Kenny Keller from Helicopter Online Ground School explains why pilots should get only the medical certificate class they actually need. A HOGS member's pursuit of a first-class medical triggered unexpected cardiac scrutiny, and Keller's own 2005 accident delayed his reinstatement by six to eight weeks, showing how medical issues can stall your career.
Hey, welcome to day 107. I'm Kenny Keller, Crater Helicopter Airline Ground school. And the title of the video today a quote from a member, if you don't need a first class, don't get a first class. I know this is more of a audience won't be quite as big for this one, but this is a pretty important one and I'm glad this helicopter line ground school member shared this with us. I am Kenny Keller, creator of Helicopter Online Ground School, author of the Amazon number one best sellers helicopter checkride and top 10 checkride tips. You can get free paperback copies of those down below and a link down below. You can also check out our ground school for a free 24 hour test flight. It links down below. So what I want to share with you today, this is Monday. I try to make a motivational Monday. This will be a little motivational I guess. I hope for those of you going into the professional environment, if you don't need a first class medical, don't get a first class medical. This ground school member I've been going back and forth with over the past few months, he's in a professional environment, actually a teaching environment for fixed wings, looking at doing his helicopter add on and he recently needed to renew his medical. He doesn't really need a first class anymore in the position he's in. And through a couple of emails I knew he was even going to go work on the medical. And he in the end says, kenny, tell people, pass this on if you don't need a medical, first class medical, don't get a first class medical. And the problem he ran into was he wanted to get the first class just because he always did. Right. Even though he didn't really need it. Just a kind of an ego thing I guess. He said, you know, and I get that he'd always got a first class. He wanted to get it. And on this last trip in the medical examiner said, oh hey, looks like you might have had some kind of a heart issue here in the past, caused him more headache and heartache, got through it and ended up passing. But he was really scared. And I knew through the emails he was like Kenny, man, I'm worried now because if there, if this problem would have been more prevalent, I guess you would say he would have had to do a bunch of testing and would take any months with the FAA messing around and try to get the medical. So again he just emailed and I thought this is a good topic for a short video if you don't need a first class don't get a first class. And I'll use myself as an example. Quite a few years ago, my medical examiner said, hey, you're good for a second class, but if you ever go to get a first class medical because you need it, for some reason, he said we need to visit a problem that you have with your eyesight. And he said it's okay for second class. But you know, let's look at this. Prior to you applying for a first class just because, right, And I get that because if you are out there working in the commercial environment and all you need is a second class and for some reason you went to apply for a first class and then you had a problem. Trust me, when you, when you have a problem with your medical, it takes a while to get it back. And I know another example in my case, the helicopter I was accident in, I was in, in 2005. I went through all the processes, you know, went to the doctors and I had to have an orthopedic doctor and blah, blah, blah. I did everything I was supposed to do. And once I was cleared to go back to work, it still took like six to eight weeks to get my medical back. And everyone pre warned me and said, hey, you know, this is just the way it is when you go to get your medical back, it just takes a little time. And again, I'd had all the proper paperwork, you know, crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's, but it's a bummer when you're sitting around waiting for the FAA to reinstate your medical. So great advice from a ground school member who said, kenny, pass the sun. It's a good tip. If you have to get a first class medical for particular job that you want, then great, do it. But if you're in a position like me where a commercial is good enough, at this point, I'm probably never gonna need a first class because what I've, what I do and what I've always done, a second class is good enough. I can do commercial work, I can teach. You don't even need a second class to teach, by the way. You only need a third class to teach, which is actually kind of cool. So I have a really big huge day ahead of me, so I needed to make this quick. So please subscribe to the channel, click the bell when you do so you can be notified of our daily videos. This is day 107, 107 days. And I'm out here enjoying my third coffee with the sun coming up. I absolutely love this. I'M still having a blast at day 107, so we're going to keep it going. So many good comments and questions that come in and so many of these things are things that, you know, in 10 years of making videos, I never made a video on. If you don't need a first class, don't get a first class. But this can be very helpful and if we save one person out there who, you know, ended up having a problem when they went for a first class when they didn't need it. And I've seen a lot of guys over the years, even someone just kind of in training who'll come in early on and they're private, working on commercial or whatever and they have a first class, I wouldn't get it until you really need it. I guess you still could check, right? If you're going through the training, I guess, and your sight on your career is the point where you'll think you'll need a first class, okay, go ahead and get it. But on the flip side of that, for those of us like me who are probably never going to need it, second class is good enough. Just stick with it. So again, like subscribe, leave your comments down below. And remember, my medical examiner says almost nobody you know fails in medical. So it doesn't happen very often. But you just always, you know, always got to be kind of thinking these three, these things through, doing some research. So please give us a thumbs up like subscribe, go down below to get a free paperback. Heather that works with me in the office, she will send these books to you. You can get the books for just shipping and handling only. We bought big piles of both of those Amazon best selling books. Tas Christman is co author on the second one, top 10 checkride tips. Great book coming from a Guy who is 2018 flight instructor of the year. Flies for the military, flies in the civilian world. Airplanes, helicopters, aerobatics. The guy flies everything. And he's been instructor for 20 years, teaching for 20 years. So you can imagine the amount of knowledge and the amount of things that Taz has seen in the past 20 years. So go down below, check those out and we will see you in day 108.
