DAME newsletter - January 2018

From Principal Medical Officer, Michael Drane

Happy New Year, everyone. The AvMed team and I hope you had an enjoyable holiday break and are ready to tackle whatever 2018 brings.

As announced in November 2017, we will be creating a new category of private pilot medical certificate this year, known as a ‘Basic Class 2’. We will also being extending the validity period of our current Class 2 medical certificates to five years for applicants who are under the age of 40. Details for both of these changes are currently being worked through and we will keep you posted as this work progresses. Please note that until these changes are finalised and implemented the current arrangements for Class 2 medical certificates remain unchanged.

Change to Clinical Practice Guideline – coronary artery disease

You may have noticed that the Clinical Practice Guideline for ‘Coronary artery disease – suspected or confirmed’ has been altered slightly.

We are now encouraging DAMEs, pilots and air traffic controllers to contact us at AvMed if an elective angioplasty and stent is being planned. We will be able to provide tailored advice to those for whom a return to flying might be possible sooner than the standard six month grounding.

New SMS alerts for medical certificate applicants

We’re introducing a new SMS notification system for people who apply for aviation medical certificates. The changes – expected to commence later this week – are part of our continuous push to improve the way we communicate with the aviation community.

Applicants will be able to opt to receive SMS notifications from the Medical Records System (MRS) when they begin an application. If they choose to receive notifications an automatic SMS will be sent to their mobile phone number on three occasions: when their certificate is due to expire; once their DAME has uploaded their medical application to CASA; and when their medical certificate has been issued by us. We’ll also be able to send manual SMSs notifying applicants of any correspondence that has been sent to their email address such as requests for further information, prompts to supply missing information and reminders to provide previously requested reports.