1st class medical deferred.

[jac]

I am planning on starting ATP's career airline pilot program (ppl plus all) but to start I need to get a class 1 medical. Went to get that bad boy today but the doc told me he had to 'defer' it and I would get a response from the faa. Quick history: I have a misdemeanor DUI dating from 10/02 and am hypertensive (high-ish blood pressure) and on 10mg of lisinopril (once daily) for treatment. He said it wasn't a denial and he said I would probably still end up getting the 'ok' but would need to provide documentation for those 2 issues. I have documentation for both and will get the necessary blood work, blood pressure readings etc. from my doc for the faa. I also have all court documentation from the DUI I will forward to the faa.

My questions:
1. Is there anything else I should be providing or start tracking down?
2. Was he correct in his optimism that I'll still end up getting the certificate or was he blowing smoke?
3. If it looks good on getting the medical certificate how long does that take? I was hoping to start the full time training in August.

Thank you!

[My Flight Surgeon]

1) You will need to provide an EKG, lipid profile and blood sugar in addition to a letter from your doc stating your history, medications, lack of side effects from the medications and blood pressure on 3 different days. For the DUI you can send the court documents.

2) He was correct, you will get the medical certificate.

3) It will probably take 4 weeks after they get the documents. Send them via certified mail with return receipt so you know they got them.

4) A comment regarding the AME - he obviously does not do a lot of physicals (85% of AME's do fewer than 25 a year) and is not current on the FAA requirements. He could have a) commented on the DUI in block 60 refering to the fact this was the only one you received and b) held the medical 2 weeks to allow you to gather the information you needed and issued the certificate while forwarding all of the documentation for the blood pressure to the FAA.

[jac]

Thank you very much for the info.

[My Flight Surgeon]

Enjoy your flying.

Join us for the Meet & Greet at Rock Bottom in Desert Ridge (101 & Tatum) at 7:00 Thursday evening.