Reigel has heard from pilots throughout the United States who’ve
received FAA notices, noting he gets multiple calls a week from aviators who have either been identified by the FAA or otherwise become aware of the issue. He’s “fairly confident” the agency will send a letter asking every pilot holding a medical certificate who is also receiving VA disability benefits to supplement their medical records with information regarding the disability. Te FAA, responding to industry pleas, in June laid out a path for
pilot veterans to reconcile medical records that triggered reviews. But that response, which can include emergency certificate revocations and criminal prosecutions, falls short of the amnesty sought by the aviation industry and offered in past investigations, and can leave pilots ineligible to fly for months or more. Moreover, more pilots are at risk of being investigated. In a Jun. 15 letter, FAA Deputy
Administrator Katie Tomson said several thousand pilots appeared to have questionable medical records. (Te FAA said that figure represents “just under 1%—just under 4,800—of the country’s 600,000-plus certified pilots.”) Roughly 2,550 cases had been resolved, she wrote, with some 60 pilots told to “cease flying unless and until” they address disqualifying medical conditions. Tomson was responding to
wearing night-vision goggles, and in close contact with the enemy, that contribute to VA disability claims. “A large number of those folks who were engaged in that stuff over the last couple of decades are out there wiggling sticks for our industry right now,” Noble says. Te current probe may indeed involve many helicopter pilots, says
Lakeland, Florida–based aviation attorney Anthony Ison. “My per- ception is that it’s more helicopter pilots [than fixed-wing],” he says. “It seems like I’ve talked to more helicopter pilots over the last several months than I ever have before just because of this issue.”
If the FAA Requests Information on Your Military Disability Records …
Question 18y Te scrutiny hinges on how a pilot answers Question 18y of the FAA Form 8500-8, “Application for Airman Medical Certificate.” Question 18 concerns a pilot’s medical history and lists 23 conditions, with yes or no checkboxes next to each to indicate whether the appli- cant has ever had the condition. Te condition for 18y is “med- ical disability benefits.” If an applicant checks no
… HAI recommends that you do the following:
■ Reply to the FAA within the timeline indicated, even if your response is to request additional time
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President Mark Baker’s call for amnesty, similar to requests made in the late 1980s for airmen amending medical certificate applications to report driving-while-intoxicated/under-the-influence (DWI/DUI) convictions and, in 2010, use of antidepressants. “Airmen need a clear pathway to correct their FAA medical records,”
Baker said in a Mar. 30, 2023, letter to the agency. HAI is working with AOPA to address the FAA’s actions and answer
pilots’ and operators’ concerns about the potential impact of the medical-records scrutiny on their livelihoods and businesses. “Military veterans are significant contributors to the civil helicopter
industry’s effectiveness and success,” says HAI President and CEO James A. Viola, a 24-year US Army aviation veteran. HAI Director of Flight Operations and Maintenance Zac Noble
says the medical-records scrutiny, “whether it’s intended or not, is putting a big fear into the helicopter community.” Military helicopter pilots spent a great deal of time over the past
two decades in combat and support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Much of that flying was in conditions, such as at low altitudes,
■ Allow sufficient time for the time-consuming, painstaking process of correcting any inaccuracies in your military medical records
■ Keep your military medical records and your Veterans Affairs disability award letter in a safe, convenient location so you can easily access those details.
for 18y but is found to have received any disability benefit, several lawyers explain, that person is vulnerable to an FAA charge of falsifying a record. Under 18 USC 1001, providing false statements to any branch or agency of the federal government is against the law.
And proving falsification
there is easy, lawyers add. “Tat’s really low-hanging fruit for the FAA,” Reigel says. Te combination of an 18y
checkbox marked no and disability receipts or direct-deposit payments are all that is necessary to meet the legal requirements of proof. If the FAA proves that an applicant made a false statement, even if he or she did so unintentionally, the agency can still revoke the applicant’s medical certificate. If it can prove intentional falsification, the agency can revoke all the applicant’s airman certificates as well as the medical certificate. US agencies have long investigated pilots’ medical certificate
applications, says Kathy Yodice, a former FAA managing attorney who is now in private practice in Potomac, Maryland, and handles cases involving the FAA and VA benefits. “Te FAA wants to know if there are medical issues associated
with the disability benefits,” Yodice says. “Tis is just another way to get that medical information revealed so the FAA can consider it and then determine if the individual is qualified for a medical certificate or a special issuance medical certificate.” (Te latter covers 15 medical
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