I tore the ACL and MCL on my knee last week. Any experience with this? If anyone's gone through this, how long were you out of the cockpit? What sort of problems might I have with my AME? The doctor that did the surgery advised me not to even tell my AME, but that seems like a mistake.

I'm a corporate pilot. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

good luck, I can relate to the pain youve gone thru- I tore my ACL when I was 19 had surgery, didnt fly for 3.5 months at the time I was doing my multi training. It took me about a year to completely heal doing phys. therapy, but ever since my right knee hasnt been the same. The whole recuperating time ranges from person to person but this is a big serious injury you have, for example I lost my full ride to school due to it.

 

I think I was out about a month or so. I wouldn't worry about telling your AME. It was no big deal for me. If your recovery goes well, you'll be as good as new. Don't slack on the PT and range of motion exercises. I had the allograft procedure and it went very well. Can't even tell, or remember, which knee it was today. I'm 7 years post op.

 

Your doctor gave you some very bad advice. Never hide anything from the FAA. If you belong to a Union, seek advice from the Aeromedical Committee. Another good resource is Virtual Flight Surgeons . VFS has an excellent reputation relating to pilot medical issues.

 

There is some grey area with when you tell your AME.

You MUST tell the AME at your next scheduled physical.

But do you need to consult the AME before returning to the cockpit?

It depends...if your civilian doctor says you are returned to normal, or at least good enough to fly, that alone might be enough. In some cases if you get treated for something which resolves itself (flu, eye infection) you yourself make the determination when to go back without consulting any doctor. The catch here is that you don't want to fly with a conition which the FAA considers worthy of grounding...do you or your private physician know exactly what the FAA's theshold is? No. Some things are obviously OK for you to decide (flu, cold), others are obviously not (heart attack).

I had a broken ankle, I returned to flying on my own discretion when I could walk on it OK, but before it was 100% recovered (which took about a year). The AME had no issue.

I would suspect that you can return to flying on your own when the knee has healed to the point where you are in no danger of re-injuring it in the cockpit, and when you have enough strength and range-of-motion to operate the controls and walk on your own. If you're taking crutches to the airplane, better ask the AME first.

If in doubt, consult the AME. You'll need to tell him anyway in the long run.