FAA Opens Up Pilot Exams to all Licensed Physicians

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) now allows any state-licensed physician to perform medical exams for the half a million private and recreational pilots flying certain small noncommercial aircraft in the U.S., as long as they follow a simple FAA checklist. So far, more than 20,000 pilots have been qualified to fly under the program, called BasicMed. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is actively promoting the program to its members and to medical associations in order to provide pilots with content and resources (and, presumably, to prevent any backlog of prospective pilots waiting to be cleared for takeoff).