Boris Badenov
This is no laughing matter.
I sometimes think that going through the FAA's program to prove that you're not nuts might be irrefutable proof that you ARE nuts, but way to chase what you want to do. Hope it works out.
Hello, this is my first time posting here, so hopefully I am doing this correctly...
I am trying to finish up my Private Pilot Certification, since I started way back in 1989!! Now, I have more time and more money to finish. I was diagnosed several years ago with "mild anxiety", and put on Paxil. I was on that drug for about 8 years, until I started thinking about my medical again. I met with an AME more than a year ago, and he suggested I should switch to Lexapro if my regular doctor would agree. The AME told me to come back for an exam after I had been on the Lexapro for at least 6 months.
At about 7 months, which was this past August 2016, I had my AME exam for the SSRI Special Issusnce. I was also referred to a psychologist and psychiatrist to do reports and a battery of testing such as AECogscreen, and about 5-6 other tests.
Anyway, all of the results came back looking really good, so my AME put everything together including his recommendation letter, and all of the requested reports and forms, and sent it off to OKC. That was on September 24th, 2016. My AME told me it would be about 8 weeks to get the answer back from the FAA.
Meanwhile, on November 30th, I received a letter from the FAA that stated that I needed to fill out all sorts of new forms and checklists for my submitted, which was submitted more than 2 months prior to getting this letter. It turns out that about 1 month after we submitted everything, using the FAA's hodge-podge of instructions, the FAA completely re-vamped their paperwork and processes, making it more streamlined, and easier to follow. The letter we got from FAA said we should have used those documents. But, as I said earlier, we submitted the full pack of documents the "old way" about a month before the new procedures went online. Needless to say, I was pretty mad, but my AME called someone in OKC and they straightened everything out.... supposedly, anyway...
Now, we are in the middle of March 2017, my package has been to the FAA just 4 days short of 6 months. I call every week to check on the status, and they tell
me every single time that it is in the "review process, in Washington DC, and there is nothing more I can do other than keep calling the same number every week for updates." I asked if there was a timeframe I could expect to hear something, and they told me "no timeframe".
So, I have no idea when this SI will get issued, if ever. My AME says he called the federal flight surgeon in DC, but he told him the same thing, which is that we gotta keep waiting.
Now, for the Doctor In this forum..is there anything else I can do to move this along? Would you recommend trying to talk to the FAA psychologist and see if he has even seen my file yet? This is a terrible position to be in because at this rate, the one year re-exam will come up later this summer, and have to go through more hoops.
What can I expect now, waiting 6 months? And ideas?
Thanks!
Hello, this is my first time posting here, so hopefully I am doing this correctly...
I am trying to finish up my Private Pilot Certification, since I started way back in 1989!! Now, I have more time and more money to finish. I was diagnosed several years ago with "mild anxiety", and put on Paxil. I was on that drug for about 8 years, until I started thinking about my medical again. I met with an AME more than a year ago, and he suggested I should switch to Lexapro if my regular doctor would agree. The AME told me to come back for an exam after I had been on the Lexapro for at least 6 months.
At about 7 months, which was this past August 2016, I had my AME exam for the SSRI Special Issusnce. I was also referred to a psychologist and psychiatrist to do reports and a battery of testing such as AECogscreen, and about 5-6 other tests.
Anyway, all of the results came back looking really good, so my AME put everything together including his recommendation letter, and all of the requested reports and forms, and sent it off to OKC. That was on September 24th, 2016. My AME told me it would be about 8 weeks to get the answer back from the FAA.
Meanwhile, on November 30th, I received a letter from the FAA that stated that I needed to fill out all sorts of new forms and checklists for my submitted, which was submitted more than 2 months prior to getting this letter. It turns out that about 1 month after we submitted everything, using the FAA's hodge-podge of instructions, the FAA completely re-vamped their paperwork and processes, making it more streamlined, and easier to follow. The letter we got from FAA said we should have used those documents. But, as I said earlier, we submitted the full pack of documents the "old way" about a month before the new procedures went online. Needless to say, I was pretty mad, but my AME called someone in OKC and they straightened everything out.... supposedly, anyway...
Now, we are in the middle of March 2017, my package has been to the FAA just 4 days short of 6 months. I call every week to check on the status, and they tell
me every single time that it is in the "review process, in Washington DC, and there is nothing more I can do other than keep calling the same number every week for updates." I asked if there was a timeframe I could expect to hear something, and they told me "no timeframe".
So, I have no idea when this SI will get issued, if ever. My AME says he called the federal flight surgeon in DC, but he told him the same thing, which is that we gotta keep waiting.
Now, for the Doctor In this forum..is there anything else I can do to move this along? Would you recommend trying to talk to the FAA psychologist and see if he has even seen my file yet? This is a terrible position to be in because at this rate, the one year re-exam will come up later this summer, and have to go through more hoops.
What can I expect now, waiting 6 months? And ideas?
Thanks!