Originally Posted by
rickair7777
While the rule allowing SSRI's was implemented with good intentions, the ink was barely dry when the germanwings incident occurred.
Since then, the FAA has (somewhat understandably) been very slow to approve folks under that rule. Last I heard the number of approved pilots could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and I don't know if any were 1C.
The best path to certification appears to be to use SSRI's to get healthy and then learn to stay that way with lifestyle and perhaps cognitive therapy... it's easy to get certified if you're healthy and off SSRI's.
If you're looking at aviation as a primary career, ie you need the money, then planning to fly long term with SSRI's sounds risky. There may have been a germanwings type incident in the US recently, and that might cause the FAA to become even more restrictive.
I would suggest a professional aeromedical consulting service to help you with the process, although a good AME who really cares could probably accomplish the same.
My original post wasn't very detailed, so here's some more information.
How much experience do you have in this area? I've been working with 5 (seriously, 5) highly experienced aviation medical professionals for the last 18 months who have been way more than optimistic on this than what you're saying. The SSRI protocol details specific, exact standards that need to be met in order to be issued a certification. It was approved and deployed in 2010 and the Germanwings crash happened in 2015, with at least 50 pilots being certified in those 5 years, so the ink wasn't necessarily "barely dry."
I'm not looking for advice on the general process of SSRI certification, I've been working on that, "crossing T's and dotting all I's" for the last 18 months. Washington DC has everything. I'm just wondering if anyone has any insight into the processing time. Insight meaning, has been through the experience, has been involved with FAA medical, knows someone who has