whooooooosh

If they're worried about your range of motion sitting in the seat and flipping switches, they really should be concerned with the FA's in the back and the physical demands of their job then. Double standard.

Sorry delayed response. Arthritis rating is a low % of overall rating compared to the rest so it was doubtful as a trigger. The arthritis alarm wasn’t anything loud is my presumption, just that the FAA really hasn’t been that busy with pilots falling off the books as many did not need to do physicals for quite some time. My name probably popped as I continued to do physicals due to being required to fly internationally anytime anywhere - never take the chance that any other country will honor FAA policies. They were probably bored to death and we’re just revisiting files for clarity sake.

*Just did a in-person physical/review on one of my high ratings at the 3 year point. I was initially told the VA might review ratings at the 5 year point after retirement and so forth. Maybe because it was a high rating; therefore, 3 years came into play. All went well as the rating was maintained.

So just to be clear. If i file for tinnitus, as long as I can pass a first class medical hearing test. the FAA won't care as long as I disclose that information?

Should be the case, as long as you don't claim that it's so pervasive that affects your mood, concentration, restfulness, etc.

For the FAA, you can be physically pretty broke-crank as long as your head is good.

Great! thanks

So I assume that all the government data bases can talk to each other? For instance, FAA medicals can be seen by Wright Patt and vice versa?

Not automatic at this point I believe, the systems don't interact with each other.

The FAA is known to have on at least a couple of occasions gained access to data downloads of other .gov databases (social security and VA) and apparently run cross checks which resulted in a number revocations and federal prison time.

They way they get around HIPPA is because they're not looking at your *medical* data from other agencies but rather your finances (disability pay) which is fair game. Once they get a hit on disability pay which you din't report to the FAA then they can get a warrant for the medical details. At which point the FAA turns it over to the DOJ since it's a federal felony. They added the question on the form about disability pay about the time this all started... not hard to guess why.

But obviously even that's enough to catch you eventually if you try to game the system. Would probably be better if they did auto-cross check everything up front, so they could clear it all up before issuing medicals. But the way it is now you can definitely get more than enough rope out of the system to hang yourself before the system catches up to you... and it might takes years to catch up.

If your concern is military waivers versus FAA Special issuances, rest easy. Many if not most of the senior people in FAA aeromedical started out doing pretty much the same thing in the Air Force, Army, or Navy. The relationship is so incestuous they virtually think with the same brain. If you have a military waiver the FAA Special Issuance or SODA is generally a slam-dunk.

Every military person with a waiver who intends to do civilian flying ought to get copies of their original waiver paperwork and their last flight physical before separating/retiring and just hand your AME a copy to send to OKC. Generally when the guy/gal at OKC reviews it they just rubber stamp it. More often than occasionally they are looking at their own signature on the military paperwork.

Thanks for the info. I’m actually looking at the opposite end, ie going through Wright Patt FC1 and currently hold FAA First Class. On the FAA you list every medical appointment you’ve had in last year, serious or not. So wondering if I need to put all that down for FCI... seems like they are only asking for actual diagnosis of medical conditions. Not sinus infection from 2017. Just don’t want something to come up and they say “why didn’t you put this down with us when you did with the FAA??” and ruin the opportunity. Will definitely ask recruiter but figured there was some guys with good advice here.