AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2011 - 83

(it was Milwaukee, after all). I watched a monitor over my head as he performed angioplasty and put in a stent, and the effect on the blocked artery was stunning, with blood now feeding a starved area of my heart. Still on my back and watching a now normally functioning heart, I began to plan how to get my medical back. A new medical? I spent just 36 hours in the hospital and the next hours resting at my inlaws’ home and searching both the AOPA and FAA Aerospace Medical Certification databases on protocols for recertification after a stent procedure. I found out I was lucky because it had been caught prior to a heart attack, or in doctor speak, “an event.” That would shorten the time before I could reapply to six months, a fact confirmed a few days later at AirVenture when I visited the FAA Aerospace Medical booth and spoke to Dr. Warren Silberman, the federal air surgeon who could have ultimate responsibility for an approval. After explaining what had happened and what my research of the FAA’s medical database had revealed, I asked the big question: If I followed the testing and documentation procedures exactly, could I leave my AME’s office on the day of the exam with a new medical in hand? His answer was an unqualified yes. To get a waiver or authorization in the most expeditious manner, the best thing is to find an AME who would be willing to phone the medical certification division or the regional flight surgeon to get a verbal authorization. This would only apply to third class airmen medicals, as first and second class must be reviewed by the FAA’s cardiology panel. The airman must bring all the required reports and testing for the AME to report to the FAA. The airman could potentially walk out of the AME’s office with a medical certificate. The AME will then need to send the data and testing in to the FAA, Silberman told me. I then asked if it would be better if both Silberman’s office and the regional flight surgeon had the same information the AME needed, but before the exam, so when the AME placed the call they would have everything they required to support their decision. He agreed. Now I had a plan that I could share with my new cardiologist back home in North Carolina, and over the next six months I made sure I did my part with lifestyle changes that led to weight loss—
AOPA PILOT • 83 • JULY 2011

as well as excellent results on endurance and cholesterol tests. A month prior to the exam I contacted my AME to let him know what I would need from him, and then scheduled the necessary blood work and treadmill stress tests with the cardiologist. Following the FAA protocol, I assembled a thick stack of documents that included detailed doctor’s notes, blood test results, and printouts of EKGs from both the original procedure in Milwaukee and the testing done to prepare for the AME’s exam. The new tests included a treadmill stress test, blood testing for

cholesterol and blood sugar, and a copy of my family medical history. Those reports and results were then summarized in a cover letter from my cardiologist. I sent copies of the whole package to the regional flight surgeon and Silberman’s office, kept one for my records, and took one to my AME on the day of the exam. Bottom line If you want to be successful in getting a medical back, it boils down to properly submitting complete reports to document your case. Silberman puts it very plainly, “The airman needs to go to

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2011