I think you’ll find that Avmed now presumptively ignores the opinions of even the specialists who treat “former CASA OLC goons”. (That is unless the opinions are against the interests of the goon, in which case they’re considered by CASA to be an objective truth. CASA is at least consistent in what I consider to be a biased approach.)
Meanwhile, I underwent intravenous digital subtraction angiography on Friday. The results stated in the report: “entirely normal”.
So the timeline and specialists’ opinions are:
- treatment in August, expressed to be a success
- I’m OK to fly day VFR, stated in a letter in October
- results of dynamic CTA scan on 6 November don’t indicate anything wrong
- results of intravenous digital subtraction angiography on 30 November are “entirely normal”.
In case anyone overlooked a key point in my previous posts: My surgeon is a pilot.
Against these opinions is CASA’s non-specialist opinion based on selected (acknowledged as such by CASA) and in my view misconstrued studies.
I held a medical certificate and continued flying while I was unaware of the existence and potential consequences of a condition. The condition was then identified and treated, and the specialists who carried out the procedure say the treatment was successful, everything is “entirely normal” and I’m fit to fly day VFR. Only in the weird and whacky world of Avmed could it make sense that I should not now have a medical certificate enabling me to fly day VFR. Sure: Avmed will be able to come up with studies to show that there’s ‘some’ risk of sudden incapacitation. But I can come up with studies that show everyone’s ‘some’ risk of sudden incapacitation, just as everyone’s at ‘some’ risk of being struck by a meteorite.
And apparently it’s OK for me to drive a petrol tanker past airports and schools, in all weather conditions day and night.
I did laugh like a drain as I watched CASA on 19 November try to justify a regulatory regime in which self-certified pilots are allowed to mix it with RPT jets in G airspace but, by implication, I’m too dangerous to do so as well. I recall helping one of those pilots at a fuel bowser at a place that will remain nameless - Even with glasses he couldn’t read the instructions and keypad on the bowser.
Fortunately one of the most significantly causal contributors to aviation safety in Australia is the low density of traffic.
My primary concern in all of this is that Avmed is now, in my view, a force inimical to aviation safety.
It wasn’t so bad when all they were doing was destroying careers and life’s passions - that’s just money and personal satisfaction. At least that outcome does not have a negative impact on safety, in the sense that there would be no negative impact on safety if all Caucasian males were prohibited from flying. And it wasn’t so bad when there was a substantial increase in the number of medical conditions undisclosed to DAMEs and CASA, but dealt with ‘underground’. At least the conditions were dealt with.
However, it’s now got to the point at which some pilots are simply too scared to tell any doctor anything ‘when in doubt’, for fear of what would happen if Avmed became aware of a potential medical issue. Think of the dilemma faced by a pilot who’s considering talking to a doctor about a potential mental health issue, when the potential outcome is being ‘grounded’ or directed to undergo intrusive and expensive examinations while being presumed a potential GermanWings criminal.
There is now a material possibility that someone ‘up front’ of an aircraft is too scared to talk to a doctor about a potential medical issue, for fear of Avmed. That is not good for aviation safety.
CASA waves this away on the basis of the frequency of DAME examinations and the multi-crew environment. As always, any potential downsides of CASA Avmed’s behaviour are ‘spun’ as being justified, and inconvenient truths like single pilot IFR downplayed.
Avmed chooses - note it’s a choice - to give greater weight to any evidence of potential medical unfitness compared with any evidence to the contrary. That’s not, in my view, treating the safety of air navigation as the most important consideration. That is, in my view, bias. That’s not, in my view, objective evidence-based and objective risk-based decision-making. That is, in my view, intellectually dishonest.