FDX Nashville Doc
11-20-2013, 08:23 AM
#3
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2006
Position: MD-11 Captain
Posts: 4,304
11-20-2013, 09:28 AM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Sep 2006
Position: Moving Around
Posts: 184
Thanks MeXC.
Mark, I appreciate the link. I've already been there but was looking for someone with personal experience and was happy with the service. Can't be too careful with the increased scrutiny by AME's these days.
Mark, I appreciate the link. I've already been there but was looking for someone with personal experience and was happy with the service. Can't be too careful with the increased scrutiny by AME's these days.
11-20-2013, 09:49 AM
#5
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2006
Position: MD-11 Captain
Posts: 4,304
Originally Posted by Paddles
Thanks MeXC.
Mark, I appreciate the link. I've already been there but was looking for someone with personal experience and was happy with the service. Can't be too careful with the increased scrutiny by AME's these days.
Mark, I appreciate the link. I've already been there but was looking for someone with personal experience and was happy with the service. Can't be too careful with the increased scrutiny by AME's these days.
My experience has been quite the opposite. It seems to me like these are pretty bright guys (they graduated from Med School!) and are quick to realize that I'm (and my other pilot friends) an EASY $120 for little more than a 10 minute exam. He can do 6 of us an hour, maybe more if he has a good nurse ... Let's face it, even an FAA Class I medical is little more than a "warm body check."
11-20-2013, 12:13 PM
#7
New Hire
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: A300 CA
Posts: 7
I'm a recent Nashville transplant myself. Used T. Whitfield in Brentwood. Not your "in and out" in 15 minutes kind of experience. He's also using the eye machine for the vision test; tough even with my new glasses. I'm looking elsewhere for the next go around.
11-21-2013, 09:33 AM
#10
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2008
Position: Standing in front of the tank with a shopping bag
Posts: 918
Dr. Charlie R. Smith should be your ONLY AME
Duude...
You all need to forget any other BNA AME other than Capt./Dr. C.R. Smith. Captain/Dr. Smith is a retired American Airlines B747 Captain who also happens to be a Vanderbilt University-trained Opthomologist. Captain/Dr. Smith was a pre-med in college who went on to fly B29's in Korea and P51's in the Air Guard. After getting hired by American Airlines, he took a leave of absence to finish Medical school. As a retired airline Captain, Dr. Charlie Smith knows how important your First Class is and I have personally seen him bend over backwards to help a pilot either get their medical back or help to keep it. I have been seeing Dr. Smith since I was 16, over 30 years now, and his price is fair. While he is giving you a thorough 15-20 minute checkup, his wife or daughter-in-law is working on your paperwork. First, Second, and Third medicals are all he does and his office is more like an aviation museum, with books, pictures, aircraft models from his patients than a place where sick people go. Often, retired and current pilots just come by to hang out and Dr. Smith has been inducted in the TN Aviation Hall of Fame. It turns out that those farmer-looking guys BSing in the waiting room in the muddy overalls are retired 777 Captains... One time I was there, a pilot had jumpseated in from Hawaii just to see Dr. Smith. Most recently, somebody called from Australia to set up an appointment. You see a bunch of pilots networking in his waiting room, not a bunch of coughing, sick people.
Dr. Fridell's office on the other hand (at least the only time I went there over 20 years ago..lol), was a place where mostly sick people went and pilots went occasionally. Since my First Class was about to expire and Dr. Smith was all booked up, I decided to give Dr. Fridell a try. To say the least, I was given a very thorough physical by the nurse, and I sweatted it all the way through (And I was in my 20's!). She had me jumping on one foot doing some kind of heart rate test which I don't think is even part of the requirement. Actually, I don't remember actually meeting Dr. Fridell (I'm sure must have), since I was quite tired, stressed, and traumatized from the most thorough flight physical since my DODMERB Flight Physical
for ROTC. Hey, I passed and I truly felt that I had earned it! Never again will I allow someone who is not a pilot to hold my career in her or his hands.. At least a private pilot or recreational pilot even..
Bottom line, if you are interested in getting a thorough, seemingly elimination-type flight physical from a non-pilot nurse who seems to be writing down every little thing in the Magna Carta notes that she is taking and has no idea how important that medical is (and can't understand why you might be a little nervous or why your blood pressure might be a few points high with your career in the balance.... "Oh, he looked nervous.., Better write that down in his permanent record.."), then go there.... Disclaimer: This was 20 + years ago, so maybe Dr. Fridell's nurse went back to Paris Island and things may have changed, but I was at Dr. Smith's Oct. 1 and it was a thorough, professional, and great experience.
But if you want an enjoyable experience where you can meet, network, and even learn from other pilots, and be given a physical by a retired airline Captain who actually understands that pilots blood pressure goes up during their physicals (since we have so much to lose), then look no further than Dr. Smith. He uses standard eye machines that he has used for years, not the new machines that the other pilot was concerned with. Last time I was there, I met a retired SWA Captain who was flying for L3 in Afghanistan. Network, network, network.. Just a whole different experience from any other AME that I have visited, especially Dr. Fridell.. When Dr. Smith retires (he's in his late 70's now), a lot of pilots will having a hard time finding another AME that you can actually learn about flying from. His office/aviation museum is just a few miles down the road from BNA on Lebanon Pike and he is open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I would include his phone number and address, but it might be construed as advertising.. Feel free to PM me for it.
Good Luck,
B727DRVR
PS - Ask them about the AA pilot who brings his Basset Hound with him to appointments. One time, Charlie's Wife Marlene stepped away briefly during the EKG test to check something and the pilot put his dog on the couch with the EKG leads.
You all need to forget any other BNA AME other than Capt./Dr. C.R. Smith. Captain/Dr. Smith is a retired American Airlines B747 Captain who also happens to be a Vanderbilt University-trained Opthomologist. Captain/Dr. Smith was a pre-med in college who went on to fly B29's in Korea and P51's in the Air Guard. After getting hired by American Airlines, he took a leave of absence to finish Medical school. As a retired airline Captain, Dr. Charlie Smith knows how important your First Class is and I have personally seen him bend over backwards to help a pilot either get their medical back or help to keep it. I have been seeing Dr. Smith since I was 16, over 30 years now, and his price is fair. While he is giving you a thorough 15-20 minute checkup, his wife or daughter-in-law is working on your paperwork. First, Second, and Third medicals are all he does and his office is more like an aviation museum, with books, pictures, aircraft models from his patients than a place where sick people go. Often, retired and current pilots just come by to hang out and Dr. Smith has been inducted in the TN Aviation Hall of Fame. It turns out that those farmer-looking guys BSing in the waiting room in the muddy overalls are retired 777 Captains... One time I was there, a pilot had jumpseated in from Hawaii just to see Dr. Smith. Most recently, somebody called from Australia to set up an appointment. You see a bunch of pilots networking in his waiting room, not a bunch of coughing, sick people.
Dr. Fridell's office on the other hand (at least the only time I went there over 20 years ago..lol), was a place where mostly sick people went and pilots went occasionally. Since my First Class was about to expire and Dr. Smith was all booked up, I decided to give Dr. Fridell a try. To say the least, I was given a very thorough physical by the nurse, and I sweatted it all the way through (And I was in my 20's!). She had me jumping on one foot doing some kind of heart rate test which I don't think is even part of the requirement. Actually, I don't remember actually meeting Dr. Fridell (I'm sure must have), since I was quite tired, stressed, and traumatized from the most thorough flight physical since my DODMERB Flight Physical
for ROTC. Hey, I passed and I truly felt that I had earned it! Never again will I allow someone who is not a pilot to hold my career in her or his hands.. At least a private pilot or recreational pilot even.. Bottom line, if you are interested in getting a thorough, seemingly elimination-type flight physical from a non-pilot nurse who seems to be writing down every little thing in the Magna Carta notes that she is taking and has no idea how important that medical is (and can't understand why you might be a little nervous or why your blood pressure might be a few points high with your career in the balance.... "Oh, he looked nervous.., Better write that down in his permanent record.."), then go there.... Disclaimer: This was 20 + years ago, so maybe Dr. Fridell's nurse went back to Paris Island and things may have changed, but I was at Dr. Smith's Oct. 1 and it was a thorough, professional, and great experience.
But if you want an enjoyable experience where you can meet, network, and even learn from other pilots, and be given a physical by a retired airline Captain who actually understands that pilots blood pressure goes up during their physicals (since we have so much to lose), then look no further than Dr. Smith. He uses standard eye machines that he has used for years, not the new machines that the other pilot was concerned with. Last time I was there, I met a retired SWA Captain who was flying for L3 in Afghanistan. Network, network, network.. Just a whole different experience from any other AME that I have visited, especially Dr. Fridell.. When Dr. Smith retires (he's in his late 70's now), a lot of pilots will having a hard time finding another AME that you can actually learn about flying from. His office/aviation museum is just a few miles down the road from BNA on Lebanon Pike and he is open Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I would include his phone number and address, but it might be construed as advertising.. Feel free to PM me for it.
Good Luck,
B727DRVR
PS - Ask them about the AA pilot who brings his Basset Hound with him to appointments. One time, Charlie's Wife Marlene stepped away briefly during the EKG test to check something and the pilot put his dog on the couch with the EKG leads.
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