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Comment by otikik | Hacker News Reader

Not only it’s inhumane, it’s also stupid: it incentivizes pilots who have problems like that to hide them, instead of coming forward.

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I'm not sure I agree with the inhumane (flight pay is an incentive pay where without it pilots still make the same pay as the rest of the military their rank), but I can confirm the stupidity of the policy. Usually anyone medically interacting with a fighter pilot on an issue that could be grounding must spend some time gaining trust for the pilot to be completely open with them. The result of this policy is normally that pilots are completely fine - until they are completely broken.

For some context, "flight pay" ranges from $150/month to $400/month today, depending on tenure. A brand new lieutenant has a ~$41k base salary, a 4-year captain ~$65k. So it's not a small incentive, but not huge either. There are other things like base housing (or a housing allowance), overseas pay, etc, that bump up overall comp a bit.

Additional context: At the time this happened (after 1958 and before 1963), monthly pay for a new 2LT was 220 (2.7k per year) and for a 4 year captain 420 (5k and some change per year). Flight pay would be 100 and 185 per month (1.2k and 2.2k per year respectively).

So while today it's not a lot, back then it'd be at least a 30% pay cut which would be hard for any family.

https://www.dfas.mil/Portals/98/MilPayTable1958.pdf

Wow, they really let the flight incentive pay erode over time.

The fact that his mother had to return to work just to “make ends meet” indicates it was not an inconsequential loss, I think “inhumane” isn’t too far of a stretch. Especially given his injury was the direct result of risking his life for the American government.

Yes, absolutely.

I have a pilot acquaintance that would refuse to go to the doctor when he was younger.

I also tried to become a pilot, but because of a documented history of taking anti-depressants, the FAA grounded me for life, despite being years removed from needing them. [1] I wish that history was not documented.

[1]: https://gavinhoward.com/2022/09/grounded-for-life-losing-the...

Are you sure? Last I checked (a friend was on anti-depressants), as long as you only want a private (not commercial or ATP), a year off the meds or a year at a stable dose and a letter from your doc that you're ok will be enough to get a 3rd class medical.

I have been denied a medical by the Federal Air Surgeon. I have the personal letter from her to prove it.

This is usually done on a case-by-case basis; I just happened to come down on the unlucky end of it.

Sorry, that sucks. There is hope that MATRIX will allow more small planes to be piloted without a medical. Hang in there.

The FAA rarely follows their own guidelines and procedures on this matter.

It's unrelated, but I wanted to nitpick this:

>safety comes first. Always.

The safest way to keep the airspace above the US would be to ban all general and commercial aviation.

Safety does not come first. Safety never comes first, because the safest course of action is to never do anything. It is always a balancing of risk.

It is very unfortunate that something like this is keeping you from your dream. I'm sorry.

I actually mention this in my post that I linked.

Yes, another of their missions is to facilitate aviation.

What I meant is that in my case, the default decision couldn't be to give me a medical. So I should have limited the "safety comes first" to my case.

A more charitable interpretation is to say that pilots without issues are defined as safe, which they are even if they are not in practice. They're safe enough.

Indeed, this is exactly how the FAA medical system works. People either avoid medical care, or conceal it by paying in cash for everything, rather than risking their medical status.

According to my dad, flight surgeons are the natural enemies of military pilots.

Depends. Fighter squadrons generally have their own dedicated in-house flight doc. They stop by the squadron regularly, hang out outside work, deploy and go TDY with you etc. The good ones will do their best not to screw you over. It's best to be guarded against anyone external though!

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