Marine77661 its a non issue disclose whatever you need to, it won’t impact your va claims.
This was kind of a dick move by the VA. End result will be folks who suffer from moral and mental health issues foregoing treatment. And more stigmitization of combat veterans. Of 2400 pilots so far investigated, 60 had licenses suspended. I imagine the ratio in the non-veteran pilot population would be similar under similar scrutiny.
If FAA physicals are “cursory,” maybe they need to do a better job with FAA physicals.
I would not describe them as “cursory”, but if you can pass the EKG, pass the urine test for sugar, not look obviously half-dead, pass the eye test, pass the blood pressure test, have a clean driving record, and pass the hearing test they would miss any number of issues if you lie. If you are smart enough to get care “off the books” they might not ever figure it out. If there are records and the FAA wants to go looking, you’ll be busted.
Psychiatric care disguised as religious counseling is one end-around as long as there are no prescriptions involved they can find.
The article, or someone quoted therein, describes the FAA physicals as cursory. I wouldn’t know, not being a pilot. I figured they were probably at least as rigorous as USCG physicals for mariners.
The percentages have little to do with what you can or cannot do. 50% does not indicate a person has 50% use of their body. Those numbers are figured by a set of rules. I suffer from the effects of a reaction or a bad batch of the Anthrax vaccine and live a somewhat normal life but damage was done and my daily life is effected by it. I know some that can’t close there eyes without seeing dead bodies not all scars are visible. If we quit having wars and experimenting on them we would not have so many broken sailors and soldiers
2 Likes