By now, you probably know about the back and forth in the FAA's attempt to institute a greatly increased level of scrutiny of overweight pilots. The initiative comes in the form of proposed guidance to aviation medical examiners intended to keep pilots with sleep apnea out of the cockpit. Late last year, the FAA signaled a decision to step back from the proposal after an outcry from the industry, including AMEs, denouncing the new policy that the FAA attempted to implement without going through rule-making procedures. The reprieve was short-lived. In December, FAA Federal Air Surgeon Fred Tilton publicly announced his intention to go ahead with the sleep apnea screening program despite vociferous complaints from every imaginable aviation alphabet group.
展开▼
