Third Class medical reform moving forward albeit slowly

[poadeleted20]

From AvWeb:

Also this week, the Department of Transportation said it will complete its overdue review of the FAA's proposed medical reforms on Monday. When the DOT does finish its review, it checks off another step in the rulemaking process that will eventually include a public comment period. The announcements come about a week after AOPA President Mark Baker sent a letter to the DOT, criticizing the agency for taking several months to complete what was supposed to be a 90-day review of the proposal.

As I said before, it wasn't the FAA holding this up.

 

[Jim Logajan]

We'll see when Monday rolls around. But thanks for the post.

Monday already rolled around. The Monday they had in mind was January 26.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Can someone tell me what the difference is between "several months" and "90 days"? :wink2:

The Avweb article missed a few important details. This AOPA article is slightly better:
http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/...o-complete-review-of-proposed-medical-reforms

Specifically:
"The Department of Transportation has announced plans to complete its review of proposed third class medical reforms on Jan. 26, allowing the FAA’s draft rule to move to the Office of Management and Budget for another round of mandatory reviews."
...
"In the meantime, the proposed FAA rule to reform the third class medical process is scheduled to leave the DOT nearly seven months after the department received it for a mandatory review that was scheduled to take no more than 90 days"

By my estimate, 7 months is about 213 days (365.25*(7/12)). Under normal conditions, 213 > 90.

As to what comes next:
"Once the DOT releases the proposed rule, it will move to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB,) which will also have 90 days to review and comment. Only after that review is complete will the FAA publish the notice of proposed rulemaking for public review. Although DOT announced the schedule on its website, there is no guarantee that the rule will move out of the department as planned. The OMB review could also take longer than the scheduled 90 days."

 

[Jim Logajan]

Delayed yet an additional two months. Won't be released for the comment period until 5/5/2015 now. See #18 in this document: http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/January 2015 Internet Report.docx

Went here to get the latest update (click on "April 2015 ..." link, or whatever appears as the latest date, for the latest report):

http://www.dot.gov/regulations/report-on-significant-rulemakings

Still stuck at the OST (Office of the Secretary of Transportation.) In the January report the projected date to get it to the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) was 1/26/2015. The April report has moved that to 4/23/2015. I'd hazard a guess that it still hasn't left the OST as of 5/5/2015.