Common Cause
Law of Unintended Consequences
Sometimes the best of intentions go awry. Like AOPA requesting a waiver to the FAA third class medical certificate, and substituting our drivers’ license as proof we are medically fit to fly. Our world of aviation is based on checks and balances, and independent, objective checks of our proficiency to fly, knowledge of the rules and regulations, and our medical condition to fly; these are but a few examples that have served us well. Without an objective check of our actual medical condition, factors that affect our ability to react to stimulus, and perceive changes, make judgements, and handle stress in the cockpit will all be missed.
It matters not that few, if any, accidents can be attributed to a pilot becoming incapacitated; one of the causes of pilot error is plain, ordinary medical degradation, which slowly progresses over the years, that impacts a pilot’s ability to react correctly to a challenging situation. Many drivers licenses are valid for ten years; a lot can start to go wrong in ten years, not always noticeable by the person, like distance vision , like hearing, like blood pressure, etc. No periodic medical exam would miss this degradation, which could affect our performance as a pilot. And for most maladies, we have found solutions, medicines, and devices to correct our shortcomings.
This periodic third class exam hardly constitutes a burden, since it is required only every few years, and costs a whopping $75; chicken feed compared to the price of 100LL for two hours of flying. This seems like really cheap insurance to know we are ok to fly. For the right-wingers, no required FAA medical form means no affirmation that no arrests or convictions for drugs or alcohol abuse have occurred. No medical exam means no urine test to detect drug use or diabetes. No medical application form means no cross check with state authorities for convictions and moving violations like speeding….all indications of your ability to make proper judgements, and having the discipline to obey the rules and laws.
It would be admirable if AOPA would support raising the bars on pilot performance, not lower them, to improve our GA safety record. Pilot error is the leading cause (75%) of all incidents and accidents; many of these unfortunate events are preventable; some were caused by the pilot making a mistake or missing a trend that might have been perceived if all his or her senses were functioning. We should perhaps focus on improving the pilot, not just allowing more pilots with undetected problems to fly.
Every accident causes 10,000 people and parents to shy away from trying GA or encouraging their children to consider an aviation career; we cannot stand this impact to our community.
The unintended consequence is that the GA accident rate will increase, the media will highlight this, and more and more potential pilots will be deterred from joining our community. Even worse, AOPA never polled their membership to determine if this was a good idea. Did they ask you first? If their efforts prevail, and the accident rate increases, AOPA will probably be stubborn enough not to reverse their position and request reinstatement of the third class medical to lower the accident rate. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Common Cause: It’s time to raise our hands and say: “wait a minute”! Call and email AOPA (and EAA) and the FAA, and voice your opinion either way. It’s an insult to each pilot that AOPA did not ask each of us our opinion on this issue before they went national. The media will have a field day when they find out some pilots are flying without a medical checkup, and then cause an accident. This will be a sad unintended consequence of this waiver request. I believe the risk to GA is too high. But raise your hand, and raise your voice, today. Take action. Be a Pilot In Command.
By Michael Sullivan
CFI, CSMEL, MEI KHEF
C177pilot@live.com