AircraftOwner Online

    This month in AircraftOwner Online, my colleague Dr. Brent Blue has written about the surprise announcement made on April 2nd by the Administrator of the FAA that has removed the absolute bar to holding a medical certificate if the pilot is taking certain anti-depressant medications (click here to read his article). While Dr. Blue concludes, probably correctly, that few pilots will actually take advantage of this change, I viewed this announcement differently, and very personally.

    A few years ago, a local neurosurgeon wrote a letter to the editor, in one of the many aviation magazines I read, complaining that it is perfectly lawful for him to operate on peoples’ brains while taking anti-depressants as prescribed, but that it was absolutely illegal for him
to fly a 172 around the patch. I could relate to that. I travelled to the Civil Aeronautical Medical Institute (CAMI) in Oklahoma City and spoke with several of the doctors there about the rumors that the FAA would approve anti-depressants for pilots and was told that, while the idea was not off the table entirely, it might take years. This was hardly good news for me.

    Eleven years ago, following a great many horrible events, my doctor advised me that I would have to take anti-depressant medications for the rest of my life if I wanted to avoid the possibility of another depressive episode. He advised me that the psychiatric literature indicated that adults over 40 who had experienced major depressive events, should be placed on low doses of anti-depressants as a prophylactic measure to prevent future depressive episodes. As much as flying had become the central point of my life, I knew that I would do anything I had to NOT to have another bout of out-of-control depression. At that point, I understood that I might never sit left seat solo in an aircraft again. I sold my interest in a beautiful aircraft, and I tried to satisfy myself with hitching rides with others. It didn’t work. There has been a huge hole in my life for over a decade. On April 2, 2010, for the first time, I got new hope, and that hole has begun to close.

    There is now a procedure available for me to be able to demonstrate that I am no longer depressed, although I take anti-depressants to make sure that I my serotonin levels will not allow any situational depression I may experience to spiral out of control. I can now apply to an AME for a medical and start along the long path to a special issuance from Oklahoma City. It may take a year or more to get my medical back, and I may have to spend a lot of money and subject myself to a lot of tests, but now I know that I have a fighting chance to get back in the left seat again.

    I must confess that there were many times over the past decade when I considered whether to attempt to obtain a medical certificate by “forgetting” that I was on anti-depressants. I might have gotten away with it, but my enjoyment of flying would have been tarnished by a constant fear that I would be found out and have my licenses revoked for intentionally falsifying my medical information to the FAA. I chose to simply endure the situation and to try to work for a change in the policy.

    Whenever possible, I have attempted to demonstrate that the FAA’s former position making anti-depressants automatically disqualifying was an absolutely prehistoric view of the current state of medical knowledge. I pointed out that having a pilot – particularly an airline pilot – who really should be on anti-depressants because of his or her chemical imbalances and resulting mental state of depression, refusing to have them prescribed for fear of losing his or her job and ability to earn a living and to support a family, was a lot more dangerous to the flying public than having someone who has been properly diagnosed and treated, whose symptoms are under control, exercising the privileges of his or her certificates. [When Administrator Babbitt made his announcement, he closed by saying that perhaps, if the pilot who flew his Piper Dakota into the IRS building in Texas had been taking the anti-depressants he may have required, we might not have had this tragedy which focused tremendous negative attention on private aviation.]

    Most of the FAA doctors with whom I have spoken over the years knew that the official position did not make sense. They even identified Canada and Australia as having very successful programs where anti-depressants were commonly used in the pilot population without problems. It appeared to me, however, that there really wasn’t any institutional momentum for the FAA to add the United States to these countries in this regard, and, knowing how long it takes this bureaucratic entity to get things done most times, I was not optimistic of any change to the policy.

    Dr. Blue is probably correct that not many pilots will take advantage of this change, but I know of at least one, and probably several more – including one neurosurgeon – who are deeply grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate our qualifications to fly safely. Kudos to the FAA and to all of those advisors who helped make this new policy a reality. I usually spend a lot of time doing battle with FAA and criticizing the things that I feel they do wrong. It actually feels great to be able to compliment the FAA for at least one thing that I feel they got right.

    Thank you FAA. Thank you CAMI. Thank you Administrator Babbitt.