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.
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.
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.
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.
It's the same with pilots. Most ex-military pilots are going to have some hearing loss, it's the nature of being around jet engines for years. I also know some who have ejection seat injuries they're drawing VA disability for. Is a 30% hearing loss going to prevent them from flying an airliner? No, that would be silly, that's what a volume knob is for. Should the fact that they have a compressed disc from an ejection prevent them from flying an airliner? No, there aren't ejection seats in airliners. They're eligible for VA compensation for the damage incurred in the military though.
As with most things in the media this article is full of BS and half truths. Far more than the 30% mentioned of airline pilots are ex-military, they listed "commercial" and many have commercial tickets that aren't flying for the airlines. Ex-military airline pilots are almost always older, stuff doesn't work like it did due to inevitable wear and tear when you've been in the military and they've had you on the deck of an aircraft carrier or in a war zone. It doesn't mean you aren't fit to fly an airliner, but they might not do great as a sound mixer for a recording studio with tinnitus. Also ask yourself whether you really want to go harassing half the airline pilots in the U.S. out of a job over BS when there's a pilot shortage. If you think air travel is bad now, pull the medical certificates of half the military trained pilots and see how it goes.
We are short thousands thousands of pilots right now, every last one of them including me will be conscripted to fly for the military when the War starts. You have about a year at best until then.
Is this just a “Let’s hate veterans” piece from the Washington Post?