Feds allege 40 pilots lied to fly, get medical certificates

[Kadie]

Feds allege 40 pilots lied to fly, get medical certificates

By KIM CURTIS, Associated Press Writer

Monday, July 18, 2005



(07-18) 15:26 PDT San Francisco (AP) --


An 18-month investigation has resulted in the arrests of 40 Northern California pilots who may have been flying with debilitating illnesses that should have kept them grounded, the U.S. Attorney's office said Monday.


The pilots were receiving disability payments for serious medical conditions while maintaining active pilots' licenses, authorities allege.


All the pilots, including commercial and transport pilots, claimed to be medically fit to fly an airplane while collecting disability payments from the Social Security Administration, said Marlon Cobar, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's office in Fresno.


Illnesses ranged from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to drug and alcohol addiction and heart conditions — all of which would disqualify them from holding a medical certificate, which is necessary to maintain a valid pilot's license.


more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/07/18/state/n143553D93.DTL

[MinneapolisMatt]

1. Lovely. (n/t)

- Matt

[babylonsister]

2. OMG! I'm speechless! eom

[Xithras]

3. Wow, they actually check this?

I know a guy right now who has a degenerative nerve condition that he hasn't reported to the FAA yet. I don't believe that he's collecting any disability (he still works) so he's probably not one of the busted pilots, but he himself told me just a few weeks ago that "the FAA never checks on these anyway". I'll have to forward this to him and see what he says about that now :)

BTW, he's a private pilot, not a commercial one, so he's not going to be raining any airliners down on your heads anytime soon.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. "Illnesses ranged from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder" . . . scary

.
.
.

I had a g/f that was bipolar. Mood swings cold be instant and disastrous, from giddily happy to suicidal in an instant

Not a trait one would want in a pilot of any plane, even private.

Just being a wee bit off of the medical cocktail that some take, by even a little, can have outrageous results.

Simple blood tests would indicate what meds one was on, and as for being on disability, I would think that should not require an "investigation" - let alone 18 months to accomplish it.

Silly question I know, quoting the posted article: "Cobar said the review of 40,000 pilots began in July 2003" . .

Ummmmm - that'd be 24 months in Canuk mathematics , , , ,

And ONLY in Northern California???

I don't think so . .

So where's the rest of them?

:scared:

[catnhatnh]

5. The real question is why...

...more checking isn't done...if they found 40 in nortern California you can bet there are many more nationwide.Did they claim SS disability AND file returns for wages???Or are all tax cheats?Or if able to fly SS scammers?Lets check the MDs who certified them "disabled" and those that declared them "fit to fly"...there ia a good chance some of those should face criminal indictments.And lets check ALL professional licenses from lawyers and MDs down all the way thru emt's and truck drivers...got a vocational licence? Renewed or just unexpired? How about just a straight run of disability recipients versus claimed income...our government seems to have plenty of resources to check out political opposition and activists-let's divert some of that towards fraud...

[SoCalDem]

6. And to think that MY son whose disability checks were ended

while he still has 3 months of post-op rehab...and he was worried about accepting a $50 job helping his friend paint a room..:grr:

Just because it took 6 months to diagnose his problem, and that postponed the back surgery..disability is one year..no exceptions.. SS turned him down because he has actually saved $1200 to live on when disability ran out, and he had a truck which WE bought and gave to him..

and then there are big-time scammers like these guys..:grr:²

[catnhatnh]

7. Yep...

...been there and done that...most SS disability claims are ROUTINELY denied with the admission it never costs them to deny a claim.This forces injured people to hire an attorney (those who don't simply give up and "save" the system money) and as a result I DAMN near lost my house as a result....after 2 years I received what they "owed" me -plus interest.However, the 24K they owed me was reduced by lawyer fees (thankfully in my state limited to 20 %)and the interest didn't come close to lawyer's fees (nor the interest I was charged on outstanding accounts)...while handling my claim the SS grabbed my disability files having to do with depression (a common complaint among injured life-long workers) and used their shrinks to try to prove "somatoform" mental illnesses.In short a nightmare where admitting your situation sucks will be equated to "he's crazy-not hurt" In the end, I "won" but a real read of the actual files would have indicated I was disabled for life...and saved me 5K in fees and interest charges that would have embarrassed a certain Shakespearian moneylender...