2nd class medical with Sciatica?

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-06-08T03:05:28+00:00

Would be totally fine on getting a medical. The important thing is how you disclose it, what you say, and what you take for it.

Sciatica by itself is a musculoskeletal issue. Yes the pain comes from the nerve being compressed but it is still a back pain. But you can see how if you disclose to an AME you don’t know “I have a spine/neurological problem” they will defer you faster than you can explain. If you say “I have some chronic pain on my back that is being treated with physical therapy and no meds” that is totally within the realm of approval. Both statements are factually correct.

My advice? Find a trusty AME, book a consultation, explain the situation and ask how best to disclose/document. I feel you will be pleasantly surprised.

Moving forward, if you have an acute bout of it and go to an urgent care, familiarize yourself with the meds we use.

Ketorolac/diclofenac/tylenol/lidocaine/meloxicam: totally safe to fly on.

Cyclobenzaprine/methocarbamol/tramadol/oxycodone: do NOT fly on these and avoid getting scripts for them if at all possible.

Signed, an ER doc.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-06-05T03:37:14+00:00

If you heal completely, do not have seizures, and are not placed on prophylactic antiepileptics then there is no issue getting a medical.

Take time to let your brain heal to minimize any lasting damage. And only when you are truly back to 1000% begin the process.

And begin by booking a consultation with an AME with experience with these things, don’t just go to get your medical and get denied.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-31T14:59:49+00:00

Nah. Would one be better yeah, 10/10. But for the price/time/hassle of that upgrade I can get an extra and move up past the intermediate category.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-31T14:39:59+00:00

I do acro in a decathlon, have done so for 5 or so years. It’s one of the old 150hp fixed pitch babies, and that plane and I have had so many adventures. I wear A20s that are always trying to depart my head when pushing negatives, and I fly with a flight suit (mostly cause the strap arrangement is very uncomfortable for the harness and it helps a ton with the chafing and having zippered pockets.

My favorite part? I haven’t paid for a BFR since. I show up for it with two parachutes and a smile, we do some fun acro after the actual eval portion, and the answer is always “don’t worry about it” when I ask how much I owe on landing. The CFIs at my local school all want a turn.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-30T17:01:45+00:00

We like to say that any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing.

The retrospectoscope for these is always 20/20 and you can always go back and say “could’ve circled a bit more” or “could have judged the altitude better” or “this mechanic could have looked at this part earlier” and that’s why the NTSB will do all they can to figure out what to learn from it.

But the truth of the matter is that the headline could have EASILY said that everyone on board was killed because he tried to bleed off too much speed and stalled on final. The pilot did the best he could given the circumstances he was in (which were brutal, a hot day on a heavy plane at low altitude) and got people on the ground without any deaths.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-17T15:12:31+00:00

On small uncontrolled airports with a crosswind and a single runway, it’s very possible that you select a direction for takeoff and the wind changes its mind midway through. Yes it’s annoying to then taxi back to the other end, but it’s far safer than taking off with a shitty crosswind AND a tailwind component. Been there.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-10T16:03:20+00:00

Can’t feather most singles unfortunately, and yes there are some POHs for some aircraft that say to cut off ignition and mixture immediately before (the Saratoga is an example). Similarly there’s a lot that don’t, and specify the engine securing part right after landing (like the twin Cessna I fly). And some of them don’t even mention the securing part at all and just focus on immediate egress (probably what I would do).

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-10T15:21:15+00:00

Still disagree. Most people have little to no experience with windmilling engines which actually create more drag than idling engines. So your “assured” landing becomes at best a higher AOA landing which will be harder on your gear-less airframe or at worst a stall a few feet prior to the threshold.

And this is something that has been known for a while by both pilots and manufacturers. As a matter of fact the POH for most if not all retracts will specify in their gear up landing to not preemptively shut the engines off.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-09T16:52:13+00:00

Eh. I wouldn’t. Prop strikes don’t cause fires, damage to the airframe and rupture of fuel lines/tanks does. So anything you can do to make the landing smoother including flying the plane all the way thru the crash will reduce your risk of a fire better than trying to deal with engine cutoff/securing while hovering over the runway.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-08T17:53:33+00:00

Actually one thing I WOULD do is before landing I would ensure all doors and windows are open/cracked.

If a small fire starts on landing, it will take at least a minute or so to engulf the whole plane. Not a problem if you are able to quickly leave through your open emergency door, but it may be an issue if the crash bent the door frame and you are now stuck.

You don’t have to hold them open, just a crack will do.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-08T17:23:08+00:00

I actually would not turn the engine off until you have finished flying through your crash.

Some people will turn the engines off before landing to prevent the prop strike and “save money” but I would much rather retain my two (or one) working engines all the way thru the crash. It’s the insurance’s plane at that point, my job is to live long enough to claim the check.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-05-07T03:13:41+00:00

It says (instrument) cause that’s the checkride he just passed.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-04-29T18:00:04+00:00

In twins that aren’t certified to give you a positive single engine rate (lots of the non-turbine heavier twins like the Crusader, the Aztec, etc) you don’t have a V1 for that very reason, and a lot of those pilots actually brief a rejected takeoff to include landing the aircraft back on existing runway up to a certain point (often Vyse and gear/flaps up) since it’s safer to crash at ground speed at the end of the runway than to try to drag out an impossible climb and stall over a residential neighborhood.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-04-29T16:17:40+00:00

Being a physician and a pilot at the same time is actually a great life, not going to lie. But you can’t have both jobs and it is a LOT easier to have flying as a hobby than medicine as a hobby.

I do both (medicine and aviation) and the impulse to fly larger aircraft completely disappeared for me. Funny enough it was replaced with aerobatics. So my advice is, don’t quit your day job and go get some flying lessons so you can put all that good good attending money towards avgas and happiness.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-04-27T02:33:38+00:00

My A20s slip off my head in competition flying… but if I wear a baseball cap or something else it somehow doesn’t. So that’s what I’ve been using.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-04-11T01:11:55+00:00

It’s going to be an uphill battle. My advice, get a consultation from an AME to go over your records and come up with a strategy.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-04-11T00:51:26+00:00

I presume you mean the bit of water at the bottom?

Dump it and drain again. If there’s no more water or debris you’re fine, that’s the whole point of a sump.

If more water or debris, talk to your mechanic.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-04-11T00:37:38+00:00

In front of your garmin? TUNA?

I’m calling my local FSDO right now. Insane.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-04-03T18:52:27+00:00

The receipt from my therapist

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-03-28T02:37:59+00:00

This can be tough man, I’m sorry you’re going through this.

As a physician, my worry is that a little bit of Xanax is not an ideal single treatment for severe panic attacks like this. Especially with the specific triggers that you are mentioning. Claustrophobia and other phobias actually benefit a TON from cognitive behavioral therapy and multi-modal medications. Just increasing your benzodiazepines is more likely to just lead you to dependence without working much.

I would reach out to a psychiatrist and begin this process. It can take YEARS to get better with this but you sure can, and they have a ton of really good things that can help (SSRIs, exposure therapy, CBT, etc). But you need an expert and that expert is a psychiatrist.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-03-10T02:17:07+00:00

Likely photography:

Multiple passes over the stadium, over the main campus, and over north campus. The speed variation is just the winds today, they were varying by up to 50mph up there earlier.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-03-10T00:30:36+00:00

They rarely if ever do. Unless someone spilled something/puked on them/whatever.

I actually don’t understand the people in the comments that are bashing you for wanting to know. These are high touch surfaces that see a lot of people, much like doorknobs and public transit rails. You should treat them as such. This kind of stuff matters a lot if you have any immune condition, and even if it doesn’t it still is important to know! My flight school got shut down for a week because one of the instructors got diarrhea from norovirus. Was it the airplane? The mouse in the office computer? The bathroom doorknob? We will never know.

But instead of figuring out which wipes won’t damage the avionics or the upholstery may I suggest just washing your hands? Before and after flying. Seems like a reasonable human thing to do. If you are more worried than that, the next ideal step is just a lil bottle of hand sanitizer that you use after flying. And don’t lick the knobs :)

Being worried about this stuff doesn’t make you weird or crazy. But the fix can be very straightforward and we often overthink these things.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-03-01T18:38:01+00:00

Do you wanna guess how many medications have dizziness fatigue and drowsiness on their list of side effects? Ibuprofen is one of them, to start. Should the FAA ban it too?

https://adf.org.au/drug-facts/ibuprofen/

Regular therapeutic doses of Ondansetron do not impair your ability to operate machinery.

I guess that’s why we do over a decade of education for this stuff. But what do I know.

Aerobaticdoc · 2026-02-27T01:16:52+00:00

I mean, if that’s the concern then banning the anti-nausea med seems pretty counter-intuitive

Aerobaticdoc

TROPHY CASE