Calls On DOT To Expedite Review Of The Proposed Reforms

Members of the Type Club Coalition (TCC), a group of type clubs and aviation safety organizations established to create and disseminate safety training information, sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan urging those organizations to expedite review of the FAA’s NPRM regarding third-class medical certification reform. Both organizations must review and approve the FAA’s proposal before the NPRM contents can be opened to the public for comments.

EAA said in a news release that in the letter, TCC states that “the current medical certification process is unnecessarily bureaucratic,” noting that “many otherwise active pilots stop flying every year, not because they can’t qualify for a medical certificate, but because the cost and effort of obtaining that certificate is too burdensome.”
 
It also mentions that educating pilots about aeromedical factors and allowing them to make informed day-to-day decisions, with their personal physicians’ input, will be “promoting and enhancing safety” compared to the FAA’s current system, which relies on a snapshot of certain parameters of a pilot’s health to certify flight fitness for a given period of time.
 
The TCC said that pilot education and self-certification have a strong and successful precedent in the sport pilot community, as well as in the glider, ultralight, and ballooning communities.
 
The letter is signed by 17 TCC members and urges officials to complete their review within 30 days of receipt. DOT and OMB received the NPRM in late July.

FMI: Type Club Coalition