Originally Posted by
JBird
So based on the article from WAPO...the FAA is conducting writ large secret investigations into pilot who receive VA benefits...*only* pilots who receive VA benefits. Secret investigations conducted by investigators who were previously employed, and presumably have their retirement pensions controlled by, the former agency, department and section they retired from.
If you're a retired federal civil servant, your former agency in no way "controls" your pension. That's almost a constitutional entitlement, and civil servants can and do continue to get their pension while in prison for major felonies.
Originally Posted by
JBird
What a great investigative strategy...would work well in Moscow or Berlin 1940. Anyone who thinks the med guys at the FAA aren't simply out to get people need to read no further than "secret." That is not the way a democratic government entity should do business outside of a clear criminal nexus. Not listing that you have hemorrhoids or ED on an FAA medical, does not constitute a criminal nexus yet that act could get you caught up in the same net.
Tax $$$ at work people. DoD breaks you, VA buys you, then FAA takes you back for a refund.
I would have preferred that the FAA embarked on an education campaign first, both to pilot medical holders and the VA, before they got all draconian. There's obviously a systemic problem going on here.
However... most of the pilots in question were officers and should know better. Fundamentally if you're claiming big $ and lying to the FAA, it's criminal. Even says so where you sign the form.
Especially since there have already been two rounds of disability witch hunt, and the most recent was for vets. While it was apparently smaller in scope, that should have been a big warning flare for all to see. My sympathy is limited. I can see how folks went down the slippery slope, it is both steep and slippery enough, but still.
I tend to suspect that they'll save the full DOJ treatment for those with blatant grounding conditions. Those flying with unreported hemorrhoids might get a warning. Or maybe even suspension. For the serious cases, I'm sure emergency revocation of all certs will be coming soon via certified mail..