by Dr. Bill Blank, MD Senior Aviation Medical Examiner We are at the beginning of the flu season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines the season as…
Tag: William A. Blank
New FAA Color Vision Tests
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD Senior Aviation Medical Examiner Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine August/September 2023 Digital Issue On May 31, 2023, the FAA authorized three new color vision tests…
An Internet Attack On The Federal Air Surgeon
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine April/May 2023 Digital Issue Recently I have been getting questions from airmen about changes in the PR interval which the…
Tracking Your Medical Application
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD © Copyright 2022. All rights reserved! Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine August/September 2022 Digital Issue Until recently, it was difficult to track your medical application….
Arthritis
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD © Copyright 2022. All rights reserved! Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine June/July 2022 Digital Issue Arthritis refers to painful, swollen joints with decreased mobility and…
Age-Related Macular Degeneration
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD © Copyright 2022. All rights reserved! Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine April/May 2022 online issue Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) is a major cause of visual…
MONOVISION
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD © Copyright 2022. All rights reserved! Published In Midwest Flyer Magazine February/March 2022 Online Issue Our eyes are usually about the same: both nearsighted, far…
Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame 2021
Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine – December 2021/January 2022 Online Issue OSHKOSH, WIS. – The Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame banquet was held October 23, 2021, at the EAA Aviation…
COVID-19 & Your Fitness To Fly!
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD Published in Midwest Flyer – October/November 2020 issue COVID-19 (COronaVIrusDisease19) first appeared in late 2019. Since then it has caused a pandemic. It is classified…
Understanding What Causes FAA Medical Certification Delays & What You Can Do To Speed Things Up!
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D.,Senior AME Published in Midwest Flyer – April/May 2020 issue I just returned from speaking at an FAA Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) refresher course in Nashville….
CBD & Why The Jury Is Still Out!
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – February/March 2020 issue Is CBD (Cannabidiol) the latest fad or is it a medication with the potential to help people…
BasicMed Again!
by Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – December 2019/January 2020 issue “BasicMed” took effect on May 1, 2017, as an alternate way for pilots to fly without holding…
High On Health
Introduction by Dr. Bill Blank As many of you know, marijuana for recreational use and some of its derivatives, have been legalized in several states. While they are legal in…
Visual Standards
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – April/May 2019 issue Recently, several questions have come up regarding vision and certification. New Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs) are required…
The Great Lakes Region Gets A New Regional Flight Surgeon While Basic Med Increases In Popularity
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – October/November 2018 issue When I last checked, over 35,000 airmen had availed themselves of “Basic Med.” In addition, Mayo Clinic…
Pilots & Cataracts
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – December 2017/January 2018 Cataracts are a common result of aging. Over 24 million Americans over 40, one-sixth of that population,…
Certification Speed-Up
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – October/November 2017 issue In early December, I spoke at an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) refresher course in Tucson. There, I…
How Basic Med Works!
by Dr. Bill Blank Published in Midwest Flyer – August/September 2017 issue I have been following “Basic Med” since the idea first arose, and waited to write this article until…
Special Issuances… Why organization, completeness and timeliness is so important.
by Dr. Bill Blank Aviation Medical Examiner Published in Midwest Flyer – April/May 2017 In the past several issues of Midwest Flyer Magazine, I have been talking about the FAA…
The Medical Certification Process
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – Dec 2016/Jan 2017 In the last issue, I talked about how some pilots who will soon be permitted to fly…
How The Pilot’s Bill of Rights 2 Can Affect You!
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. Published in Midwest Flyer – Oct/Nov 2016 As many of you know, on July 15, 2016, President Obama signed into law the “Pilot’s Bill of…
How Hypoxia Can Ruin A Flight
by Dr. Bill Blank, MD In the last issue, Midwest Flyer Magazine Editor Dave Weiman wrote about a general aviation oxygen system, so I thought an article about “hypoxia” would…
High Flight & Tanning Booths
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. A recent report in a dermatology journal noted a study that revealed that an airline pilot is exposed to as much Ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation…
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
by Bill Blank, M.D. As many of you know, on March 2, 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) initiated a new policy on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). What is behind…
New Procedures Cut Red Tape, No Ill Effects Anticipated
by Dr. Bill Blank, M.D. I want to talk about four subjects, which I think will be of interest to airmen: CACI, stents, over-the-counter medication side effects, and MedXPress. CACI or…