Medical certification question, honesty?

[apcooper]

Hey ye all,


I wanted to ask all you experienced pilots a tough question. Here is the seceario. I have a long time pilot friend who is in a dilema. Last year he started taking Lexapro for ongoing depression. He knows that if he reports taking this drug on his next med exam next month he will be denied a medical by his AME and the FAA. He is wondering whether or not to simply not report it or tell the truth and be honest. I told him I'd be honest if I were him but it was ultimately up to him. What would all you do if in this situation? My friend sure could use some help. Let me know what you think would be best for him. Thanks.

 

[350DRIVER]

I would not so much be as concerned about a medical as I would be with the possible side effects/problems that this drug may or may not cause inflight while he is at the controls whether it be directly or indirectly. Not only is his safety at stake but also those of innocent people below him. The FAA expects a pilot to come forward and put down any prescription drugs that they are currently taking on the medical application. Could he get away with this?. Probably.. Is it smart?. Some would say no, I am one of them. I have known a few who have lied, cheated, etc, in life and usually this will in some way come back and haunt them in more ways than one.

Just my personal opinion and take it for what it is worth.. If it were me that was on this medication, I would ask myself a few questions prior to even going in for a medical exam. First and most importantly is "am I fit for flight in my current condition"?. "Why must I need to be on this medication", "is this a long term or a short term treatment"?. It is relatively easy to hide something but I certainly wouldn't do it if I were him.

He is obviously on this medication for a reason and to help him with the depression so I would probably suggest that he wait until he if off this prior to taking the medical. I am not overly familiar with this medication so I am not going to speculate other than what is known.

If the FAA says no and would decline someone a medical then it would be a no-brainer if it were me.

just my $.02

3 5 0

 

[Resume Writer]

The medicine is for depression as stated above. How long this person will be on it depends on whether the depression is situational or clinical. I believe it has relatively few side effects, however, any side effect is not good in aviation.

We had a person at my former airline that was on Prozac and he hid it from the company. They found out and promptly fired him. The rules are the rules and there is no reason to break them when people could be in jeopardy.

Kathy

 

[Pugh]

He also needs to remember that this is probably a medication he can't just stop taking one day. It has to be a slow step down as directed by his doctor.

 

[Vector4fun]

I would not only consider the above, but, depending on the circumstances, the FAA may persue criminal charges. They did against a former BOS controller...

http://www.atca.org/singlenews.asp?item_ID=1158

 

[GravityHater]

The issue of the disease & the drug use is almost minor compared to the penalties available for lying on a 8500 medical form. I have heard they can and will permanently revoke you for this behavior. Wish I had supportive documentation for that suggestion, but I would rather not apply for a medical until I was healed and could say it was all behind me (with doctor's letters).

 

[Jmmccutc]

Hey ye all

*long whistle* and i thought my gramar was bad....

here's my suggestion to your "friend," two valium and a few adult beverages...

 

[apcooper]

Gravity Hater,


Are you sure the penaties are permanent revocation for something like this? I didn't think there was any violation where a perm revoc could be imposed except obviously something crazy like attept hijack or the like. I thought by definition the longest the FAA could revoke you is a year. The 2 America West pilots who almost flew drunk a few years back got a year revocation on all their cert and ratings and after the 12 months were up they could fly again (but not get hired of course). Certainly one would have to agree that flying under the influence of alcohol is 100 times more serious than just simply not reporting a med condition. I still believe my friend ought to be honest. I also often hear of 120 day suspensions for the pilots who fail to report DUI's on the med exam. This seems like a fair, if not lenient penality to me.

 

[BD King]

Hey ye all,


I wanted to ask all you experienced pilots a tough question. Here is the seceario. I have a long time pilot friend who is in a dilema. Last year he started taking Lexapro for ongoing depression. He knows that if he reports taking this drug on his next med exam next month he will be denied a medical by his AME and the FAA. He is wondering whether or not to simply not report it or tell the truth and be honest. I told him I'd be honest if I were him but it was ultimately up to him. What would all you do if in this situation? My friend sure could use some help. Let me know what you think would be best for him. Thanks.

The answer is simple. Would you let your child ride with this guy, say, down to 200 and 1/2.?

 

[GravityHater]

Gravity Hater,
Are you sure the penaties are permanent revocation for something like this?

To be honest, and as I mentioned, I cannot be absolutely sure as I have not seen a copy of such a judgement. However I did hear the same story of such penalties for fraudulent behavior from a senior AME and another instructor who is very well versed with aviation legal matters.
Good luck to your friend, hope he gets it straightened out. Some docs put people on drugs when other methods will work, not realizing the drug = a death sentence to a medical.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Here's just two of the problems with lying on the medical if it gets found out

There are criminal penalties for lying on a government form. (I know. I find it a little strange that we can go to jail for lying to the government and there are no penalties for the government lying to us)

The medical certificate is invalid. Since it was based on a lie, it's void. That means that you were flying contrary to the regs. If you got into an accident, for example, your insurer might be able to get out of paying a claim since most policies contain a clause requiring you to have a valid certificate and medical.

You probably wouldn't be able to get an ATP due to your bad moral character.

 

[Jmmccutc]

apcooper, think of it like this, you know how under NTSB 830 you are required to report an illness that would disable a crew member from preforming his/her duties? well think of the consiquences of lying on a medical and then having an antidepressant drug related issue decapacitate your friend. granted they might only be able to revok for a 12 month period if that is the case, but they can always deny a medical disabling this person from ever flying again...most AME's are willing to work with the patients to help secure medicals for them, now i'm not sure how this would work in the case you described, but if i recall correctly depression (or any other mental condition) requiring prescribed medication is one of the 7 automatic disqualifications for a medical, class I, II, or III...also if you are not able to uphold the conditions that enable you to recieve the medical at any point durring it's duration, the medical is invalid...and medically corrected depression would be ground to null and void that medical (in my opinion)...

In my honest opinion this could go two ways, one you have your friend report it and try and take the necessary steps to legally obtain a medical...or, you can have the person deny it, maybe get away with it, or maybe get caught, i'm not sure if your friend flys as a means of livelyhood, and if so granted he might get caught and loose his medical for a say 12 month period but just like the America West pilots, he's done, will not get hired again if he is caught...

 

[semperfido]

the obvious answer is to consult an expert.

try these folks as they have a great reputation

http://www.aviationmedicine.com/

 

[Jmmccutc]

the obvious answer is to consult an expert.

try these folks as they have a great reputation

http://www.aviationmedicine.com/

good call...

 

[KPTPK]

Know apcooper when you say "a long time pilot friend of mine", do you mean yourself? Just Kidding!

Hey ye all,


I wanted to ask all you experienced pilots a tough question. Here is the seceario. I have a long time pilot friend who is in a dilema. Last year he started taking Lexapro for ongoing depression. He knows that if he reports taking this drug on his next med exam next month he will be denied a medical by his AME and the FAA. He is wondering whether or not to simply not report it or tell the truth and be honest. I told him I'd be honest if I were him but it was ultimately up to him. What would all you do if in this situation? My friend sure could use some help. Let me know what you think would be best for him. Thanks.

 

[apcooper]

Thanks for all your help. After reading this I think the best thing for my friend now is to just wait until he no longer needs the medication for 90 days and then see his AME with the documentation from his doc that he no longer needs the meds and is stable. This way he won't need to hide anything either. Fortunatly he only flies as a hobby and not for a living.