Turn your head and cough please

Well the exam went very well. The AME was very friendly, was a pilot himself, and we had a great conversation afterwards about training in different planes. Since I didn't have a pristine medical application, he wasn't able to issue the certification on the spot. Actually the one thing on the application that I thought wasn't a big deal may drag this out a bit. I was on Paxil for a number of years, but got off it in 2006. The FAA gets all paranoid about applicants with any history of depression/anxiety. Their objection is not with any side-effects of the medicine, rather they prefer a "cover your ass" mentality and feel if you've ever had a struggle that warranted medication, you shouldn't be flying a plane. He said he personally doesn't agree with the FAAs stance on this, its ridiculous on a number of levels. If you are that disturbed enough to be suicidal, you certainly aren't going to spend the time and energy to learn to fly, just to become a kamikaze, there are a lot simpler ways to off yourself. Not to mention this is a very good medicine that has helped many people get a hold of their problems, why penalize them in this way, especially if its long since been dealt with? Anyway, he said there seems to be signs that the FAA might loosen these requirements. Until then, I get to play the paperwork game. He is checking with the regional flight surgeons if they need additional paperwork, he said its 50/50 and sometimes they let things go you'd think they'd want to know more about, and other times they send you through the paperwork maze for trivial ailments. I should find out later today or next week if I have to go back to my primary care physician and get a statement saying I am "stable" enough to fly.

Anyway, any potential delay doesn't bother me, I am still working on ground school materials, and even if this drags out for weeks, I technically don't need my medical certificate until I am ready to solo, which realistically month's away (I would guess October-ish time frame). So, I got time and I am not going to worry about this, it will get resolved soon enough.

In a somewhat related topic, the other night I was flying online, and we had a number of people in the traffic pattern which makes it a lot of fun. Somebody was able to get a screenshot, and you can see me in the pattern if you look close in the upper right. I am the one person clever enough to use my actual first name online.

This weekend, Laura and I are off to Madison to celebrate Aayla's first birthday with Jake and Ruth. Happy 1st Birthday Ayla!