Hi Nemo – Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on the “Pilots with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” article. We forwarded your post to Randy Georgemiller, one of the co-authors, and here’s his response below:

Thank you for taking the time to review and respond to the article on ADHD published in the FAA Safety Briefing.

As someone who underwent the ADHD protocol for medical certification, I am particularly interested in your feedback. The protocol we have implemented that includes neuropsychological evaluation that relies on thorough record review, collateral information, and objective testing using standardized cognitive and personality measures is consistent with professional standards in the field. Since we rely upon community-based neuropsychologists to complete the evaluation, we do not have any control over pricing for services. However, that is not to say that this specialized and time-intensive service provided by highly trained professionals does not warrant the usual and customary fees associated with providing the service.

The Office of Aerospace Medicine is fully aware that there are barriers to completing medical certification for ADHD and other medical conditions. You mentioned two of those potential barriers: the cost associated with the evaluation and geographic availability of adequately trained neuropsychologists. We have been actively engaged in attempting to reduce these barriers. We are currently reviewing our ADHD protocol and looking at ways that we can streamline the evaluation process while continuing to safeguard aviation safety. Of particular concern is to devise a protocol that would detect those who were inaccurately diagnosed with ADHD and save them from completing a more rigorous evaluation process.

There has been active recruitment in various professional venues to attract community-based neuropsychologists who meet our eligibility criteria to conduct evaluations. Based on a geospatial analysis of where our neuropsychologists practice and pilots reside, we were able to designate “hot spots” where there is a particular need to have services more readily available. There has been focused outreach to neuropsychologists to cool these hot spots with some success.

I want to recognize that you chose to meet your obligation in reporting your history of ADHD diagnosis and presumably any and all medical conditions relevant to securing a medical certification. And while that obligation brought with it a burden, it sounds as if it resulted in a successful outcome. While some may choose to withhold pertinent psychiatric and/or medical information to sidestep possible medical certification disqualification, the FAA mission to maintain a safe national airspace requires open and honest disclosure at the time of submitting an application for medical certification regardless of the personal cost, inconvenience, or disappointment if found disqualified.

We appreciate your input and thank you for being an advocate for safety.

Be well, stay safe, and blue skies,

-- FAA Safety Briefing Magazine Team