Flying Aspirations hit a Road Block!
After submitting for an FAA Class 3 Medical Certificate on July 10, 2019, an answer finally arrived nearly 6 months later. The news is not good. My application was denied due to medical conditions related to my bypass surgery in 2017.
I had read everything available regarding issuance of a medical certificate post bypass surgery. It is possible to get a medical, but it is not easy. I followed all the protocols and submitted endless reports from my Cardiologist, Surgeon and Optometrist. In the beginning, I gave myself no better than a 50/50 chance of getting a medical certificate. As time went on and I accumulated over 20 hours of flying instruction, I began to get more optimistic. I am not sure why, maybe I felt that I was certainly becoming competent enough to get a pilot's license.
Unfortunately, competence does not equal medical qualification and the when the certified letter arrived 6 months later, the answer was a hard NO.
There are provisions for an appeal, and I have forwarded the letter to my Cardiologist for comment, I am not holding out much hope that anything is reversible.
Looking back, I would not have done anything any different. My friendship with my instructor, A.J. Hyatt has been priceless. I was able to spend 20 plus hours sitting beside him in a 1966 Cessna 172 G, learning about how to be a pilot. And truth be known, I am a pilot of sort. I completed all the necessary instruction to be allowed to do my SOLO flight, though without a medical, I will never be able to do that. However, on 2 separate occasions, Mr. Hyatt sat quietly in the right seat, touching nothing, and had me do "mock solo" flights. This was an exercise designed to get me ready for my solo flight when that time came. He always said " you have to be competent and confident" to take your solo flight.
At the end of September 2019, Mr. Hyatt was scheduled to re-certify as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). He opted not to do that. My future in aviation would have had to take a different path anyway. My solo flight would have had to be with another instructor and all future required instruction would have had to be with a different instructor as well. I only flew with him one more time after he was no longer an instructor. It seemed that I should save my money for when I could finish up and solo.
What will I do from here? I am not sure yet. I will not be buying into an airplane as I had planned. I will not proceed to ground school as I had planned. I think as time begins to obsecure my disappointment, I will fly with Mr. Hyatt as long as he can still fly. He will always give me the left seat, and he will always be my teacher! Learning is what I was seeking from this whole endeavor. There was never an end game for a 65 year old private pilot. I would never have been able to make any money or recover any costs. It was all about the learning and spending time with my friend. And, there is a lot more to learn.
Happy Trails....