AOPA President Mark Baker has pointedly urged Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx for action on proposed third-class medical reform. In what AOPA describes as a “strongly-worded letter,” Baker says the delay in acting on the three-year-old proposal is “incomprehensible” to most of its members. “On behalf of our members and the aviation community we must ask, when will the Department of Transportation allow third-class medical reform to move forward?” Baker wrote. “After three years of scrutiny and analysis, the time to take action is now.” AOPA, which jointly presented with EAA a multi-point plan to eliminate the third-class medical requirement for many pilots of light aircraft, said 11 years of experience with the Sport Pilot certificate has shown the “expensive and often cumbersome” process of obtaining a medical has no discernible impact on flight safety.
The FAA has done its work on the proposed rule and it sent it for mandatory review to the DOT. “[The rule] has now been in the hands of the Department of Transportation for almost seven months as part of a mandatory review process that is supposed to take no more than 90 days,” Baker wrote. He said even without the medical, certificated pilots have their ability to fly safely judged every two years in the biennial flight review and instructors “evaluate each pilot’s cognitive condition, as well as his or her physical ability to safely operate an aircraft. If either is in question they do not endorse the pilot.” He said the current medical system is driving away pilots who could continue to fly safely but are unwilling to spend the money and time proving their medical fitness.
