Faa, okc & ame

[Hiho]

Dear Dr. F.

I have been out on a medical for about 5 months due to 'migraine variant with aura'. I have had these in the past and had a recent recurrence last summer. I sought treatment with a neurologist and it was successful as I haven't had any additional episodes in 5 months.

During this time, I had been working with my AME about this issue. It comes time now to get my certificate back and his office says he cannot process my paperwork without first getting clearance from the FAA in OKC. The people out at the ALPA Aeromed tell me that he can for sure issue the certificate right away and then send all the paperwork afterwards to OKC with the prerequisite letters etc (since this is a recurrence). Additionally, they told me that he can get a 'verbal' from them over the phone and then go ahead and issue the certificate, pending his examination.

If I go through the OKC paperwork mill before they can issue me a certificate, this is probably going to cost me another month or two.

Do you have any thoughts on this situation, especially the part about getting a 'verbal okay' from OKC? I am not familiar with that (and I suspect my AME is not either).

Thanks in advance,

California Flyer

 

[My Flight Surgeon]

The AME cannot issue without FAA approval. What he can do is call the Duty Doc at OKC, discuss the case with him and FAX the paperwork you have. The Duty Doc then has the option of either approving an issuance or deciding to send it to the Neurology Consultant which will take several weeks. If the info from your neurologist is good, the Duty Doc may decide to issue.

Be aware there are internal guidelines within CAMI so all the Duty Docs handle these cases in the same manner.