I've just renewed my Class 1 medical...and I'm annoyed and I need some answers!!!
As some of you will know, some recent changes were made to the frequency of Class 1 medicals for those aged 40 - 59. The details are given here.
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?ca...90&pageid=7156
Right, so as it says, all over-40 commercial pilots now need medicals only yearly, except
those engaged in single pilot commercial air transport passenger carrying operations. And, as we know, this doesn't apply to instructors, since students aren't considered as passengers. Right? (If I'm wrong on that, please pm me now, and don't bother reading on).
Now, I do no flying work except instructing, so I mentioned to my AME that I wouldn't be seeing him for a year. And he told me I'd got it wrong! He insisted that students were passengers, and that what I did counted as single pilot etc etc. So we argued, and he said he'd phone the CAA. I relaxed, expecting to be assured I was right. Now, I don't know who he talked to (I should have asked), but he assured me it was the two women he usually consulted, who knew the rules backwards and inside-out. And......they said that instructors still needed medicals 6-monthly!!!! I was flabbergasted. I demanded to speak to the woman myself, but she was quite adamant that since it wasn't multi-crew, medicals were still 6-monthly.
So I'm in possession of a medical certificate which states clearly that its expiry date is next February except for "single pilot air transport operations carrying passengers". And I don't do those, or plan to!!! And I don't know what to do, or who to believe, or when to renew my medical. Did my AME and the woman he phoned at the CAA get it wrong? Or have the CAA worded their own rules incorrectly; it wouldn't be the first time? Or am I confused (wouldn't be the first time for that either). But I need to know, as do others.
Can anyone help? And, since I've promised to let my AME know what I find out, can they find something in writing which I can forward on. And also, please direct me to something I can show him that says that students aren't passengers. Since he won't believe me, and he'll go on misleading others.
Like I said, if I'm the one who's got this wrong, my apologies, and please let me know.
(And after all that, by some miracle he still got a normal blood pressure reading from me)