouraging discussions with your doc.  When it's used as a hoop that you have to jump through, it's as useless as any other medical. 

[jaylw314]

58 minutes ago, DCarlton said:

I'm still getting a Class 3.  I figure it's easier to find an AME than a doctor that's willing to take the time to understand and sign off on Basic Med.  How are folks finding doctors willing to support Basic Med?  Unless they're a pilot, why would they want to support a new bureaucracy they don't fully understand? 

It takes a fair amount of assertiveness.  I asked the office to schedule me for an annual exam (which they can bill your insurance for once a year).  I prepped ahead of time with the 5 minute explanation of BasicMed:

• I emphasize that I am the final arbiter of when I am safe to fly
• It's your job to treat me like your regular patient, but to also discuss with me information that I need to know to make that decision. 
• I've just taken a recurrent aeromedical safety class, here's briefly what it went over
• Here are the things the FAA really wants you to discuss with me
  • How my medical conditions could affect me
  • How to make flying decisions around the medications I take
  • We both need to know that any new cardiac, neurologic or severe psychiatric condition needs to be a game-stopper
• Here's a checklist of body systems the FAA suggests we go through to identify any issues that would make me unsafe
• Sign here to say that we've gone over the items we've talked about and keep a copy of this in your chart
• I will need to take that aeromedical safety class in two years, and sit down with you to go over all this again in 4 years.

With preparation, the explanation and paperwork adds about 10 minutes to the visit. I had some other issues we had to deal with that didn't relate to safety of flight, but still finished well ahead of the 45 minutes we were scheduled for, and he spent the last 10 minutes asking questions about flying.

[Pinecone]

17 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Being a buffon as the job of safety pilot is merely to meet the see and therefore avoid, what does medical class have to do with it?

My assumption is the reg was written before there was such a thing as a Basic Med and not changed, I’d call the FSDO and ask.

The problem is, the safety pilot is a required crew member, and Basic med does not cover that position.  Only PIC.

It would be an interesting question for each insurance company, since the safety pilot is not actually flying the aircraft.

I am Basic med now, but will probably get a medical in the near future for certain CAP flying.

[Danb]

12 hours ago, EricJ said:

Same here, but the MDVIP annual slips a little every year since they seem to not like to do it until 12 months have passed, but the FAA stuff doesn't slip.   So now I have to do a mini-physical for the Basic Med and then come back for my MDVIP annual exam.   It'll slip a little more in the next four years, etc.   I was hoping it'd work out to keep those synched, but it hasn't.

 

Depends my Doc still gives a comprehensive exam hasn’t let up a actually he seems devoted to there system. His practice remained small which is most important.

[Fly Boomer]

7 hours ago, DCarlton said:

How are folks finding doctors willing to support Basic Med?  Unless they're a pilot, why would they want to support a new bureaucracy they don't fully understand? 

Used my regular PCP.  She read and understood all the material.  The doc is only offering an opinion that the pilot could safely operate an airplane (from a medical perspective) on that day.  You could have a heart attack on the way out of the office.  If anything, Basic Med is less risky for the physician.

[jaylw314]

10 hours ago, Pinecone said:

The problem is, the safety pilot is a required crew member, and Basic med does not cover that position.  Only PIC.

It would be an interesting question for each insurance company, since the safety pilot is not actually flying the aircraft.

I am Basic med now, but will probably get a medical in the near future for certain CAP flying.

Last I heard end of last year, it was going through NPRM to change the rule to allow BasicMed for safety pilots