AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - March 2025 - 10

AOPA ACTION
TOP STORIES /
AFAA delays medical denial policy
OPA and Congress press for changes
THE FAA IN December announced a
two-month delay implementing a controversial
new policy to deny rather
than defer medical certificate applications
deemed incomplete. 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 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.
" 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 in a letter to then-FAA
Administrator Michael Whitaker, 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. "
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. "
Keeping America's air traffic control the world's safest
Coalition urges President Trump to find common ground
A UNIFIED COALITION representing virtually
every sector of our nation's
aviation and aerospace industry and
workforce wrote a letter to President
Donald J. Trump urging his administration
to work with industry to find a
unified path forward to create efficiencies
within the FAA that will ensure our
nation's aviation system remains the
safest in the world for all users.
" The aviation industry-from
commercial aviation to general aviation,
manufacturing, labor, airports,
advanced air mobility and other emerging
technologies-accounts for more
than 5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic
product (GDP) generating over 10
million high-quality jobs, " the groups
wrote. " Our nation's ATC system is a
vital infrastructure asset, essential to
safe air travel and to our nation's economic
growth and competitiveness.
" To maintain a best-in-class ATC
system that is globally competitive,
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AOPA PILOT / March 2025
and Congress to support these needed
improvements and efforts to ensure
the FAA can more effectively utilize
the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to
upgrade and modernize FAA facilities
and ATC equipment.
" Addressing these areas will
our objective is to work with your
Administration to find common ground
so that together we can address needed
efficiencies within the FAA, including
process reforms to procure and
deploy ATC equipment, modernize
and realign facilities to improve operational
efficiencies, address key staffing
shortages, and ensure stable and predictable
funding, including multi-year
budgeting, to strategically manage and
deploy the FAA's ATC assets. "
The groups encouraged the
administration to work with industry,
representatives of the FAA's workforce,
cut costs, reduce inefficiencies, and
strengthen American competitiveness
and will also ensure the FAA continues
to uphold the highest standards of
safety for all who use our nation's airspace, "
the groups wrote.
" We are encouraged by this industry
effort to find common ground that
works for all users of our national airspace
system. We can and should make
improvements, but we do not need to
hand over our public-use aviation system
to special interests. Our aviation
system remains the envy of the world
and working together will ensure it
stays that way, " said AOPA President
Darren Pleasance.
AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - March 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - March 2025
