[Just your signature and sharing is needed, not donations]

Anyone who has ever been a passenger on an airplane should sign this petition. So should every pilot, flight attendant, controller, or AME! It affects all of us!

There are more than 800,000 pilots and air traffic controllers in the United States. And of them, there are more than 300,000 commercial-rated pilots and air traffic controllers. These professionals are responsible for the safe travel of almost 1 billion passengers per year.

For almost all of them, their livelihoods depend on keeping the FAA Medical Certificate current. However, it can take months to years before the FAA medical examiners can approve them to "return to fly" after a medical event. Almost every time the airmen returns to perfect health, and the only thing holding them back is the process at the FAA. Months and months go by as the airman waits to hear from the FAA...even though the health of the airman has been perfectly fine for all those months. 

The FAA is tasked with ensuring our skies are safe, and they do a great job at it, but there is something about the system that is holding up the medical process. Obviously, there are rules and regulations that they must adhere to, but it ends up putting pilots on the end of the whip. 

I've been told that they are "backlogged" and it just takes time for the FAA to get through them all, but their backlog results in a our loss of income, and makes it difficult to support our families. I know that the FAA isn't intentionally slowing down years-worth of backlogged paperwork, so I know they probably want a solution too. We need to bring awareness to this problem, and find a solution for all of us. There are countless examples of these issues on a daily bases. Countless numbers of airmen and controllers who are still waiting for their medical clearance paperwork to process. 

There are many possible solutions, such as giving Aviation Medical Examiners MORE authority, than they currently have, to issue certificates and let the paperwork catch up later.  For example, Senior AMEs have more visibility of an individual's medical status than the person at the FAA that is just reading reports. These Senior AMEs are in a much better position to determine the medical suitability of these professionals. It should be a simple process for a Senior AME to completely clear someone for ALL medical conditions which are resolved, and then let the FAA ask for all the extra documentation they want for their records, without impacting the individuals ability to work. 

A few years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and had a relatively quick procedure to have it removed. But it took less time for me to be diagnosed, treated, and recovered, than it did for the FAA to approve my medical certificate. I consider myself lucky that the entire process only kept me out of work for 9 months, but it should not have taken that long to issue me a medical certificate after being cleared by my doctor as "cancer free" within only 3 months. (I could do nothing but sit and wait to hear from the FAA. When I would call, someone would just say, "your status is pending.") Not everyone is as lucky as I am, and many are out of work for much longer periods of time. 

Understandably, the FAA process is theoretically designed for safety: to ensure that only medically qualified personnel are operating and controlling aircraft. But unfortunately the FAA process does not always lead to safer skies. Because of this broken process, many pilots chose to go undiagnosed for problems rather than having them addressed, since it may take years for them to return to work. 

Congress needs to address this immediately, and help the FAA get back on track, since this issue has been seen for many years and the problem only continues to grow as more and more pilots and controllers are needed for aviation. We need to dig in and figure out exactly what is causing these backlogs, and what can be done to fix them. Is it because the regulations are too cumbersome? Can a bill be written that gives the FAA more authority to adjust the process? 

It is hard to suggest a solution without being able to see behind the curtain, but it definitely needs to be studied and fixed before it has long-lasting affects on the future of aviation in the United States. With the looming "pilot shortage," "controller shortage," and the importance of keeping their livelihoods, the FAA needs to have an expedited process for pilots and controllers who need their FAA-Medical certificate to continue working in aviation.