Hold your Horses---New PEPC Revamp about to go down!

Wyopoke79

New Member
I spoke with my source...( a person in management at a center that often frequents this site although not this portion). Anyways, my source has stated to me that the Pepc process is about to go through an Overhaul. Apparently people are getting through the Pepc and then sent to school in Oklahoma City before all of their medical and security clearances are processed.

People have gotten to their facility and are told to wait for clearance to begin work as a trainee. One guy at a facility I will not name (level 6) was medically disqualified for a medical condition after he arrived at his new facility. Apparently this guy is connected to some influential people and a review of the whole process is about to take place.

The main problem with the hiring process is that the office that performs medical clearances is getting slammed and does not have time to properly clear everyone before they get to OKC. This means some people are making it to OKC...and then to their facility (only to wait). One suggestion has been to hold people at OKC until medical/security is 100% cleared. The other is to not allow people to be conditionally sent to OKC.

So what does this mean for us? Possibly longer waiting...Pepc dates will be spaced further apart in the future to account for processing time.

Finally, my source is checking on the PUB2 Pepc dates and locations. So far they are in Oct NY and Nov LA. I will try to get exact dates tomorrow.
 
So how are you to know if you are "safe" when you get a class date? What a blow to go through the Academy and then be told "just kidding".
 
I don't understand why we can't have an aviation medical examiner do our medical for us and then have that sent in.

Right now I already have a Class I. I mean why not just accept that?

They don't have a problem delegating the application process to other companies like RVA. So why not accept medicals from certified AMEs? It would save everyone involved lots of time!

Who does your medicals once you're in ATC? I assumed you just find an AME on your own....

And what takes so long about this medical clearance? I thought they just look at your paperwork there and OK it if you're fine. For someone like me who has no diseases and no medications, how long could it possibly take? Or do they order charts from your family practitioner to double check or something?
 
So how are you to know if you are "safe" when you get a class date? What a blow to go through the Academy and then be told "just kidding".


well...you know if you have a heart condition..or something that might disqualify you.

I think it sucks for someone to get through all of this waiting...training...and told to study maps once they get to their facility....then shown the door for a medical condition they were upfront about.

Remember...you can be fired or "let go" for anything in the first year.
 
I'm supposed to be going to OKC on October 2nd. I was told my medical clearance was complete. Is this only conditional or am I still capable of being medically rejected after I get to OKC? How many of these clearances are conditional and how long does it take to get a final approval? I heard the security clearance was conditional and I knew according to some estimates that it might take up to 9 months for the complete investigation, but why so long for a medical? Is there just one guy doing this job?
 
I'm supposed to be going to OKC on October 2nd. I was told my medical clearance was complete. Is this only conditional or am I still capable of being medically rejected after I get to OKC? How many of these clearances are conditional and how long does it take to get a final approval? I heard the security clearance was conditional and I knew according to some estimates that it might take up to 9 months for the complete investigation, but why so long for a medical? Is there just one guy doing this job?

I would assume they tell you if your going to OKC conditionally. As far as security clearance goes.... My source has told me that they have had trainees pulled off the floor at his center by security clearance personnel to explain things from their past. So...I know that may not be complete even after OKC...

For medical.... you should be in the clear if you don't have any preexisting injuries..medical conditions that would keep you from being safe... Dying on the scope would be bad. I think heart problems and sleeping disorders are the big issue..
 
I would assume they tell you if your going to OKC conditionally. As far as security clearance goes.... My source has told me that they have had trainees pulled off the floor at his center by security clearance personnel to explain things from their past. So...I know that may not be complete even after OKC...

For medical.... you should be in the clear if you don't have any preexisting injuries..medical conditions that would keep you from being safe... Dying on the scope would be bad. I think heart problems and sleeping disorders are the big issue..

Wishing more and more I'd never walked into that sleep apnea diagnosis... I swear to god I'll perform a tracheotomy on myself if necessary.
 
Since talking with the medical office a couple times, I would say there about 6 people working in the department. I have spoken with 3 ladies and one gentleman. I added 2 more cause I figured there had to be more than just 4 of them. When you think of the thousands of medicals they have to clear, I could see how someone could get cleared and then upon later review decide it wasn't the best idea.
 
Since talking with the medical office a couple times, I would say there about 6 people working in the department. I have spoken with 3 ladies and one gentleman. I added 2 more cause I figured there had to be more than just 4 of them. When you think of the thousands of medicals they have to clear, I could see how someone could get cleared and then upon later review decide it wasn't the best idea.


I read on an FAA site that there were over 4 thousand February applications. I don't know how many of those were asked to take the AT-SAT...Then out of those, how many made the referral list...then out of those, how many made it to PEPC. But.... lets say it was 1 thousand medical clearances for one tiny staff to work on. I can see why it may take so long.

Then Add Pub 2's coming down the pipe......
 
I don't understand why we can't have an aviation medical examiner do our medical for us and then have that sent in.

Right now I already have a Class I. I mean why not just accept that?

agreed... i have had several pilot medicals. i guess they want their own people doing the work :confused:
 
I don't understand why we can't have an aviation medical examiner do our medical for us and then have that sent in.

Right now I already have a Class I. I mean why not just accept that?

They don't have a problem delegating the application process to other companies like RVA. So why not accept medicals from certified AMEs? It would save everyone involved lots of time!

Who does your medicals once you're in ATC? I assumed you just find an AME on your own....

And what takes so long about this medical clearance? I thought they just look at your paperwork there and OK it if you're fine. For someone like me who has no diseases and no medications, how long could it possibly take? Or do they order charts from your family practitioner to double check or something?

I agree wholeheartedly there. I'm having my medical renewed tomorrow and I don't forsee anything keeping that from going through. Here's the kicker, even after an AME signs off on it, someone at OKC still looks over it, even if there is nothing suspicious about it. Even then, according to the stats I got from the AOPA, the FAA only asks for more information or rejects a medical less than 3% of the time for all applications received in a year. Most of those are asking for more information and then are issued once the FAA gets what they're looking for. So on the other hand, they don't usually reject many people either and it may be that someone has created a mountain out of a (personal) mole-hill.

It would save them a tremendous amount of time and money if they would just tell everyone to go out and get a Class 1 or 2 medical (depending on if they do an EKG or not) and have it with you when you go to your PEPC. If they want to run an extra vision and hearing test while you're there to verify results, fine.

In the interim, I'd think that the 2nd best solution would be just not to give someone a class date until they're cleared. For those of us currently working, we can't hinge our career on wether or not some pencil pusher took his/her sweet time getting some paperwork done.
 
From what I understand, regarding the sec check, the SF-85 is a fairly quick process. The SF-86 however has two levels, and most facility people are sent to OKC on a tentative security clearance, because of the level of investigation they do for it. Atleast we're not on Top Secret :p That's insane, they go to peoples homes, then interview references they get from those people about themselves!!
 
I am en route going through the SF-86 and I will tell you that I already have a class date and my HR told me all my clearances are in, than on Monday I had an interview with an OPM investigator to go over a couple things, it wasn't really a big deal but this investigation will not be completed by the time i go to OKC on Oct 10th.
 
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