VAI advocates for pause on FAA’s new medical certification policy Leading aviation group appeals to delay changes that impact licensing, employment. In a Dec. 13, 2024, letter, Vertical Aviation International (VAI), along with other aviation associations and unions, urged the FAA to delay implementing a new policy that would deny, rather than defer, incomplete medical certificate applications. The policy change injects confusion into the medical certification process and, because pilots could be asked to report these denials on future medical and job applications, could lead to unintended consequences. Placing applications that require additional information into the same category as applications denied on medical grounds is misleading, especially because hiring managers may be unaware of this policy change. The 14-member coalition, which includes the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Air Line Pilots Association, and National Business Aviation Association, argues that the change contradicts the tradition of industry collaboration and progressive aviation medical regulation demonstrated by the FAA’s Office of Aerospace Medicine under the leadership of Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Susan Northrup. Unless the FAA acts to halt it, the new policy will take effect Jan. 1, 2025.
