Yes I'm very familiar with government bureaucracy and slow changes. I just don't understand why the medical requirement was ever there in the first place. The required experience level should be sufficient.

The only reason I can come up with is that someone thought that a jumpseating ASI might need to assist in the operation of a flight should either crewmember become incapacitated.

Or maybe the idea was that since they were to be in a cockpit, a medical would give some limited assurance they had no medical condition which might cause them to croak or something.

My understanding is that the requirement came from when inspectors used to spend a lot more time giving checks in aircraft. It wasn't THAT long ago that regionals did all their training and checking in the aircraft, and the ASI job description/requirements have remained effectively unchanged for a LONG time. Obviously things are quite different today, and it's becoming rarer and rarer for ASIs to be onboard an aircraft during flight.

Actually, there is a separate medical exam that is part of the hiring process that addresses this exact issue. It is completely independent of holding an FAA medical certificate, and is required for all inspectors - even those positions that don't need a medical. You basically go see a doctor, they do a very basic physical, and sign a form that literally says you are unlikely to keel over from riding in an airplane.

What if, once upon a time, the CA would let the Inspector fly the airplane? (I did not say this. I was not here.)

See the matrix I posted, if they were acting as a required cremember, sure. If not, no, unless for safety of flight reasons. Everyone knows stuff has happened in the past, if the inspector is not conducting and qualified to perform a task according to that matrix, it would be like letting a passenger fly.

Well, it was "that" long ago for most carriers who have been using sims, but smaller carriers operating things like 1900s and other aircraft without an observer seat would require a qualified inspector to conduct some evaluations. The inspectors don't just do ride-alongs, although that's what most pilots experience. The inspectors observe the check airman, the training program, the sims, the "product" of the training program (an airmen ready for check), etc.

Also, realize, there's a LARGE world of 121 out there that you may not know anything about, cargo 121s, supplemental, operating all sorts of different aircraft, some of which may fit the description above.

I have no idea what this 2nd medical you are speaking of is. I had to take a pee-test and they shipped the pee overnight to a regional flight surgeon, haha, but there was no 2nd medical. AFAIK, the pee-test is the exact same for ATC hiring. We do a yearly hearing test, so that's not it...

Maybe it's a new thing, as I've only been with the agency for a year. I had to go to a physician (I just went to a local urgent aid clinic) and have them fill out and sign a form effectively stating that I didn't have anything wrong with me that would cause me to be a hazard to myself or anyone else while riding as a passenger in an aircraft. There was no specific guidance; the Dr seemed a little confused and ended up just giving me a very generic physical...height, weight, eye test, listened to heart and lungs.

True. Our POI has to do checkrides/observations in DC-6s and C-46s. So there's that.

Yeah, maybe it's something new...odd. Hopefully it's not just one office/region doing something different than the rest.

Medical is not required for ACO inspector

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/519376400

A second class medical is still required for ENTRY into the AC Ops position. See the above listed vacancy announcement.