The FAA wants to start having certain pilots undergo a sleep study for sleep apnea

http://www.flyingmag.com/news/SQYDXYUAPRPQ8rBP.01

 

Linky no worky

 

Federal Air Surgeon Puts Sleep Apnea Issue on Fast Track | Flying Magazine

 

The Federal Air Surgeon is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the FAA Administrator. My suspicion is there will be a new Federal Air Surgeon before long.

Even the AME association is opposed to this:

AMEs Object To FAA Apnea Policy - AVweb flash Article

 

This guy needs to be reminded who he works for.

 

This is the kind of crap that happens when we the people keep allowing the government to run wild in some kind of power hungry feeding frenzy. Hopefully we will stop this and learn something from it.

The next time a politician starts dictating how it should be, maybe we should say no, even if it doesn't effect you this time.

 

This whole sleep apnea deal is a crock. The condition is real and I'm sure some pilots have it; however, the industry it has spawned is completely out of control. The sleep apnea racket is much more about making money than saving lives; the same could be said about a majority of cancer treatments. The money is in the treatments, not curing cancer. There is no way Big Pharma would want to cure cancer. Yet another cause De Jour, another label, Etc... Heaven forbid we properly and effectively address much more prevalent and serious issues such as duty times and lack of basic flying skills or basic aeronautical knowledge or over reliance on technology. I am much more concerned about a flight crew that takes a 45 Min hop in a Lear at the 13th hour of their duty day, after being awake for four hours prior to reporting or the pilot who doesn't know what his feet are for or the ATP who couldn't explain to me the purpose of stall strips, ad nauseum... We have much bigger fish to fry than getting bogged down with this latest cause...

 

I seriously doubt this will last. Just wait until the legacies lose a big number of pilots to medical leave over a relatively short period of time....


This will be a guaranteed disaster.

 

Yes, but since when have pilots put their foot down to force these changes in the industry? Seems like the fear of losing the job and RLA have "frozen" pilots from being able to make these kind of changes in the industry, so someone has to step in? It kind of seems like you want it both ways, want to be able to sit back and let everyone else take care of the problems, yet complain when they decide on a different way to eliminate them?

 

What problem? That's the issue....there is no problem. This is a solution looking for a problem. There is no real science behind this. Most AMEs are opposed to the screening. It's beyond the scope and mandate of the FAA medical office. Now they are getting into the gray area of predictive medicine. If the new policy is instituted it will contribute to the already backlogged 55,000 special issuance medicals. Not to mention the financial burden of all the testing. This is pure and simple guilty until proven innocent.

When it's all said and done and HR 3578 sails through the House and Senate, it will be signed into law. Just like the law that was used to oppose the testing of truck drivers for OSA. It has to go through normal rule making policy. What makes the FAA medical Chief think his mandate is any different. I think it was a huge political misstep on his part. Time will tell.