Private Consultation with AME

[MidlifeFlyer]

Are there circumstances in which an AME is permitted to consult with a pilot while maintaining privacy - not report to the FAA? Assume a pilot with a current medical certificate who wants to find out how it will affect the next application.

Is there a written guidance on the issue?

 

[My Flight Surgeon]

Anything the AME knows, he is obliged to report to the FAA. I think your personal doctor should not be your AME.

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

Anything the AME knows, he is obliged to report to the FAA. I think your personal doctor should not be your AME.

I absolutely agree about avoiding an AME as a personal physician. I think your first sentence answered the first part of my question which was actually about using an AME as a pre-exam consultant to "clear" certain issues before making a new medical certificate application.

I'm still wondering whether there is any written guidance on an AME's obligation to report anything he or she learns about a pilot outside the course of the formal aviation medical examination. There are a number of these issues that may be of interest. For example, this forum isn't anonymous. What if an identified pilot, though a question, discloses something about him or her self that is a cause for disqualification; are you obligated to report it? Written guidance tends to clarify questions like that.

 

[My Flight Surgeon]

I am only obligated to report if I see the airman for a medical exam. Here is the guidance: https://www.faa.gov/about/office_or...ices/aam/ame/guide/app_process/general/legal/

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

Thank you. Kind of what I expected to see but it's good to see it.

 

[Stomp16]

Why not go to an AME who is general practice but not YOUR AME? You could ask all the questions you wanted and not have to worry about anything being reported.

 

[My Flight Surgeon]

You can do that but I would suggest seeing an AME who does at least 25 medicals a month. He will be more current with FAA policies because he has to deal with them more often. You would not go to a heart surgeon who operated once a month - better to see one that operates 4-5 times a week.

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

Why not go to an AME who is general practice but not YOUR AME? You could ask all the questions you wanted and not have to worry about anything being reported.

I would ask the "consulting" AME exactly how he or she feels about it (if you look back, that's actually what my question involved).

The guidance Dr Forred refers to is a reminder that US criminal laws regarding false statements to the government would apply to an examining AME who signed off on an airman application knowing something material was omitted. But my experience tells me that there are those who may well read it more restrictively than that and be uncomfortable with that type of consultation.