VA Disability
 

I am within a year of retirement with a PCL tear and a rotator cuff tear. Both will likely give me a VA disability. I am still flying with both these issues in the AF. Will either of these problems prevent me from getting a Class I medical for a Major Airline?

Probably not.

Before you make a VA claim though, search here. There's lots of good threads on the subject. I hold a different view than the majority on the VA claims - I didn't make a claim last year and I think folks getting out now need to think about it. Just be sure your retirement physical lists everything you want listed.

Here's a couple:

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/mi...-physical.html

http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/pi...-payments.html

in the faa eyes and unofficially IMHO the faa isn't as concerned about VA disability as it is handed out like candy. Work and SSI are another issue. Basically in all you are claiming compensation for a physical or mental ailment. In a hiring environment this may not be an issue with large carriers ... but i certainly do not speak for them.

FAA (and the airlines that bother to ask you about your medical status) aren't too concerned with a VA disability per se, they are more interested in the specific details of the issue(s) in question.

TBI, PTSD, and any mental issues will be subject to much higher scrutiny than something like a rotator cuff. I suspect TBI would be no-go in many or most cases.

If you have multiple issues for the VA, maybe be selective about what you claim disability for? I wouldn't hide anything in your military record from the FAA (they have cross-checked other federal records in the recent past) but claiming something with the VA tends emphasize that particular issue.

TBI? what's that? lol the doctor should know huh!

TBI = Traumatic Brain Injury.

Thanks all. Getting as much info as possible as I move to retirement.

Keep your VA stuff separate from the company/FAA. It's no one business but yours.

Not true. Whether it's the company's business is between you and the company...they'll fire you if they find out you lied, but their access to your history is limited at best.

But any medical history is most definitely the FAA's business, and if it's worth claiming disability for, they will not see the humor if you don't report it to them. They have recently cross-referenced FAA medical apps with (non-military) government disability claims and sent people to jail for lying. I suspect they haven't gone after VA records because of the wars...they would be publicly vilified for picking on the troops. But the wars will wind down and there's no legal or administrative reason that I know of that prevents the FAA from accessing DoD and/or VA records. It's all computerized now...I wouldn't want a ticking data bomb hanging over my head in cyberspace.

This is from the AME guide, guidance on the FAA Form 8500-8:

18. y. Medical Disability Benefits. The applicant must report any disability benefits received, regardless of source or amount. If the applicant checks “yes” on this item, the FAA may verify with other Federal Agencies (ie. Social Security Administration, Veteran’s Affairs) whether the applicant is receiving a disability benefit that may present a conflict in issuing an FAA medical certificate. The Examiner must document the specifics and nature of the disability in findings in Item 60.

I receive VA disability for a knee injury and back issue incurred over a thirteen year military career. These ailments and VA disability have been fully divulged to the FAA and I currently hold a 1st Class medical. My legacy carrier employer's concern starts and stops with my ability to hold and maintain a 1st Class medical.

I see your point, but i would have to cross that bridge if i ever got there. Don't ask me questions, i will tell no lies.

The FAA gained legal access to VA medical records in 2011.

And when the FAA gained legal access to VA medical records in 2011,
do you know how they got it? They did a 'study' in 2007 and compared VA medical records to FAA medical applications of a small pool of pilots in N. CA and prosecuted every single one of them who did not divulge their VA medical claims issues for falsifying the medical application - few, had real medical issues and most of those were cleared with simple follow-ups and additional information. But they used this study when they went to congress to show their 'need' for access.

To my knowledge, they have not done anything with this access but verify positive responses...yet.

so i will open my big mouth - we (society) are now meting out way too much disability ... we cant have our cake and eat it too. Disability used to mean one thing and it was not partial or varying degrees of same.

I believe that was the social security disability system, not the VA. But there's nothing in principle which prevents them from doing the same for VA when they decide to.

Yep. Talk about entitlements. This has got to be one of the biggest welfare scams out there.

I was at a car show recently when an older gentleman in an Air Force ball cap struck up a conversation about my car. I asked him about his service and told him I did six years of active duty. With that said, his first words were, " do you have a disability?" I was perplexed, didn't know what to say. He said, "it's really a good deal, you should claim hearing loss or something." I was trying to be nice and said, well that was 22 yrs. ago when I got out. He said, oh you should still file a claim, it's worth x amount per month. I can only imagine how many healthy, productive members of society are getting these checks each month.

The high profile ones where guys went to prison was SSDI fraud. This was a smaller one & perhaps my use of 'prosecute' was a bit inflammatory - they suspended certificates and other things within their purview, but I don't think anyone went to prison - it was just a side bar in the study anyway. I'll see if I can dig up the study - I thought I had it bookmarked, but can't seem to find it right now.

The bottom line is the FAA petitioned congress for unfettered access to VA medical records in the interest of air safety and used this study to gain it. They were granted access in the summer of '11.

Obamacare has sort of exacerbated the issue with the requirement for online sharing of all medical records. Still waiting to see how that shakes out, but the one thing we can all count on is we won't be able to go to one doctor for one thing and another doctor for another thing and not have each one know about the other visit anymore...regardless of our reasons.

^^^ This

That's the real issue at hand here. The FAA could care less about whether you are collecting disability, nor how much, either percentage or dollar amount. What they do care about is WHY you are collecting disability.

BL: Regardless of your views on government oversight, if you are collecting disability for a documented medical issue, that same issue had better be documented when you go in for your Class 1. There is a tremendous amount of information out there on what conditions are disqualifying for a Class 1, what the process is to get a Special Issuance or SODA. The FAA will know what you have documented, so to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, document it yourself as required, get the SI or SODA IF REQUIRED, and go on with your career. Even not documenting something minor that doesn't affect your Class 1 eligibility can still get you in a LOT of trouble for failure to report it, even tho the doc would just go "noted."

Droopy

11,000,000 million peeps on disability!!

NJ Spent $23M on Unemployment and Other Benefits for Jailbirds // like i said CANDY

Not VA disability, but NPR did a fascinating and insightful story on the explosive rise of Social Security disability claims.

http://apps.npr.org/unfit-for-work/

All my talk of not reporting my disability when in fact I had already reported it 5 years ago!

Guidance needed
 

Gents, I appreciate your candid and informative discussion. I posted in another related thread here . In addition, I see some of the Docs here have Facebook pages for their homepage. I would feel a bit awkward directly messaging a doc questions about medicals- I am sure it happens all to often. Would any of you be willing to give me your opinion on my "disabilities" from the VA and let me know what to expect? I am not sure I am comfortable listing them all on here. Lastly, in the other thread it seemed some were simply checking yes in the disability question in block 18 and it stopped there. I can't imagine you don't have to explain the disability rating. More importantly what documentation will the AME need from me. Thanks in advance. This website is one the best tools for our community in the world.

What I meant to add there was if any Docs on here were willing to communicate directly...

We have one or two docs that show up around here occasionally, but in your case you might better off talking to one the pilot medical consulting companies. They which employ ex-AMEs who know the ropes, but have no duty to report anything to the FAA.

I see. Any suggestions on a reliable and credible company to contact?

These guys are popular, but there are others as well:

Aviation Medicine Advisory Service -- FAA Medical Expertise -- Our Physicians...Your Solution!


If you have AOPA, they might give you advice as well.