Also Seeks Drivers License Medical For Rec Pilots

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has formally asked the FAA to reconsider a "Catch-22" situation in the current sport pilot regulations, by allowing those pilots who have had their FAA medicals denied to be allowed to operate light sport planes with an easily obtainable health statement from a physician.

If adopted, the move -- talked about in the pilot community since the original sport pilot regulations were adopted two years ago -- would require pilots to obtain a health statement from their personal physician, declaring that he or she is healthy enough to operate a moving vehicle and is not likely to suffer any kind of incapacitation within the next 24 months.

Like a medical certificate, the health statement would need to be readily accessible to the pilot when operating an aircraft.

"This simple change would eliminate the double standard that unfairly penalized pilots who for one reason or another have unfavorable medical records on file with the FAA but otherwise meet the sport pilot requirements," said AOPA President Phil Boyer.

Under current regulations, a pilot who has previously been denied a medical certificate cannot exercise sport pilot privileges without regaining a medical certificate.

However -- in a loophole large enough to fly a Ercoupe through -- another pilot with the same medical condition who just allowed his medical to lapse can still fly as a sport pilot, as long as he has a current driver's license and self-certifies that he is healthy enough to fly.

Recreational Pilots Not Forgotten

The much-bandied "drivers license medical" is also at the heart of a second proposal AOPA is making to the FAA, to give recreational pilots the option of flying their larger aircraft with only a driver's license.

"That would mean that even if you've lost your medical, you could still fly something as large as a Cessna 172 if you're healthy enough for a driver's license and don't have any medical conditions that could incapacitate you," said Boyer (right).

Like sport pilots, recreational pilots are limited to day-VFR flying only, in a single-engine, fixed-gear aircraft. Recreational pilots may operate larger planes, however, with up to 180 horsepower and four seats (although, like sport pilots, the pilot can only fly with one other passenger.)

Recreational pilots are also limited to flying outside of controlled airspace, and within 50 nm of their home airports... so, while long cross country trips are out, you can still fly to a nearby airport for that $200 hamburger (price has been adjusted due to inflated fuel prices -- Ed.)

"When we petitioned in 1978 for the FAA to create a new pilot certificate that would reduce the cost and procedural barriers to flight training, AOPA recommended medical self-certification, just as glider and balloon pilots are allowed to do," said Boyer. "While the agency accepted most of our other recommendations for the recreational pilot certificate, the FAA still insisted on a third class medical certificate. That really limited the attractiveness of the recreational certificate."

AOPA has petitioned the FAA numerous times to remove the medical certificate requirement from the recreational pilot certificate. According to AOPA, the last few times, the agency rejected the petition saying that the issue was being considered under the sport pilot initiative. The FAA wanted time to see what happened with sport pilots flying without a medical certificate.

"It's now been two years and no accident history to suggest any problem with sport pilots flying without having gone through an FAA-approved medical examination," said Boyer. "And that just reaffirms all the reams of data we've submitted through the years.

"Medical conditions are not a significant cause of accidents in aircraft used for sport and recreational purposes," Boyer said. "Even the FAA conceded that in its rulemaking for the sport pilot certificate."

In fact, an AOPA Air Safety Foundation review of more than a decade of accident data showed no difference in the percentage of medical incapacitation accidents between pilots without medical certificates and pilots required to carry a medical certificate. Medical incapacitation accounts for less than 2 percent of all accidents.

Furthermore, the Air Safety Foundation's analysis showed that the majority of medically related aviation accidents were not attributable to predictable conditions or conditions that could have been revealed by an aviation medical examination.

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.faa.gov