Finding out the status of a flight medical is a click away under a new online feature announced by the FAA on Wednesday. The agency says pilots can now follow the progress of their medical through the system on the MedXPress website. Previously, pilots who wanted to check on their application had to call the Office of Aerospace Medicine. As soon as the application is submitted it will appear on the website and FAA staff will update it as it wends its way through the system.
“If you can track where your ridesharing car is or the status of a company delivering your package, pilots should be able to see online the real-time status of their application,” said Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Susan Northrup. “We will continue to explore how we can be more transparent with the aviation community.”
The MedXPress “Application Status” function is virtually worthless.
It says, “Your application was transmitted more than 60 days ago. Please call the Aerospace Medical Certification Division at 405-954-4821.”
AMCD didn’t even take the first action with my package until three and a half MONTHS after it was first received.
What good is this new feature when the current backlog at AMCD leaves us with the same choice we had before?
You want silos to coordinate, you want performance not PR?
Whazza matta wit youse? 😉
(Perhaps same software designer as Canada Post.
Tracking of package covers first couple of short hops then nothing until notification of delivery.
Crazy was the package that tracking said went several hundred miles the wrong direction, then to a suburb of that city, then silence.
Several weeks later it showed up at my location.)
FAA can’t even get grammar right – first sentence of second pragraph should have been written:
“If you can track where your ridesharing car is or the status of the package you are waiting for delivery of, …..”
It’s the car and the package that matter, the company has already been determined.
Witness one of my frustrations on contracting with the FAA as an AME.