Whether before, or during the Covid pandemic, any pilot grounded while awaiting an FAA review of their medical documents is understandably anxious. Everyone wants their case reviewed ASAP, and everyone hopes to receive either a favorable letter of eligibility or formal special issuance authorization immediately thereafter.
FAA reviews of complicated cases typically take several months. The case documents need to be received, sent to scanning, arrive in a reviewer’s inbox (reviewers are non-physicians who do an initial evaluation of the documents before forwarding the case to an FAA physician for a formal disposition), and then ultimately wind up in the hands of an FAA physician. Once that case is reviewed, it goes from the FAA physician back into the logistical chain for the preparation of the letter to the pilot and, hopefully, the medical certificate itself.
Dr. Robert Sancetta is a former DC-10 captain with 11,000 flight hours. He has worked as a Senior AME since 1993 and is appointed as AME Consultant to the FAA Federal Air Surgeon.
More In Regulations and Government
