Special Issuance Letter Required to be carried w med certificate out of CONUS

[dc8b75v8r]

Has anybody got any insight to a new alleged requirement to carry not only a medical certificate properly annotated by your AME but to also carry the Letter from the FAA AeroMed HQ outlining the Special Issuance authority when operating outside the USA, specifically in any other ICAO airspace?

My company has made this requirement an SOP, but I have not revieved any formal notification of such from OKC, and I am trying to find the genisis of said requirement.

If you don't know what this is about, consider your self lucky, otherwise anyone with real knowledge about this feel free to respond.

I did post this on Medical as well, but the relevance here is as follows:

If this is true, and you are on a trip today outside CONUS, and you get ramped by a foreign Aviation inspector, and you don't have this letter with you, are you at risk, or does my company have this wrong?

This borders on possible ADA violations, IMHO

Thanks

Fly Safe

 

[SpyFlysDOTs]

How would they know you have a special issuance medical?

 

[dc8b75v8r]

Consider yourself lucky if you don't know

Imho!

 

[SpyFlysDOTs]

Well, I am NOT that lucky.
So if they see one stamped rather than signed this would apply?

 

[~~~^~~~]

This borders on possible ADA violations, IMHO

Thanks

Fly Safe

The DOT/FAA is not bound by ADA and I'm not sure pilots are eligible. After all, there are a lot of bona fide occupational qualifications required in our jobs that don't apply to being a desk jockey.

Most airlines have Special Issuance documentation on file and a procedure to send out that documentation if a crew is caught short on a trip.

Maybe I don't get the question.

 

[oz8910]

While I have a special issuance my medical only states I must wear corective lenses. There would be no way to know about the special issuance unless I said something.

 

[sweptback]

Special issuance medical certificates say "NOT VALID AFTER MM/DD/YY". If it doesn't say that, it's not special issuance...

 

[Green]

Special issuance medical certificates say "NOT VALID AFTER MM/DD/YY". If it doesn't say that, it's not special issuance...

correct. Under limitations it will usually say not valid for any class after a certain date. Which I believe is always 1 year after exam. So instead of reverting to a 2nd or 3rd class it expires completely....

 

[BoilerUP]

As of last week, AOPA and Virtual Flight Surgeons (that'd be ALPA Aeromedical) still weren't sure if the revised FAR legally mandated pilots with Special Issuances carry the letter not just internationally, but domestically as well.

ICAO Audit

ICAO, the aviation wing of the United Nations, audited the United States Government’s civil aviation safety oversight system from November 5–19, 2007, as part of the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP). The ICAO USOAP teams assess whether a signatory state meets international aviation standards. The audit is very
comprehensive and part of the focus is on licensing systems and keeping them aligned with international aviation standards.

ICAO findings for many signatory states, including the United States, have revealed a need to revise licensing systems to ensure conformance with
ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices. Specifically, ICAO recommends endorsements on licenses for any person holding a license who does not satisfy in full the conditions set forth in international standards. These individuals must have endorsed on or attached to their license a complete enumeration of the particulars in which they do not satisfy such conditions. In order to comply with our international obligations to ICAO, the FAA has determined that affected persons, those who have been granted an Authorization for Special Issuance of a Medical Certificate (Authorization) or a Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA) must carry their Authorization or SODA with them when exercising pilot privileges. In order to satisfy this ICAO obligation, the FAA has amended existing § 67.401(j) accordingly.

§ 67.401 Special issuance of medical
certificates.
* * * * *
(j) An Authorization or SODA granted
under the provisions of this section to
a person who does not meet the
applicable provisions of subparts B, C,
or D of this part must be in that person’s
physical possession or readily
accessible in the aircraft

 

[ground stop]

i have a special issuance medical and my examiner told me last month after the exam to make sure i carry the letter from okc in my flight bag whenever i am exercising the privileges of my medical (this was the first mention of this in the three exams that i have been under the special issuance). my company can send you a copy of your medical certificate if you lose it on the road but nothing about a special issuance letter. i can see the original poster's point of not wanting the company to have any more knowledge of your health than what is required. "i have a first class medical and that is all you need to know." if they have a copy of the letter from okc then the company knows information that is only supposed to be between you, the doctor and the faa medical office.

 

[SpyFlysDOTs]

So far, no mention from my airline that we are required to have this information on file with them.

 

[KFpilot]

I have a special issuance. One would think if there is a change, we would be informed. I have had mine for two years, this is the first I have heard of this. I go in Jan, I guess I will ask.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

I would carry it. It never hurts.

IMHO, you can tell if someone is under a SI if you look at the medical. As a previous poster states, it has a dead date on it. It is a deal give away. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[dc8b75v8r]

Good stuff folks!

Thanks for the AOPA references, it clarifies alot.

 

[iaflyer]

from ALPA

Attention SIA Letter Holders—New Requirement Following an ICAO audit of FAA practices as part of the harmonization efforts among the world aviation authorities, the FAA amended 14 CFR 67.401 (Special Issuance of Medical Certificates) in July 2008. Paragraph (j) now states that for a pilot who holds a special issuance authorization (SIA) letter, that letter “must be in that person’s physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft.” What does this mean to the thousands of pilots currently holding special issuances? The rule was implemented primarily to comply with ICAO standards. Pilots flying outside the United States may see stricter enforcement of the regulation by non-U.S. aviation officials. Pilots flying in the United States may be asked to produce their SIA letter (in addition to their current medical certificate and any Statement of Demonstrated Ability they hold) for an inspector, although this procedure historically has not been required.
Although FAA medical certificates do not include any diagnoses, the SIA letter lists in the first paragraph the specific diagnoses for which the airman does not meet certification standards, consequently raising privacy concerns. Although the policy was implemented by Flight Standards, the FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine shares these privacy concerns regarding this policy.

 

[iaflyer]

and here is paragraph J of the FAA regs, part 67 (which is what medical certificates are issued under)§ 67.401 Special issuance of medical certificates.

(I left out paragraph a-i, you can get it at http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...iv8&view=text&node=14:2.0.1.1.5.5.1.1&idno=14

(j) An Authorization or SODA granted under the provisions of this section to a person who does not meet the applicable provisions of subparts B, C, or D of this part must be in that person's physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft.

Docket No. 27940, 61 FR 11256, Mar. 19, 1996, as amended by Amdt. 67–20, 73 FR 43066, July 24, 2008]