What changes?
That the AFAC now has the faculties of aviation medicine –which was previously in the hands of the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT)–, and therefore only accepts medical certificates issued in their own unitsTherefore, evaluations carried out by third-party doctors are no longer recognized.
After the degradation of Category 1 to Category 2 in May 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAAfor its acronym in English) made observations on the capabilities of the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) of Mexico, specifically in relation to aviation medicine.
“One of the observations from the FAA is that [la AFAC] did not have control over the issuance of these medical examinations, the change is something positive to cover these findings (…). But there are only 12 medical units, and the procedure for making appointments we have had reports of pilots who can’t find appointments”, refers Ángel Domínguez, president of the College of Aviator Pilots of Mexico.
exceeded capacity
According to data from AFAC itself, there is a capacity to issue up to 165 daily medical evaluations through the 12 medical units it has in the country; however, practically a third of this capacity is located in the Mexico Cityand in cities like Merida –where Viva Aerobus has one of its operating bases, for example– there is barely the capacity to issue five certificates a day.
For air operations, the limited capacity of the AFAC in aviation medicine represented a risk, since crews may not be able to get certified on time, and with this they would not have the requirements to be able to fly. To solve it, the authority began instructing airport commanders to accept expired medical examinations “in order not to affect daily operations in terms of commercial and private aviation at the national level.”
In this regard, José Alonso Torres, press secretary of the Aviation Pilots Union Association (ASPA) of Mexico, warns that this instruction –which began to be sent yesterday signed by the Executive Directorate of Aviation Safety of the AFAC– does not contemplate a limit on the validity of expired certificates, which opens the door to accept documents expired a week ago, but also a month ago or even longer. There is also no certainty that it will be accepted by international authorities.
“They do not set a date, a limit on how much it will be, or if they have already notified the international authorities; they would have to notify the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and this, in turn, notify all its members”, he explains.
Domínguez refers that, to comply with the range of 40,000 and 45,000 annual psychophysical examinations that are carried out on national aeronautical personnel, about 190 daily evaluations would have to be carried out. And, although the specialists have not seen that this could threaten the continuity of air operations in the short term, they urge that a solution be reached before a bottleneck can be created due to lack of crews, or before a File an incident for an expired air certificate.
“What we believe should happen is that authorized third parties return, who have the infrastructure capacity to carry out these medical examinations,” concludes the ASPA press secretary.