February 2006 - American Bonanza Society

with a patient and other possible clues from blood tests (abnormalliver values), the practitioner may have enough to suspectthe patient is slipping into problems with drinking. The AMEmay not have this luxury.The ability to differentiate between a social drinker whonever progresse to troublesome behavior and someone who isstarting down the lippery slope to alcoholism can be very difficult.The FAA educational material relates that the pilot witha ingle DUI may be twice a likely to have an accident as apilot with no DUI conviction s.I think more and more of these private versus publicissues will arise. Our individual tolerances for giving up personalfreedoms or information for the general good will vary.The family of someone who was injured by a driver or pilotunder the influence of alcohol would certainly lobby for evenmore stringent early detection and removal of potentiallyimpaired drivers and pilots.In the end, we all must act responsibly-individuals, governmentsand organizations.Charles S. Davidson, M.D .• holds board ceriiffcolian in family medicine and emer·gency medicine. He has been on aviation medical examiner since 1978 andserves as a senior AME. He holds a private pilot license with multi.engine andInstrument rating. He is an active pilot using general aviation for business andpleasure tor 23 years and is a/so an ABS board member. He flies an A36 and is amember of AOIl\ and EM.Age limitQ. Is there an age limit on taking a flight physical?A. A person of any age can take a flight physica l. The minimumage for being able to solo an aircraft is 16 years. Theduration of validity for a Class Tn medical for someone in hisor her teens is three years.The medical is needed before one can solo. Therefore,getting the medical more than three years before the 16thbirthday might not benefit the aspiring pilot unless there werehealth issues of concern for passing the exam. In that case,contacting the AMCD or an AME might be prudent beforespending the time and money for the exam.There is no upper age limit for taking an aviation medicalexamination.Vision standardsQ. What are the vision standards for a third class physical?A. 20/40 in each eye, corrected or uncorrected.QUESTIONS OF THE MONTHMonovisionQ. My son is preparing to get his license. He is legallyblind in one eye. I know there are pilots with vision in onlyone eye. What is involved?A. You are correct that pilots wi th only one eye or blind inone eye can gain a medical certificate and pilot's license. If thesingle "good" eye passes standards, and your son otherwisepasses the AME exam for whatever class he desires, the AMEcan issue a medical certificate limited to "Flight as a StudentPilot Only."Some time before his checkride for his private pilot'slicense (or simultaneous with the checkride) he will need tohave a medical checkride. He will fly with an AME or physicianfrom the FAA who will assess his ability to fu nction withthe si ngle eye. Once he has passed this, he will receive a waiverfor his mono vision.IFYOU HAVE A MEDICAL QUESTION. SEND IlTO American BonanzaSociety, Attn: Aeromedical News, P.O. Box 12B88, Wichita, KS67277. Or use fax: 316-945-1710 or e·mail Who said being nice doesn't pay the rent?Introduce yourself the next time you run across a non-ABS Beech pilot and get' emto join. You can get another month added onto your ABS membership forevery new recruit you sign up. MfflIbenhip forms are avail4bk at www.bonanza.org.Have the new recruit enter your name in the space "/ karned about ABS from" to receive credit.