Posted on 08/27/2023 12:17:30 PM PDT by DFG
Almost 5,000 pilots have been investigated for failing to disclose receiving disability benefits, which could bar them from the cockpit.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed to The Washington Post on Sunday that 4,800 pilots had been investigated.
Of those, 600 are licensed to fly passenger planes. The rest fly cargo or corporate clients.
Half the cases have been closed, said FAA spokesman Matthew Lehner.
Experts said the inquiry has exposed long-standing vulnerabilities in the FAA's medical system for screening pilots, and that the sheer number of unreported health problems presents a risk to aviation safety.
Pilots must pass regular health screenings, but the FAA asks pilots to self-report mental health issues and disability benefits.
'The FAA used a risk-based approach to identify veterans whose medical conditions posed the greatest risk to safety and instructed them to cease flying while the agency reviews their cases,' said Lehner.
'The vast majority of these pilots may continue to operate safely while we complete the reconciliation process.'
Court records obtained by The Washington Post show at least 10 pilots have been prosecuted since 2018 on federal charges of lying to the FAA by hiding their veterans disability benefits and obscuring their health histories.
Two of those cases were discovered only after they crashed aircraft.
Noah Felice, a 72-year-old Navy veteran, was convicted in December of making false statements to the FAA after he crashed a Cessna during an aborted takeoff in Rochester, New York.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Many ex military pilots are receiving disability checks and not having disabilities.
It is a scam.
Some of those mentioned could be in that group of cheats.
The cheaters also include the Doctors that sign them onto the program.
The FAA is investigating these ex-military pilots at the request of the military to disincentivize more pilots from separating from the service.
I am aware of more than one military pilot who simply did not say anything about an ailment. But what is amazing is none of them ever had a problem which makes me think the medical requirements are too strict.
Just to be sure we have rational input here, the numbers above were 4800 **commercial** pilots found not to have reported VA disability declarations (often generating 0 benefits, some injuries/disabilities are rated 0%, not unusual). So they did not report something to the FAA that they reported to the VA.
1) The sequence of pilot license is Private, Commercial (usually with Instrument rating) and Airline Transport. There are an enormous number of Private and Commercial pilots that don’t drive airliners around the sky.
2) Commercial pilots are cropdusters, pipeline patrol pilots, and the majority . . . the vast majority of non ATP commercial pilots are flight instructors. You could note Fedex and UPS pilots too, not carrying much in the way of passengers, but they likely are ATP rated so they don’t count in that number evaluation.
3) The primary claimed VA injury/disability from military service is tinnitus. Ringing in the ears. It is a 10% rating, max. It will have zero impact on flying airplanes. It likely will affect sleep patterns, but any such that are dangerous would be revealed in the periodic proficiency checks.
4) Only 1/3 of commercial pilots (not ATPs, commercial) are ex military.
5) When you get through understanding all the details, this sensationally presented article becomes clearly insignificant. There will be one of two guys drawing 60% benefits for mental illness of some sort. That’s 2 out of 4800. And as noted the cases are quickly resolved. Likely with the VA informing the FAA the pilot in question is treated adequately and safe, must as they address blood pressure being high with a doc’s assurance of being treated and safe.
This article is needless hype. There is nothing here, and what little there was there has already been addressed.
Court records obtained by The Washington Post show at least 10 pilots have been prosecuted since 2018 on federal charges of lying to the FAA by hiding their veterans disability benefits and obscuring their health histories.
But like all things, proper application is the key, not the data itself. There is no perfect system.
There is a pilots bill of rights https://www.faa.gov/pilots/rights
I bought some beer and the young clerk asked for my birthdate. I said jan 1, 1899. she looked at me and said that can’t be right. I said, put it in the computer. She said well you look old enough so ok. And I said to her, “so the criteria is your judgement, not the date?”
Lies? Lies?
If they are democRATS, there is no such thing as a lie. It is just their own, personal reality. Anyone challenging someone else’s reality must be arrested and re-educated (just ask Jordan Peterson).
Meanwhile we have a President of the United States with dementia, obvious cognitive issues, slurs his words, and regularly falls down in public.
Just to be sure ppl here have a thorough understanding of this stuff . . . no veteran gets disability benefits without jumping through hoops.
A problem must have a current diagnosis.
There must be evidence from their service years of them reporting the problem to a base medical officer. (there is recent expansion of this, if a vet was stationed at a location with known chemical issues, there is a presumptive connection to military service for some very specific illnesses diagnosed, and most of these are cancer so . . .).
And the current diagnosis must connect to military service. A veteran to gets into a car accident 20 years after service and has some long term issues from it does not qualify for VA benefits for that injury.
The VA doesn’t just hand out money. Very extensive evaluation takes place. And continues to take place. About every 3 years a story emerges of some guy drawing 60% benefits because he destroyed his knee doing parachute training, but is seen playing basketball (and reported to the VA (usually by an ex wife)). That guy is screwed for life. He’ll lose 60% and be billed to reimburse whatever he already collected.
The VA does extensive reviews of applicants. The big money is 100% Permanent. It pays him about $50K/yr tax free because he cannot work. But if he ever gets a job, they will take it away and they will know from his 1099. The VA gets tax info each year. At the same time, the VA is trying to be fair and get guys the benefits they earned.
100% guys are a fairly small percentage of all vets who got injured on active duty and applied for benefits.
The most common disability is tinnitus and eventually that will extend to hearing loss. Veterans are around jet noise or artillery or anything making serious noise for years. Hearing protection is mandated now, but wasn’t in the past, and it often isn’t used because conversation on the flight line is necessary. So yes, this is the most common disability, and it’s only 10%. That’s about $160/month. That’s it. It screws up sleep some and causes you to stand up a few times a week to go looking for why your fridge is making that sound (that it is not making). It takes some time from your life, but it would not cause any problems flying an airplane.
And it is precisely the sort of thing a pilot would just ignore when filling out the FAA form and say no physical problems and not realize that wasn’t strictly true.
I had recent heart surgery, aortic valve replacement and ascending aorta. Post op I was on an external temporary pacemaker due to arrhythmia which resolved. I was a flight instructor, but fortunately this was just a past time and not my living. I grounded myself as anyone of those would be a fail on a Class III medical the lowest class their is. I still fly but with a safety pilot.
That number could be much higher than reported. I know for a fact that many current AF pilots are very concerned about their health since they received the clot shots have experienced adverse side effects.
I had a high school friend who got out of the army in 1991. His Sgt told him how to get disability. He complained of neck pain and faked severe back pain to the examiner. Got 100% disability. Was water skiing 3 weeks later!
I waited for over 50 years to make a claim for my ruined hearing. Sent me to a contractor to test, and a few months later got 50% . Shocked me, as I had ignored people telling me to make the claim for decades.
Tinnitius progressed to serious hearing loss at this point in life.
Knew i had it when I tried for the LA Fire Dept and passed everything but the physical for hearing loss. Did not even think it was all that bad to even notice.
I am determined to find someone in America who is not a grifter.
The best way to find what someone is about, lend them some money, just small amounts.
There is a remnant out there and worth the cost of finding them.
Thank you! Very good points, from my perspective as a former WSO with tinnitus. Haven’t had my private license in years and won’t ever again, but my “disability” would have ZERO to do with my ability to safely fly an airplane!
Near the end of my military career, my flight physical revealed I had poor depth perception. The doctor asked how I ever got on flying status. I told him I didn’t know because I’ve had terrible depth perception since grade school - but since I was at the end of my career, and any flights in the future would be with a fully qualified test pilot flying while I observed how certain systems performed in flight - and that maybe once a year - I didn’t think it mattered any more. He sighed, agreed, and signed me off.
I had one flight after that, in the rear seat of an F-16 flown by a test pilot. They logged it as an incentive flight to make the paperwork easy so it never showed up on my official flight records. Then I was transferred, did paperwork for a couple of years and retired.
I’m missing all hearing at a certain frequency tied to jet engines. It interferes with my ability to pick out consonants when people are talking...but the VA says it doesn’t affect my hearing. My wife disagrees and I use closed captioning all the time but....
The VA’s audiologists are hyper trained in loss of hearing at high frequencies. You are entitled to another test every 18 months. You will lose the ability to understand women voices first. And they are very good at detecting this.
If their measurements did not show hearing loss, it is not sufficient for them to recommend hearing aids.
VA hearing aids are top of the line and free for qualified vets. But the audiologists will not recommend them unless your life is impacted. The usual question is . . . are you on the phone X hours per day. If not, then the life changing aspects of hearing aids (battery management, perpetual fear of loss, programming of them) are not worth enduring.
Yeah the FAA added that checkbox recently and I thought it was a good idea. Lots of people flying that shouldn’t even be in the right seat. I don’t know why anyone would lie about that one now that the Feds have full centralized access to everything and everyone.
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