We better all slim down

wheelsup said:
If you go to a guy in FL it's pretty much the only guy who people will fly in from out of state to see, he's in a fly-in community, right? IMO you aren't a real pilot until you get your medical done in his hanger. It's basically a right of passage.
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Just jumpseated from PR a week ago! :) 2 minutes 16 seconds for the medical, 20ish minutes chit chatting.
 
pullup said:
FYI a typical sleep study is around $2,000 - $2,500 depending on equipment/monitoring used.
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I would assume that this will be more detrimental to non union 121 flyers than union pilots, but it is basically a guaranteed death kiss to GA.
Nanny government killed it all and sold it out to China in the process. Downright idiocy.
 
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So you're saying if you look like this, you probably need to make some changes in your life?



I think I've found a new niche and will start a new company that specializes in neck stretching, guaranteeing your neck to be <17inches in X amount of time for a ba-jillion dollars.
 
wheelsup said:
It's basically a right of passage.
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Rite.

Hey, someone has to regulate around here.

grammar-nazi.jpg
 
bronco21016 said:
BMI is a joke. I've been very low body fat back during high school football and according to the charts I was still around a 26 BMI which put me in the "overweight" category.
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Agreed. BMI, like most generically applied indices, does little to account for outliers. Well, they wouldn't really be outliers if we weren't a land of lard asses. But folks who are very fit and muscular often go off the top of the BMI. BMI does a poor job of evaluating density. Muscle is much more dense than fat. A short-ish (5'10" @Boris Badenov) guy who is muscular is often going to flag the BMI test. I myself am 5'10" and 190. 16'1/2" neck, thank god. No one would call me fat, however. And few believe I weigh 190. In a land of comparison to averages, everyone is just a number.
Lol. I just did my BMI on the NIH calculator. I'd have to lose 50lbs to be mid-range "normal". Or grow a few inches...Isn't there a pill for that?
 
Boris Badenov said:
When selecting an AME, I always recommend that one find a guy who is A) A pilot, B) Not in practice, and C) Older than Methuselah. This formulation has yet to fail me. The guy I went to for years and years finally hung it up round about 2009, but he was a B-17 pilot...IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR. His test seemed basically to be "Oh, so you noticed me enter the room and you obviously can hear me talking...let's get started on the paperwork".
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I went to a guy who wasn't a pilot and was pretty new to medicine for my first 2 medicals. Big mistake. He even made me drop my shorts to check for hernias.
 
I had some fun with this today.

Controller who does long distance bicycling for charity has a BMI that indicated slightly overweight.

A supervisor made a good point. "So this is about sleep quality. Now they don't care if I went on a bender last night or had eight hours between shifts, but God forbid I snore."

I'll ask the ATA what his BMI is next time I see him. Guy is about 5'3, part time personal trainer, full time biceps the size of my head. My guess is he's obese by BMI never mind the fact he can probably bench press three Genots (one Genot = 200 pounds).
 
OK, seriously stupid question though: Why is sleep apnea disqualifying? I mean I get the whole stoppage of breathing while sleeping is bad, and the resulting fatigue isn't good either, but unless you're napping in the cockpit why is it a problem? Surely it can't be any more fatigue-inducing than, say, a 121 schedule on its own?

Which then brings up a chicken vs. egg argument: Is the fatigue resulting from sleep apnea degrading one's QOL to the point they feel physically unable to exercise, and as such live more sedentary and gain weight, or is sleep apnea a symptom of obesity?
 
I don't see any of you tricks in the "Health and Fitness" section of the forums.

GET THERE.
 
dustoff17 said:
You don't seriously believe this, do you?
This is an overreach by our Government to a level not seen before.......
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jtrain609 said:
Slavery.
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I'll re-state:
This is an overreach by our Government to a level not seen before by me within my lifetime. :)

Screaming_Emu said:
It's stupid, government related, but so far from "democrats and the unemployment rate" that it's not even funny.
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Not arguing this point at all. I agree that blaming any political party is stupid. However, to state that it isn't "political" is a reach.
 
The Fez said:
Oh, I fully agree. My BMI has hung out between 27 and 28.5, aside for a year or so, for nearly a decade now. I have never failed my military pt test and have never had any issues with my flight physical, yet at my yearly appointment, I'm told I should lose some weight...usually by some flight doc that's stretching the seams and zipper on his flight suit. I dropped down to 175 from 195 (BMI 24.4) a few years ago and my wife hated it. Said I looked sick, and you know what? I didn't feel good. To maintain 175 I had the eat next to nothing and do cardio like a maniac. Conversely, at 195 I can eat and drink nearly anything in moderation, can miss some workouts, and the scale stays within a pound or two every time I step on it.

This policy, like many organizational "health" policies, is simply trying to fit as many people as it can into strictly defined health categories that don't accurately model the real human body.
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Congrats on winning the genetic lottery.
 
gotWXdagain said:
OK, seriously stupid question though: Why is sleep apnea disqualifying? I mean I get the whole stoppage of breathing while sleeping is bad, and the resulting fatigue isn't good either, but unless you're napping in the cockpit why is it a problem? Surely it can't be any more fatigue-inducing than, say, a 121 schedule on its own?
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I'm sure the good doctor could answer it better, but the issue with sleep apnea is that because you stop breathing, your body takes over and wakes you up so you can gasp for breath. The word "fatigue" probably minimizes how bad it can be. "Exhaustion" is probably a better word. People with severe apnea can wake up more than one hundred times in a night. The frequent wakings prevent your body from hitting the deep sleep it needs to rejuvenate and recover. While I have no doubt a 121 schedule is fatigue inducing by itself, imagine a drunk wedding party in the hotel room next door waking you up 100+ times while you slept. Would you be rested and safe enough to go flying?
 
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