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Self Certify

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crjdude

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 30, 2002
Posts
220
Can a Private Pilot ASEL that has been denied a medical in the past get certified in gliders? Or would he/she not be able to "self certify?"
Thanks.
 
Lack of, or denial of, a medical means little when it's not required in the first place. Think of it like getting into your car and driving. If you don't think you'd be safe driving for a few hours, would you get into your car and drive anyhow?
 
I guess I need to know, from a legal standpoint, if someone has actually been denied their most recent medical certificate in the past would they be eligible to "self certify" themselves to fly a glider?
Thanks.
 
Yes, and they do all of the time. There are guys who have lost their medical, and the only way they could keep flying, was to get the glider rating, get a self-launch endorsement, and then buy a self-launching sailplane. One guy even got his decked out IFR/Night capable.
 
Incorrect, at least in substance. The reply will be in two parts.

Not having a medical certificate in the first place is one thing; having it suspended or denied is another matter entirely.

14 CFR 61.23(b)(3):

§ 61.23 Medical certificates: Requirement and duration.

(b) Operations not requiring a medical certificate. A person is not required to hold a medical certificate--
{Beginning of old text revised August 21, 2009, effective October 20, 2009}
(b) Operations not requiring a medical certificate. A person is not required to hold a valid medical certificate--

(3) When exercising the privileges of a pilot certificate with a glider category rating or balloon class rating in a glider or a balloon, as appropriate;
From the FAA's own website:

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/medical/

When do I need a medical certificate?

You need a medical certificate before flying solo in an airplane, helicopter, gyroplane, or airship. We suggest you get your medical certificate before beginning flight training. This will alert you to any condition that would prevent you from becoming a pilot before you pay for lessons.
If you are going to pilot a balloon or glider, you don't need a medical certificate. All you need to do is write a statement certifying that you have no medical defect that would make you unable to pilot a balloon or glider.
While the regulation doesn't require that one hold a medical certificate in order to pilot a glider, it does require that one certify that one has no medical defect which would make one unable to pilot a glider. If one has been denied a medical certificate and has not appealed the denial, then the FAA considers that after 30 days one has agreed to the denial or suspension. The suspended or denied certificate and/or application is then retained on file. This constitutes evidence, on FAA records, of one's medical unsuitability to fly. If one has signed a statement that one doesn't hold a medical defect that would make on eunable to pilot a glider, yet has clear evidence on one's record as having been denied a medical or having had it suspended for being medically unfit, then one has a real problem. That problem is 61.59, in it's entirety:

§ 61.59 Falsification, reproduction, or alteration of applications, certificates, logbooks, reports, or records.
(a) No person may make or cause to be made:
(1) Any fraudulent or intentionally false statement on any application for a certificate, rating, authorization, or duplicate thereof, issued under this part;
(2) Any fraudulent or intentionally false entry in any logbook, record, or report that is required to be kept, made, or used to show compliance with any requirement for the issuance or exercise of the privileges of any certificate, rating, or authorization under this part;
(3) Any reproduction for fraudulent purpose of any certificate, rating, or authorization, under this part; or
(4) Any alteration of any certificate, rating, or authorization under this part.
(b) The commission of an act prohibited under paragraph (a) of this section is a basis for suspending or revoking any airman certificate, rating, or authorization held by that person.
If you know of a medical condition or defect which has caused the denial of a medical certificate, and yet "self-certify" that you have no medical condition or defect that would prevent you from holding a medical certificate or acting as pilot of a glider, then you are fraudulently representing yourself. Civil, administrative, and potentially criminal penalties can apply.

Continued...
 
Continuing...

Pay close attention to the following legal interpretation provided by the FAA Chief Legal Counsel's office. This letter is in reply to a specific request involving the sport pilot certificate and attendant medical requirements. However, certain paragraphs are of interest, and shouldn't be disregarded, and the letter has a direct bearing on one who intends to exercise the privileges of an instructor certificate in a glider, as well:

March 28, 2007
To: Frederick E. Tilton, MD, Federal Air Surgeon, Office of Aerospace Medicine, AAM-1

From: Rebecca MacPherson, Assistant Chief Counsel, Regulations Division, Office of the Chief Counsel, AGC-200

Subject: Withdrawal of an Application for Medical Certification and its Effect on the Exercise of Sport Pilot Privileges

This memorandum responds -to your request for an interpretation regarding the eligibility of a person to exercise sport pilot privileges after being denied an application for an airman medical certificate by an aviation medical examiner when that person does not ask for reconsideration of the application. Specifically, you note that if a person does not ask for reconsideration during the 30-day period after the denial he or she is considered by the agency to have withdrawn the application under the provisions of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) § 67.409(a).
14 CFR § 61.23(c)(1) states that a person may exercise the privileges of the following certificates while holding and possessing either a medical certificate or U.S. driver's license:

A student pilot certificate while seeking sport pilot privileges in a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon;
A sport pilot certificate in a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon; and
A flight instructor certificate with a sport pilot rating while as acting as pilot in command or serving as a required flight crewmember of a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon.

Section 61.23(b)(2)(ii) states that if a person uses a current and valid U.S. driver's license to meet the requirements for the exercise of the privileges specified in § 61.23(c)(1) that person must "have been found eligible for issuance of at least a third-class airman medical certificate at the time of his or her most recent application (if the person has applied for a medical certificate)."

In the preamble to the Final Rule "Certification of Aircraft and Airmen for the Operation of Light-Sport Aircraft" (Sport Pilot Rule) the FAA stated that "the words "most recent application" refer to the latest medical application that is on file with the FAA and on which action was taken" (67 FR 44815, July 27, 2004). Specifically, resolution of the issue addressed in this interpretation is dependent upon whether an application for a medical certificate that is considered withdrawn under the provisions of § 67.409(a) constitutes an applicant's "most recent application."

When a person fails to ask for reconsideration of an application for a medical certificate after a denial by an aviation medical examiner under the provisions of § 67.409(a), the FAA considers the applicant to have acquiesced in the determination of the examiner and to have expressed a clear intent that the application should no longer be subject to further consideration by the agency. Although the application is considered withdrawn, that determination does not, however, negate the fact that the application had indeed been made. This view of the application's status is reflected in the regulatory history of § 67.409(a). 14 CFR § 406.12(e), the predecessor section of 14 CFR § 61.27(a) which later became § 67.409(a), stated that "in the event no application for reconsideration is made within thirty days of the action of the aviation medical examiner, the applicant will be deemed to have acquiesced in the action and to have withdrawn his application for (a) medical certificate." Although the language referring to the applicant's acquiescence is no longer contained in the current regulation, it was removed as a result of a non-substantive change to § 406.12(e) when that section was recodified as § 67.27 in 1962 (27 FR 7954, August 10, 1962). The FAA continues to consider failure to ask for reconsideration of an application for an airman medical certificate to constitute acquiescence in the decision of the aviation medical examiner and a removal of the application from any further consideration by the agency.

The FAA recognizes that the decision of an aviation medial examiner does not constitute a final agency action, however it does constitute an action taken by the agency for purposes of determining whether an application for an airman medical certificate is considered a person's "most recent application" and whether that person may exercise the privileges of the certificates specified in § 61.23(c)(1).

In the Sport Pilot Rule the FAA was careful to specify that the ability of a person to use a U.S. driver's license to exercise the privileges of the certificates specified in § 61.23(c)(1) is based on that person being found eligible for the issuance of his or her most recent application for an airman medical certificate. The agency did not draft the rule to preclude the exercise of these privileges based upon the more restrictive action resulting from a denial of a person's most recent application for an airman medical certificate. The FAA recognized that a person may apply for an airman medical certificate and, for a number of reasons, a final agency action may not be immediately forthcoming. In addition to the case where a person's application for a medical certificate is considered withdrawn, a final agency action may not be immediately forthcoming in cases such as those where an applicant may possess a medical condition that requires the submission of additional information or further medical evaluation. Under such situations, the agency considers it inappropriate for an individual to exercise the privileges of the certificates specified in § 61.23(c)(1) until a determination of that person's eligibility for the issuance of a medical certificate has been made.

As it is current agency policy to retain a copy of a withdrawn application for an airman medical certificate on file, an application that has been withdrawn under § 67.409(a) and not superceded by a subsequent application constitutes that person's "most recent application" under § 61.23(b). A person whose application for an airman medical certificate is considered withdrawn under the provisions of § 67.409(a) may therefore not exercise the privileges of the certificates specified under § 61.23(c)(l) while holding and possessing a U.S. driver's license until that person has subsequently been found eligible for the issuance of at least a third class medical certificate.

If you have any further questions please contact Mr. Paul Greer of my staff at (202) 267-7930.

Rebecca MacPherson
Assistant Chief Counsel, Regulations
Denial of a medical certificate is evidence that one isn't eligible to hold a medical certificate. It's also evidence that one isn't medically fit to fly an airplane, and not only is this a matter of record with the FAA before you ever make your subsequent "self-certification" that you're fit to fly, it can and very well may be used against you both in enforcement action, and in any appeal processes which you might undertake, to follow.

While you don't need to hold a medical certificate in the first place to fly a glider, if you've held one and had it suspended or revoked, or denied, then you're in the interesting position of not only having to truthfully certify that you're fit to fly, but very possibly having to prove it. Unless you can show that the condition no longer exists, you have a tough uphill battle...especially if you haven't appealed the denial or obtained a new medical certificate to replace the one which was suspended, denied, or revoked.

Certainly people fly gliders after having been denied a medical. Some do so legitimately, some don't. People fly airplanes without medical certificates, too...some well appointed. That the airplane flies in instrument conditions or at night has no bearing on the issue of legality, and is therefore irrelevant.
 
Very interesting read on that interpretation. The opinions I've heard previous, whether oral or written, were just were as I've put above: Loss of medical doesn't mean loss of flight. Of course, you do bring up a good point about filing an appeal, too.

That said, it's almost time for me to go shopping for an AME. I want my tailwheel endorsement so I can tow (and get paid!)
 

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