Originally Posted by
Hedley
A question for those who support raising the age. If the international aviation community raises the age to 67 or some other number, should US pilots also meet their more stringent medical standards? Our flight physicals are extremely relaxed and most pilots seek out that “easy” AME that doesn’t really ask many questions. Do you want the extra years while maintaining our current lax physical requirements, or would you be willing to play by the same rules as other countries?
For one the US is the leader in aviation, always has been, always will be, we shouldn’t look at inferior systems as a guide
Two, medicals are safety theater, just like the age limit, the smart thing would be to remove medical from the FAA and use a basic med model for all classes of medical, have a doctor acting and signing off as a doctor to go over a checklist and sign the airmen off, all FAA does is verify all the boxes were checked on the sheet and update the database.
Our current system is crap, and even more “in depth medical” please… As it stands the system encourages pilots to not seek help if they have a problem
Based on the FAAs own study, probably stung to write up how they are pointless lol, it showed basic med is just as safe as a 3rd class
https://www.faa.gov/data_research/re...dia/202118.pdf
Having a doctor have skin in the game, unlike AMEs and OKC, and having a doc who has a better relationship with the airmen, and having a less punitive system, that’s the best way to do this
However I don’t anyone on ether side of this BS
really thinks this regulation has Jack to do with health, evidence based medicine, or the physical age of the pilot “the spice must flow”