Have a question about BasicMed? Then take some time to read the July-August 2017 FAA Safety Briefing.
The July-August 2017 FAA Safety Briefing is here, and the primary focus for the agency’s latest issue of their bi-monthly digital publication is BasicMed (which went into effect May 1, 2017). The issue features articles exploring “several key facets of the new BasicMed rule, which offers pilots an alternative to the FAA’s medical qualification process for third class medical certificates.” So, let’s a brief look at the BasicMed articles the FAA has prepared and other topics up for discussion in the FAA’s latest Safety Briefing issue.
Overview of the May-June 2017 FAA Safety Briefing
To start, in Bring On BasicMed: What the FAA’s New Regulatory Relief Rule Means for You, aviation safety analyst, Airline Transport Pilot, and CFI Brad C. Zeigler gives a broad overview of BasicMed, covering everything from the eligibility requirements for the rule to the proper steps to follow to the BasicMed aircraft and operating limitations. Zeigler notes that as of this writing, more than 5,000 pilots have completed the necessary online course and submitted their BasicMed medical exam records, a number the FAA expects to keep rapidly growing.
Up next is Errare Humanum Est: To Err is Human, in which Sabrina Woods, a human factors scientist with the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, explores the large danger a small mistake can grow into. She covers a host of the primary problems faced by pilots in aviation, such as weather, fuel starvation, and distraction/fixation, and how small mistakes or decisions such as rushing a preflight, not topping off, or skipping checklists can lead directly to big problems in these areas.
In You Asked, We Answered: Your Top BasicMed Questions, Safety Briefing assistant editor and student pilot Jennifer Caron tackles, well, the big questions the FAA keeps getting asked. “I’m new to aviation, can I use BasicMed?” “I’ve mislaid my BasicMed course completion certificate. Can I still fly under BasicMed?” “Can I use BasicMed to act as a safety pilot, instead of holding a medical certificate?” “Can I use BasicMed privileges to take an Airline Transport Pilot practical test?” These and many other questions are answered, and for any questions that aren’t, the FAA encourages pilots to email them at 9-awa-afs-basicmed@faa.gov with additional questions. They say you can expect an answer in less than a week, however, they do note that “the FAA team cannot provide medical or legal advice, or provide responses to hypothetical, “what if” scenarios.”
Pilot, ground instructor, and FAA Safety Briefing Associate Editor James Williams follows with Doctor, Doctor, Let Me Give You the News: How to Talk to Your Doctor about BasicMed, aimed squarely at helping you walk your doctor through what he needs to know about BasicMed. As Williams puts it early in the article, “In some cases, you may find yourself educating your doctor on BasicMed.”
Finally, Trey McClure, a General Aviation Operations Frontline Manager in an FSDO, takes on a health risk it’s important to pay attention to especially in the Summer heat, with How to Defeat Dehydration: The Forgotten Risk to Flight Safety.
And a Few Extras
And if that’s not enough, the July-August 2017 FAA Safety Briefing also covers additional topics like “Can you fly while high?” (hint: the answer is ‘no’), how to fight fatigue, and improving safety for air ambulance operations. The Safety Briefing also provides a nice infographic from Paul Cianciolo that details the BasicMed certification process, and presents the 2017 National GA Award Honorees, or the aviation professionals they feel deserve recognition “for their contributions to GA in the fields of flight instruction, aviation maintenance/avionics, and safety.” The recipients of this year’s awards will be presented during EAA AirVenture 2017.
To read the July-August issue of Safety Briefing, click here, or on the image to the right. You can also visit the main Safety Briefing page, where in addition to the PDF version, they also offer an ePub version (for iPads and Nooks) and a Mobi version (for Kindles.)
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