FAA delays medical denial policy

The decision was announced hours after House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) added his voice to the chorus seeking to stop the policy change before it took effect on January 1.

Graves, an airline transport pilot, cited the objections of AOPA and a coalition of general aviation advocacy groups and pilot unions that asked the FAA on December 13 to delay implementation of the new policy, noting that medical certificate denials have consequences that the FAA probably did not intend, including disqualification from flying under BasicMed until the new proposed denial process is completed, and potential adverse employment impacts.

Graves wrote a letter on December 18 to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker and made his request very clear and forthright.

"By delaying the policy’s effective date, the FAA can collaboratively engage with these associations to address concerns related to confusion for applicants and unintended consequences of the policy," Graves wrote, noting that pilots had not been given adequate time to understand the policy, or its implications. "Thus, the FAA must delay the effective date of this policy change, solicit feedback from industry, and make such modifications as may be necessary to the policy to ensure that the goals of the policy change may be achieved without such unintended consequences."

Graves, who leads the House committee that oversees the FAA and other agencies, took issue with the FAA's interpretation­—recently cited by Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Susan Northrup in a webinar for aviation medical examiners—that the policy change was enabled by the agency's 2024 reauthorization, specifically Section 801.

"Furthermore, the FAA's proposed change to medical applications has falsely been attributed to section 801 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, a provision that does nothing more than strengthen pilot rights afforded to airmen under the Pilot's Bill of Rights (P.L. 112-153)," Graves wrote. "Section 801 was not intended to affect medical certificates any differently from how they were prior to enactment when an airman is subjected to a flight re-examination. This proposed FAA policy change should not be predicated on that section."

The FAA recanted that justification in its December 18 online statement: "The decision to implement this change was not associated with the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, but the need to provide immediate answers to airmen regarding medical certification progress."

The agency said the new policy will be postponed until March 1, and that "allows the FAA additional time to educate the pilot community and to host a listening session with various aviation associations in early January."