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