Aviation Medical Examiner
The FAA has finally released guidance to Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs) regarding how they should handle patients who have contracted COVID-19, and well, the news isn’t exactly pleasant. For quite some time now, AMEs have been left to their own devices, and many of them have been eagerly seeking more guidance from the FAA on this matter. The FAA’s medical division is renowned for being a rather staid and deliberative body, one that is exceptionally conservative in its policies and dealings with pilots. Consequently, it’s not at all surprising that it took the FAA such a long time to issue such guidance, but it is indeed sorely needed. The letter, which was sent out to AMEs across the nation, categorizes pilots (and air traffic controllers as well) into five distinct groups (the wording is ours):
- Asymptomatic or Mild. Those who experienced an asymptomatic case or a mild case with a complete recovery.
- Recovered and Never Hospitalized. Fully recovered individuals who had a more “prolonged” episode but were never admitted to the hospital, regardless of whether they had symptoms at the time.
- Hospitalized but No ICU. People who were hospitalized but didn’t have to go to the intensive care unit.
- *Hospitalized with ICU: Pilots and controllers who were hospitalized and had to be in the intensive care ward.
- *Ongoing Symptoms: Pilots and controllers who had Covid-19 and are currently experiencing ongoing symptoms. These include, but are not limited to, “cardiovascular dysfunction, respiratory abnormalities, kidney injury, neurological dysfunction, psychiatric conditions (such as depression, anxiety, moodiness), or symptoms like fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, arthralgia, or chest pain.”
In the latter two cases, AMEs will need to postpone the exam of the pilot or controller and refer the matter to the FAA for them to handle. For similar conditions, the FAA will require what can often be expensive medical testing before issuing the pilot medical certification.
The FAA’s issuance of these guidelines is beneficial in that AMEs now have a standard of care to refer to when dealing with pilots and controllers who have contracted COVID-19. At the same time, the new rules take away a certain degree of professional discretion from AMEs, many of whom would surely have used their medical expertise to evaluate the applicant and, despite a history of Covid, would have conducted the exam instead of referring the applicant to the FAA’s medical division.
