Self Grounding

[Anon]

I have a question about self grounding, seems to be controversial and I always get different answers.

If someone gets a diagnosis or goes to the ER etc, deals with it and then continues flying. Is it fine just to report on next AME visit? What happens if next AME visit you report then AME says denied or deferred. Does one get in trouble if they honestly thought they were fine and didn’t self ground - Such as if your primary care says your are fine.

I know there are cases where it’s obvious if you are diagnosed with heart disease or take banned meds then that’s an obvious bad decision.

I guess what happened a if someone didn’t self ground then the a year later the AME says well I actually need more tests or something. You just get the tests and you are good? Or do you get in trouble. A lot of people in aviation have very different opinions even the AME seems pretty vague about things. Always a “case by case”. Any personal experiences or stories? I’m always afraid to goto the doctor with fear of then having to self ground indefinitely if something is indeterminate and therefore lose income (commercial pilot here)

Thanks for any input guys.

 

[PeterNSteinmetz]

John has chest pains. He goes to emergency, they run tests, observe him for <24 hours and released. He later consults a cardio doc, does a stress test with a good result.

At this point what condition does John have that would indicate he should self ground? He is required to report the visits as diagnostic testing. If he has to report being admitted to hospital depends on the hospital record.

I think that in a male the FAA is going to want a complete set of records from the stress test and a stress echocardiogram. Not just the report. Those can usually only be obtained for a while off the instrument that did the test. Best to get them right away to your AME.

There are often little gotchas in the FAA aeromedical process. Best to have an experienced AME on the process, especially if a bit older.