Today the reality is that I’m effectively being punished by the regulator for having tried to do the right thing. Although it may not have been the subjective intention of CASA staff to punish me, the objective reality is that I am being punished because of the way in which CASA Avmed chooses - note, the word “chooses” is very important - to administer the medical certification system. Selectively disregarding and relying on the opinions of treating specialists is a choice. Construing everything in way that highlights the worst possibilities and downplays the best possibilities is a choice. As the thread title says, this is, in my view, a biased and intellectually dishonest approach.
Avmed used to work differently, and used to be an integrated and respected part of the system of aviation safety.
Most of the pilots with whom I’ve discussed my current circumstances have asked why I was so stupid as to disclose to CASA in the first place, or so stupid as to volunteer to do the MRI. That scares me. What scares me even more is that the positive disincentive to disclosure or even to seek medical advice ‘when in doubt’ appears not to scare CASA Avmed. I assume that in their world they’re sure their making a positive contribution to aviation safety.
Look at it from Avmeds point of view for a minute:
- The staff will be on rolling five year contracts which can be renewed (or not) at the whim of CASA management.
- The staff will be blamed (rightly or wrongly) if there is ANY medically attributed aviation accident or incident. They are scapegoats pure and simple.
Considering that they have a house to pay for and a family to feed, is it any wonder that they operate in personal risk minimisation mode all the time?
Clinton, the Avmed staff have nothing to loose by denying you, and everything to loose if they let you fly. Your only hope is to change that equation by pressure on CASA, making it less painful for them to let you fly.
We have a good example of this right at the moment in that the political public backlash over cuts to foodbank funding has caused the PM to reverse that decision this morning.
As for pilots not reporting possible illness, hearsay is that this has been going on for at least Ten years. The net effect of Avmeds behaviour is to increase pilot mortality because they are afraid to report conditions on account of AVmeds predictably draconian response.