Why is the FAA so strict?

[Unregistered]

Reading through all the medical threads leads me to believe the FAA is insanely strict. If someone gets a DWI and doesn't blow, it shouldn't be nearly impossible to get a medical. Dumb dumb dumb.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Man. When less than 1% of folks who apply for a medical fail to get one, how can that be "strict"?

There are probably many valid counter-arguments to the assumption in the original post. I want everyone to know that the above is not one of those valid arguments. If a simple check of less than 1% percent affected were a valid threshold for strict, then a law that required the beheading of everyone with a pilot's license would pass muster by that counter-argument.

Yes, some folks may have to do more work because of their conditions, but I think the USA is one of the least restrictive aviation authorities on the planet when it comes to medical certification of airmen. Feel free to move elsewhere.

Just because the above is a popular argument on this forum doesn't make it logically valid or a wise heuristic. Good luck hanging onto your remaining freedoms by continued application of it.