CBreezy

Why is it the burden of the pilot to prove he is healthy? If a government entity needs a physical done, said entity should be required to foot the bill. A friend of mine had to spend $1000s of dollars in psychiatrist bills to prove to the FAA he was no crazy because of an erroneous failed drug test 15 years prior. How is that fair?

USMCFLYR

Part of it is called the safety of the traveling public.
I'm sure you wouldn't say a thing if a loved one was involved in an incident/accident involving an airliner and the PIC had a known mental disability that had been diagnosed and ignored.

Packrat

I think his point is that if the FAA wants an OSA test, the FAA should pay for it. That seems fair enough to me.

JamesNoBrakes

Because flying is a privilege, in addition to what's been said already. They don't hand out pilot certificates to everyone that has a birth certificate either, you have to "prove" you meet the standards and are competent. You should see how many thousands of dollars this costs! Not fair at all!

Mason32

See, somebody gets what these radical liberals are about. This testing was never about fatties. The guy said he intended to have every pilot tested, every pilot. It just opens the door for the next test they want to add to eliminate a problem that's never been attributed to any accidents in a US part 121 air carrier. Safest industry travel record in the world and this is the crap they come up with on taxpayer money?
We need more sequestering.

WarpSpeed

I can't speak for GA, but with commercial airline pilots, don't we have at least 2 pilots for a reason? Just in case something happens to one, you have the other? You can't always know when somebody is going to check out just from a BMI rating. Another reason FO's are so underpaid, if something happens to the captain...the FO becomes the PIC doesn't he/she?

Std Deviation

Same boat but I'm 5'9" and 242. You won't have to worry about OSA - your joints will implode first from all that weight -
Seriously though when I was in the Air Force in 1988 (as a Firefighter not a pilot) my max allowable weight was increased twice by waiver via a true body fat check. Allowable at the time was 188 I believe. Starved myself to meet the requirement at first which was unhealthy. Eventually got a medical waiver because of my size and build. Would you rather have the Crash Fire Rescue guy that has got the guns to lift your disabled self out of the burning cockpit (kind of like a 1 rep max) or the guy that can run 26.2 with a BMI of 12 and can't bench 180#?

Side note - I did do the 26.2 at 221lbs in the Marine Corp Marathon in 2007. In took me 5hr and 45 min. I still prefer the 1 rep max leg press to egress the aircraft followed by a 30 second sprint to clear the fire zone.

Std Deviation

I did have an OSA test last year (voluntarily) because my wife was concerned that I was not breathing for periods of time at night. I also never seemed to feel rested. The whole thing (wired up at a sleep center and being observed on camera all night) was a $40 co pay. Have no idea what the insurance company paid. Results indicated negative.

CBreezy

You are 100% correct that it is a privilege. For commercial pilots, however, it is also how you make a living. I'm not saying you shouldn't be disqualified if you have a disqualifying condition because of safety, but to what end? If the FAA is going to mandate testing above what is already required and in the past you have demonstrated you have met that standard, then the FAA needs to foot the bill. It shouldn't be permitted that the government arbitrarily imposes new regulations that end up costing us more money. If you do something that puts your certificate in jeopardy, that is your fault and the government should not be liable.

What will you do when the FAA comes to you and says that since X% of people over the age of 50 are more prone to arthritis? They say you risk not being able to control the aircraft so we need to have you send a copy of a MRI of every joint to the FAA once a year. There is no way your medical coverage would not cover that. Where does it stop? Family history? Can they make you pay for at CAT scan because your dad had a brain tumor? This isn't about meeting the health portion of the medical. This is about radical moves that could potentially cost pilots THOUSANDS of dollars. All for what? Because there is a 2% chance that fatigue caused by OSA at the end of a long day might be one of 40 contributing factors to an accident?

JohnnyG

While you have a point, (and a hilarious one at that) bodybuilding is not the same as being some fat lazy woman.