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Navigating the FAA’s Medical Processes
Joseph LoRusso’s job as director of avia- tion at Ramos Law in Denver, Colorado, has changed over the past several years. The privilege of fiercely advocating for airmen remains the same, but the timing of his involve- ment in his aviation clients’ journeys has changed. Not only that, but the state of the current medical landscape is also very different.
Joseph LoRusso is often found flying his 1943 Stearman around Broomfield, Colorado.
“It’s important to explain from the start that I’ve been doing airman certificate defense for nearly a decade. Be- fore that, I was a professional pilot. At this point, I have been flying for twenty years and have never seen the FAA as challenged as it is right now. The FAA aircraft registry is about eight months behind, which hasn’t happened before.”
LoRusso contends that the backlog affects not only issues about Part 47 matters but Part 67 matters as well. “On the medical side, CAMI [Civil Aerospace Medical Institute], the office in Oklahoma City, is behind by about eight or nine months. The Federal Air Surgeon’s Washington D.C. office [FAS] has a backlog for twelve to
fifteen months. So, what does that mean for the owner- operator or the typical pilot?” he asked.
16 • TWIN & TURBINE / April 2023