New 1st class medical duration

[flyer172r]

It may be a hassle, but many of them are making big bucks giving medicals--especially the certificate MILLS. I know of one Doc in Miami that works Monday through Thursday, 9:30 until 4:30, and does about 35 medicals a day at $100. $3500 dollars a day is not alot of money anymore, but it's not a bad life for him. For regular customers, he has a 5 minute evaluation, write the check, pick up the certificate, and you are out the door in less than 15 minutes.

Um, $3500 a day, four days a week, fifty weeks a year (assuming two weeks of vacation) would be $700,000 a year. Even if he worked half the year, how is that not a lot of money anymore?

 

[landlover]

It may be a hassle, but many of them are making big bucks giving medicals--especially the certificate MILLS. I know of one Doc in Miami that works Monday through Thursday, 9:30 until 4:30, and does about 35 medicals a day at $100. $3500 dollars a day is not alot of money anymore, but it's not a bad life for him. For regular customers, he has a 5 minute evaluation, write the check, pick up the certificate, and you are out the door in less than 15 minutes.

said doctor makes about 670,000 a year. how is that not a lot of money?

 

[Ameriagle]

There's going to be a lot of AMEs pissed about their loss of an income stream.

However, on the flip side, there's going to be a lot of happy pilots.

When does this take effect?

Your favorite AME just doubled the price he charges for a first class medical!

 

[sweptback]

Your favorite AME just doubled the price he charges for a first class medical!

I hope not, I paid $140 for my last.

 

[regionalcap]

I hope not, I paid $140 for my last.

Ouch..Are there not any cheaper doctors nearby? I only pay 70 for my first class.

 

[Brasilia Flyer]

SkyWest sent an email that they will adhere to the FAA's new rule. 12 month 1st class if you're under 40.

 

[ReverseSensing]

SkyWest sent an email that they will adhere to the FAA's new rule. 12 month 1st class if you're under 40.

Skywest management must be smarter than Horizon management, though that's not saying a whole lot.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Skywest management must be smarter than Horizon management, though that's not saying a whole lot.

Skywest management IS smarter than most managements......I know....it's the koolaid....can I get another round over here....

 

[skid]

It may be a hassle, but many of them are making big bucks giving medicals--especially the certificate MILLS. I know of one Doc in Miami that works Monday through Thursday, 9:30 until 4:30, and does about 35 medicals a day at $100. $3500 dollars a day is not alot of money anymore, but it's not a bad life for him. For regular customers, he has a 5 minute evaluation, write the check, pick up the certificate, and you are out the door in less than 15 minutes.

This is a prime example of why this whole thing is a joke. I have met people that could not walk 50 feet without gasping for air yet they could pass their exam by just going to the same person for 30 years. Most of the time the doc only sees you to have you cough and maybe listen to you breath. Why the hell does that cost $100.

I think it is a crock that all these companies are not accepting the change. Did they give you the "well you are professionals and because of this, we think you should go above and beyond to ensure the safety of our customers. And by the way we are cutting your pay!"

 

[Golden Falcon]

Think Mesaba might find out that is illegal to do??

 

[a-v-8er]

...and once again the unions will be worthless addressing the once a year medical issue with mngmnt!

Otherwise good news!

 

[FlyAirtran]

Ditto Horizon. Waiting for Sabre to reprogram whatever TRS-80 they run Training Records on. They're having a hard time finding cassette tapes. I offered them some of my old Styx albums.

No thats funny right there, I dont care who ya are. :laugh:

 

[BOX OFFICE]

I would think that airlines would be opening themselves up to quite a bit of liability by demanding medical standards above and beyond those of the FAA if they don't adjust their policy to the new requirements. By doing so, they place the burden of inspection and enforcement upon themselves rather than the governmental agency. Thusly, if an accident occurs and the medical certification comes into question, it is the company that the lawyers will go after. As it is now, if there's a wreck attributed to poor medical condition, the company can point to the FAA and say the pilot met their standards. They will lose that ability.

An example of this was many airlines moving away from "in house" 12 hour bottle to throttle rules and reducing the requirement to the FAA 8 hour rule a few years ago. It was done for liability reasons as stated above because if a pilot showed up above the limit between 12 and 8 hours and flew, then wrecked, the company would have been responsible for not enforcing their own rule. Ford & Harrison led that move.

 

[ReverseSensing]

An example of this was many airlines moving away from "in house" 12 hour bottle to throttle rules and reducing the requirement to the FAA 8 hour rule a few years ago. It was done for liability reasons as stated above because if a pilot showed up above the limit between 12 and 8 hours and flew, then wrecked, the company would have been responsible for not enforcing their own rule. Ford & Harrison led that move.

Figures...:erm:...Horizon has preserved their "unique" culture on this issue too. No drinking within 12 hours of duty, or on the same calendar day as any duty.

Oh, and now we can't use our phones in the cockpit...uh...box office, except for company business. Pfffft.

 

[sweptback]

...and once again the unions will be worthless addressing the once a year medical issue with mngmnt!

Otherwise good news!

What does your contract say about medical standards? Most ALPA contracts are pretty specific that they recognize whatever the FAA has set as the only bar to meet.

 

[shamrock]

I had a nice little rant worked up ripping ASA management for putting out excuses and "we'll try to get this through but don't guarantee anything" garbage but it looks like Scott went and took the wind out of my sails with his latest memo. :angryfire

ASA is advancing all 1st class medicals 6 months for everyone under 40, at least according to his update.

 

[centralpilot]

I had a nice little rant worked up ripping ASA management for putting out excuses and "we'll try to get this through but don't guarantee anything" garbage but it looks like Scott went and took the wind out of my sails with his latest memo. :angryfire

ASA is advancing all 1st class medicals 6 months for everyone under 40, at least according to his update.

It probably didn't hurt that ALPA was all over the previous memo being a blatant violation of the CBA.

 

[WMUSIGPI]

I think at Mesaba it's a matter of the archaic computer systems need to be upgraded for the change, once that's done then they will follow the new rules but until then the computers will keep flagging people based on the old requirements. So perhaps about the time I turn 40 they will have everything sorted out.... (that's about 10 years if you are counting)

 

[Raskal]

I think at Mesaba it's a matter of the archaic computer systems need to be upgraded for the change, once that's done then they will follow the new rules but until then the computers will keep flagging people based on the old requirements. So perhaps about the time I turn 40 they will have everything sorted out.... (that's about 10 years if you are counting)

I'm sorry, but I find that to be ridiculous at the least, malicious at worst. When we get an updated medical we send it in, at some point someone manually puts in the new exam date. So, please, explain to me why even on this archaic system we simply can't have them manually re-enter an expiration/exam date (as they already do every 6 months) so that as the system thinks we expire after six months it will just show renewed for the remainder? Does that make sense?

This is complete BS.

 

[temcgrew]

This is a prime example of why this whole thing is a joke. I have met people that could not walk 50 feet without gasping for air yet they could pass their exam by just going to the same person for 30 years. Most of the time the doc only sees you to have you cough and maybe listen to you breath. Why the hell does that cost $100.

I think it is a crock that all these companies are not accepting the change. Did they give you the "well you are professionals and because of this, we think you should go above and beyond to ensure the safety of our customers. And by the way we are cutting your pay!"

All companies should adhere to the FAR's on this or fork out for the exam. Before this passed, they couldn't get away with forcing 1st class medicals every 3 months or 2nd class every 6 months. Or how about forcing retirement at age 60 instead of 65?