Director of Aviation Medicine resigns

[Chocolate]

Thanks jabawho..very informative.

 

So the dame, gp family physician and specialists are only evidence gathering for a casa person to make a decision. Confirms my belief that the Director CASA should consider having the decision about whether someone meets the medical standards devolved to the DAME.

 

If that were the case I am sure a lot of the unnecessary testing and specialist surveillance currently called for by casa would be gone. To the relief of my finances and; removal of the wastefulness of a now well person taking up specialist time and resources. Not to mention the 600km round trip by car.

 

The current system is doing nothing more than encourage pilots to lie by omission to doctors and DAME's.

 

Thank you again for the explanation of the roles.

 

 

[dodo]

First, when something goes wrong, CASA will get blamed (the doctor as well, maybe, but CASA ultimately). You can outsource work, you can't outsource responsibility.

 

Secondly, the legislation makes CASA the delgate to make the decision . I don't know if CASA can legally devolve that delegation, even if they wanted to.

 

The problem really is that CASAs interpretation of medicine is extremely defensive, and also, that they appear sometimes to intrude on medical decision-making (eg which scan or procedure will provide certainty).

 

dodo

 

 

[poteroo]

I've been struggling with CASA AVMED for the past 2 years, but I'm a very persistent person. Maintaining a Class 1 medical for 52 years has not been without some pain. With age, (now 74), I have to weigh up the benefits of the higher medical with the economic pain of maintaining it. I have a round trip of 800kms for my stress echo ECG, which is annually. Plus, ophthalmology checks are also that far away, and seem to be due at decreasing intervals too. Add to that a GA BFR to revalidate my Instructor 1, and another to revalidate my RAAus CFI - and the costs mount up. Under Part 61 - my GA renewal is likely to require several days to do all the ratings - it's a nightmare!

 

I really try to align all my tests in the 3 months prior - so that my DAME is the last port-of-call. Then he forwards it to CASA AVMED online. Where the frustration occurs is when they respond by snail mail and ask for other tests to be done. Often these are not on the program for that year, but seem to have been sought because of some unspecified reason. This throws the plans into disarray because by then I'm close to the due date of the medical validity, and, as usual, can't get the necessary appointments or tests done quickly enough to avoid busting my validity. So, there's a horrible period, sometimes up to months, when my medical was invalid because I was 'by CASA only'. If CASA AVMED would take a more pragmatic view of things, and send me a specific listing of everything they will require - 90 days prior to my expiry, then this might be avoidable. I think this is a service which they should offer all medical holders who have begun to require extra tests for renewals. Even with the help of my DAME - it's never certain if you have covered all the bases.I'm currently out of the dreaded by CASA only shadow, so I can empathise with those who are not.

 

I really don't care who is the Dr at the helm of CASA AVMED. Their name and qualifications are not at issue for me. I'd just be happy if they took a more pro-active role in managing the medical renewals so that the essential tests and checks were specified by a 'notice of medical due'. It seems to me that this is the least they could do for pilots. Perhaps they need a 'charter of customer service' on the wall of every CASA employee to remind them of the relationship order.

 

happy days,