Comment from Anonymous

Like Captain Friedman, I am a professional pilot living with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus and have been subject to the same informal, nonregulatory, and ambiguous set of procedures and standards in the Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners (GAME). If the Office of Aerospace Medicine (AAM) has repeatedly recognized that Captain Friedman is entitled to the first class medical certificate he already posseses, and has therefore issued a renewal of that first class medical certificate, the FAA would not be doing any more than it is already doing by granting Captain Friedman exemption from the regulatory "blanket ban" provisions that purportedly prohibit medical certification of any insulin treated person. In flight operations, a clear set of standards for each task is necessary to ensure everyone involved in the operation understands what and how each one of those tasks is to be accomplished, in order to positively influence the safety of the operation. In my opinion, this philosophy is not reflected with the current state of eligibility standards for the issuance of medical certificates for insulin treated individuals. People issued medical certificates of any capacity must comply with the regulatory medical certificate validity periods prescribed by 14 CFR 61.23(d). Again, Captain Freidman is not asking for anything here except for to be permitted to abide by an already existing regulation, as well as the text on the back of the medical certificate he was issued by AAM which states, “The holder of this certificate must…comply with validity standards specified for first-, second-, and third-class medical certificates (14CFR § 61.23).”