AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013 - 98

NEWS & NOTES
ON THE

WEB

MEMBER PRODUCTS

AOPA Pilot Protection Services guards both your pilot and medical
certificates to protect your freedom to fly (www.aopa.org/pps)

The ABCs of EKGs: Know what
your results mean to the FAA
THE TWO MAIN REASONS for performing
an EKG on an airman are the requirement
for first class airmen when they turn age
40—and every year above—and for the
“initial” packet of a pilot who is reporting treatment for high blood pressure for
the first time.
It is the responsibility of the AME to
interpret the EKG and, if it is abnormal,
to have the patient undergo certain testing
and evaluations to make sure that he or
she doesn’t have a medical condition that
could be suddenly incapacitating.
If the AME is uncomfortable reading
the EKG, then he should get someone
who is comfortable to interpret it before
he releases a patient from the office with
a medical certificate in hand.
Most EKG machines these days have
self-interpretation capability, and the
FAA has given medical examiners a list of
what are called “normal variants.” These
are findings on electrocardiograms that

BY WARREN SILBERMAN, D.O.

AOPA Pilot Protection Services

have been found not to be aeromedically
significant.
The FAA places online what is called
the Federal Air Surgeon’s Medical Bulletin,
which comes out four times a year to
update and educate the AMEs. There
are two FAA webpages (www.faa.gov)
on interpretation of electrocardiograms:
electrocardiogram problems and EKG
guidance.
When you have an EKG performed in
your AME’s office or bring one in from
your own treating physician, it is critical to ask the AME how it “looks.” If he
says that it is not normal, then you need
to press him or her about obtaining more
testing to demonstrate to the FAA that you
are OK.
Do not leave the office until you both
agree on a next step to establish that you
are OK. Otherwise, if the AME does not
WEB

review the EKG and just lets you leave and
the graph is not negative, some months
later you may receive one of those letters that say that your electrocardiogram
shows a variance and you need to provide
the FAA with testing. If that happens then
I strongly suggest that you find yourself
another AME.
Dr. Warren Silberman is the former manager of FAA Aerospace Medical Certification and a doctor of osteopathic medicine.
A pilot since 1986, he is recognized nationally as an expert in aerospace/preventative
medicine.

Visit and consider joining AOPA Pilot Protection Services (www.aopa.org/pps).

ANSWERS FOR PILOTS

ALASKA: PILOT HEAVEN
FROM THE JAGGED, SNOWY PEAKS of the Chugach
Mountains to the spectacular shoreline of Cook
Inlet; from the gorgeous turquoise rivers of the Kenai
Peninsula, teeming with fish, to the rugged Brooks
Range Mountains in the Gates of the Arctic National
Park—Alaska is breathtaking from the sky and on the
ground. Flying is the perfect way to see the vast state.
If you are thinking of making a summer trip north, now
is a good time to start your planning. Read about flying to Alaska in this month’s Answers for Pilots (www.
aopa.org/members/answers0213).

98 | AOPA PILOT February 2013

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2013