36 min https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=cNir0UzZHQq_7_K_&t=2160
Senior AME Dr. Brent Blue starts, He's says that egregious reporting requirements are in fact a detriment to aviation safety He says the lack of trust by FAA Medical with the AMEs and mental health specials is one of the problems
37 min 10 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=RVBofMrWsJufkFyq&t=2230 says HIMS is broken and should not be a catch all, example why is ADHD fall under HIMS when it was meant for drug and alcohol abusers.
37 min 46 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=9O3QPB8JoqgvaOmu&t=2265 says ADHD has been a "childhood disease du jour" has been overdiagnosed and often times without testing and then says its extremely difficult to unlabeled these pilots as far as the FAA is concerned
38 min 9 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=p9XuFb-1NNfSRygc&t=2289 pilots do not report mental health because they know they will either lose their medicals or with student pilots never be granted them in the first place. points out the 0.1% of permanent denials the FAA likes to throw out but points out it FAA does not factor in pilots that either give up through the years long process or not even start the process.
39 min 30 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=gdPEfUP0xNTjPJyb&t=2370 points out the FAA forces pilots to see their hand picked psychologists & psychiatrists and forces pilots to take an unproven computer test (the Cogscreen) that has bias against older pilots and those that don't play videogames. Says one oh his pilots took 6 years to get certified.
40 minutes 1 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=WjhXzN7J8jNnO-Ru&t=2401 criteria for passing the Cogscreen is based on obsolete Freudian Theories that have been disproven and replaced by more up to date data that uses modern brain chemistry. says the tests don't prevent accidents, pilots self assessments do.
40 min 55 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=TmTGVtkbnVRikQhY&t=2455 reemphasized the FAA does not trust the AMEs when they should. AME's should be allowed to grant medicals vs automatically defer to AAM-300
42 min 4 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=6PAzsWwuD3djDRcF&t=2523 under the current system pilots are forced to turn in their medical history to the FAA "to put in their file" not review but put in their file which Dr. Blue says "for whatever the hell that means: (sure seems like a HIPAA violation) FAA ignores any recommendations stating pilots are fit to fly because the FAA wants the pilot to go through AAM-300's "arigent process"
42 min 50 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=13M4yretuegdsKq5&t=2570 FAA should grant AME's more authority to grant medicals on the spot vs. having to get cognitively profiled by the FAA which will encourage reporting of things like ADHD which will ultimately make the skies safer. cites BasicMed as an example which allows any licensed doctor using their own discretion to grant medicals as a successful example
43 min 37 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=upsJtIZ8un6qvtzm&t=2617 asks what is the real effect of the current FAA mental health evaluation process (cognitively profiling) and points out the current policy by the FAA is making the skies less safe.
1 hour 28 min 20 sec https://youtu.be/8NOndCer-i4?si=sMvOTS1WOKX4JzYl&t=5300 Dr. Blue brings up the 1% rule regarding the 1% chance of sudden incapacitation in the cockpit used for some physical disorders but does not use it for mental health, Giovanetti disputes Dr. Blues claim the FAA has a 1% rule.
video 3
9 min 3 sec https://youtu.be/j8olppsIsdY?si=mjp19MYes3Qi4BSm&t=543 Dr. Blue says big issue is misdiagnosis such as ADHD and undoing said misdiagnosis are a major process that is difficult and the other is what is the aeromedical significance of these diagnoses and are they really severe enough to ground the pilot over.
10 min 24 sec https://youtu.be/j8olppsIsdY?si=tRdrfSVOdBNEg6JH&t=625 Landsberg asks Blue directly "how well does this Cogscreen business work?" Blue says that Gary Kay test a bunch of pilots to create norms and says well these are the norms and if you don't make that norm you fail. Blue says there is no connection to a cockpit. He says that the scores have no correlation to how well and safe a pilot can fly. If you make a 70 instead of an 80, you made a 70 and means nothing as to aeronautical decision making. He advocates using flight simulators check or a flight check is a much more valid way of determining cognitive ability or more specifically aeronautical decision making. Dr. Blue gave an example that he had a pilot being forced to take he Cogscreen for 26 years and there is no data that shows why he was required to do so. Lansberg then asks does the FAA have a simulator test to evaluate if a pilot with a mental disorder. Blue said no and that because they don't the FAA has no data to show if a mental disorder or an ADHD diagnosis actually affects the person's ability to pilot an aircraft.
55 min 38 sec https://youtu.be/j8olppsIsdY?si=HDNZ7pgYhkSDYILx&t=3338 Dr. Blue reiterates the certification issues is broken. statistics show thousands of pilots (a large percentage) that are functioning well with depression and make sound safe aeronautical decision making that the FAA does not know about and there are no accidents. He says the current FAA policy is doing nothing but discourage pilots from seeking treatment making the skies less safe. FAA rules committee needs to realize that this blanket approach is not in the best interest in aviation safety and to let these pilots fly.
1 hour 15 min 27 sec https://youtu.be/j8olppsIsdY?si=Gg9ubRCSLVEHCt7I&t=4527 Dr. Blue states that pilot self certifcation works so why cant the FAA issue temparay medicals to pilots being stuck in the cue or review until the FAA omes up with their final decision?
1 hour 59 min 43 sec https://youtu.be/j8olppsIsdY?si=8LPf_ui2GUMd2xgd&t=7183 Dr. Blue states FAA has a major problem with their mental health evaluation program, needs to accept that and overhaul it. They need to grant temporary medical certificates during the years the FAA sits on a pilots files which will encruage pilots to disclose more
This shows the subjectively graded Cogscreen tests have nothing to do with safety and are really about creating a cottage industry that holds pilots hostage for as much money can be squeezed out of them by dangling the hope with no guarantee of getting their medicals back. Far from it, these trapped pilots are subjectively graded as fails in order to keep them in hostage indefinitely. It's time to let the safest pilots have their unrestricted medicals back without any strings attached and to put these mental health quacks cottage industry of holding pilots hostage out of business.