I found an article about a presentation made by Warren Silberman, the
Chief Cheese at FAA Medical, and I was so floored, I emailed the
author and she send me this:
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: "When do you need a waiver?"
Date: February 3, 2009 4:36:28 PM EST
To: [email protected]
I attended Silberman's forum at last year's Oshkosh. Here's a quick
recap of what he said during the forum (Most of it was included in
the article):
"Here's a secret: The first decision you have to make is do you want
to tell the FAA at all? You could go Sport Pilot if it's really bad.
Once you tell me, I might deny, but chances are good that you will
get your medical."
Then he suggested you go to the AME for an office visit, show him
your stuff and ask "Will the FAA give me a medical?"
"There are AMEs who will do that -- but it's not an exam, it's an
office visit."
If the doctor says "I don't know," he can call me and see what I say
(NOTE from Janice: doctors call Silberman all the time and run
scenarios by him). That will give you an idea of the probability of
getting your medical.
The minute you have a problem, you need to find out everything about
it that pertains to flying. He referred the audience to websites out
there, including AOPA, EAA, said "even our site is pretty good."
He noted that if you have one of the 15 specifically disqualifying
conditions and don't tell the FAA about them and get in an accident,
the insurance company will check your medical records and refuse to
pay your heirs. "The insurance companies are looking not to pay."
If you decide to fly under Sport Pilot, "don't tell me nothing -- I
don't want to know -- you just fly."
"If you have a waiver from us and if you want to go Sport Pilot, just
don't me your stuff the next time I ask for it. Just disappear."
"Say you want to come back later -- you just go to the letter I sent
you, see what I wanted and your doctor can fill in the entire time
you were flying Sport Pilot."
That's about it.
Silberman's a cool guy, probably one of the few feds that actually
want to help. He makes himself pretty available to answer questions
at shows and is pretty candid during his public speeches.
I don't know if this has helped or not, but I wish you well in your
fight.
Janice
