FAA petition to eliminate Class 3 medical for Private Pilots

In rec.aviation.owning Mxsmanic wrote:
writes:

"FAA's medical exemption is currently exclusive to LSA aircraft,
artificially creating an unfair, unnecessary and exclusive market
concession for a few LSA manufacturers. FAA medical standards are
literally being exploited by industry to force thousands of older
pilots to stop using their certified aircraft; so they must either buy
a new LSA or quit flying,"

I think that is essentially true.

Not necessarily. A pilot who has failed a medical cannot fly LSA. An older
pilot would have to anticipate failing his next medical and then let the
medical lapse rather than take it in order to use the LSA route, and even then
it would be technically illegal (you can't fly LSA if you know that you would
not be medically qualified for a PPL).

If it's safe enough for a pilot to fly a new $150,000 LSA with no
medical, why isn't it safe for the same pilot to fly a 25 or 30 year
old Cessna 172 or 182 or a 25 or 30 year old Piper Cherokee?

What do you think?

I think all the medical standards imposed by aviation authorities are too
stringent. Medical incapacitation is extraordinarily rare. And before you say
that this is so because the exams are strict, look at the world of
automobiles: Even though most jurisdictions only require you to be able to see
reasonably well in order to get a driver's license, medical incapacitation of
automobile drivers is still extremely rare.

Most people never become suddenly incapacitated for medical reasons. They get
gradually sick and have to get medical care, but it doesn't sneak up on them.
In cases of things like heart attack, they are statistically very unlikely to
have a heart attack during flight, simply because almost none of their time is
spent flying.

Exactly right.

There are very few things that will suddenly and without any warning cause
one to be incapacitated and even a Class 1 medical is unlikely to find them
in someone who appears healthy.

While such things might be found by full body scans and enough tests to
make Dr. House look stingy on testing, there is still no guarantee.

The bottom line in my opinion is that the medical for GA is little more
than a ritual left over from when airplanes were fabric and had two wings.


Given how dramatically other sources of accidents outnumber medical
incapacitation, the draconian standards of aviation authorities don't make
much sense. You might want to be strict for airline pilots, but that's all.
And even for airline pilots, you don't necessarily need to be any more strict
than you are for people operating other vehicles where incapacitation would be
dangerous (commuter trains, ships, trucks, etc.).

--
Jim Pennino

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