Flying a J120 around Australia - CASA medical issues with Autism

[FlyingVizsla]

Hayden is flying around Australia to show others living with autism that the sky's the limit - ABC News

 

Highlights:

When Hayden was just a boy, his grandfather would take him flying across the Nullarbor and Flinders Ranges, introducing him to a world beyond one he'd ever known.

It inspired a love for aviation that has seen him travel thousands of kilometres across the rocky outcrops and salt lakes of WA's Goldfields-Esperance region on his own.

After gaining his recreational pilot's certificate at 17, Hayden began the process of applying to become a professional pilot on his final day of high school.

Before long, an email arrived in his inbox: intention to refuse medical.

"I quote: 'This is because your autism spectrum disorder represents unacceptable risk to aeronautical navigation,'" he says.

In his quest to challenge "assumptions about capability", the 21-year-old is set to solo circumnavigate regional Australia in September.

 

But as he prepares to embark on his journey around Australia, his message is simple:

"If there's no opportunities for you, make one," he says.

 

Read the full story - it includes videos and a map of his upcoming trip.  A Good News Story to brighten your day.

[trailer]

Great story which highlights the hypocrisy of the system we have in Australia. Deemed by AVMED as medically unfit to fly and yet in the same country can self declare fitness and happily (with the same risk and health) fly an aircraft around our spectacular land. 

[facthunter]

 It's a lot easier to just reject it than put in the effort and run the risk. It's LAZY administration, but understandable. Nev.

[poteroo]

FYI, I conducted Hayden's RPC test, and found him very 'switched on '  He's very thorough, and his handling skills were above average. In a windy place like Esperance, flying a Jab 120 is often a fair challenge.

 

With his round Australia flight, he'll grow as a PIC, and will increase his experience store.  Whether CASA relaxes the Class 2 Medical requirement for RAAus instruction may take some time, but it offers hope for pilots in Hayden's cohort, alongside those of us who have lost a Class 2, but can fly perfectly well. 

 

It's certainly in the best interests of RAAus to broaden the instructor base - or the industry will just wither-on-the-vine.

 

happy days,

 

 

[walrus]

Some of the richest, most successful people on the planet are on the autism spectrum. CASA has no idea.

 

[KRviator]

Have a look at the PPRune thread discussing Autism and flying! If you even think there's a chance you or a relo could be diagnosed, don't tell CAsA anything! Those cretins (CAsA, not 'prune) came up with an Instructors form for them to fill out for their Autistic students that included a comment "May not sit still in class - hopefully does not get out of seat in flight!" - I shit you not.

I know a train driver that was diagnosed with it as an adult - the Company suspended his Safeworking qualifications for months and put him through the wringer just to prove he could do the job he'd been doing for the last (think it was about...) 11 years by that point. He reckons he had to go see the Company Doc in Perth and as part of it she ordered him to remember 5 words at the start of the interview and repeat them back to her at the end. He got 1 out of 5 and she tried to ridicule him for doing so, "I told you you had to remember those 5 words, don't you think that's a serious problem?!?" and so on. He cut her down by responding something like "Nope, not at all. 5  meaningless words in an interrogation to determine if I can do the job I've been doing for 10 years are irrelevant. But I can mentally calculate how many tonnes of force I'm putting into the leading coupler based on traction horsepower, can tell you every gradient, signal and asset protection device across 1000km of track and describe the actions to be taken on any issue I encounter uptrack. For anything important, I put it in my phone, or utilise the clearance books provided by the company for precisely that purpose..." 

From what he says, she wasn't overly impressed, but signed him off anyway.

[facthunter]

  One Airline I know of introduced a Psych test  for applicants where the attributes of some of their hotshots were incorporated in the test and the Command failure rate went up when they filtered through the system and went for command some years later. No one wants pilots who fail command as by  then a fair bit of money has been invested in  them, and they are meant to be able to take over if someone goes unfit in flight in any case.   The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Can they do the JOB?   Nev

[trailer]

My point is that on one hand young Hayden is told he is not fit to fly in Australia due to risk. Once he pays fees to RAAus and self declares fitness he is now safe to fly in Australia. Medical policies with CASA are a joke.

[facthunter]

People have done it with no hands. and flew during the war, dead drunk. CASA's approach to medicals is we don't mind IF you don't fly and OUR decision is final. So pee off.  Nev

[spacesailor]

AND

ONE FLEW around the world !.

With a Long, Long white cane.  .

SO whats the problem with an ' uneducated ' pilot .

Too many ' concussion's ' or too much hospital drugs , ( 14 days asleep  on that last knockout , very bad for your learning ) .

spacesailor

[Bosi72]

Even with one eye.. Great story about TACA flight 110..

https://youtu.be/H5UUr9RXfTY&t=290s

 

[walrus]

I’m wondering now if CASA Avmed is just full of racists. They don’t seem to like anyone who is not airforce cadet material.

[pmccarthy]

They can't be racist - most of the names on correspondence are from the subcontinent.

[facthunter]

It wasn't always this way. The rates paid for that position are not great so the best don't want it.  Nev

[Bandit12]

CASA Avmed really don't understand neurodevelopmental disorders, and what they don't understand gets a hard "no".  I diagnose Autism frequently, and many Autistic adults would make fabulous pilots.  It's a generalisation, but often structure, rules, and repetition works really well for how they operate. Use of checklists, religiously rehearsing plans for response to engine failure, never attempting a turn back - arguably, Autistic pilots would handle these things better than the rest of us.

 

ADHD is a little more complex.  A person with ADHD might have attention at the 1st percentile but be at the 50th percentile when taking stimulant medication, while the person without ADHD could be rolling along in life blissfully unaware that their attention skills are only at the 25th percentile. One gets a medical and the other doesn't....