I feel just like a yogurt with a passed expiry date. Earlier this week, my medical certificate expired. As I don’t have flying plans in Europe this year – mostly because of the Flying Across America project – and because my medical examiner is still in Geneva, I decided to let it expire. According to the Swiss interpretation of the JARs, changing medical examiner requires a transfer of the file, and a serious argumentation. Living in Germany is certainly one. When I discussed with fellow pilots here about that, I learned that the German interpretation is a bit different, pilots can go to any examiner they want for renewing their medical certificate.

Even if Switzerland and Germany both apply the JARs, they do it in slightly different ways, and this is also true regarding the medical certification. The German interpretation is very strict, for example every loss of blood must be reported to the medical examiner. Cut your finger with a knife while cooking, and you can’t fly until your examiner re-declares you as fit. The same thing applies to any stay in a hospital lasting for more than 6 hours (not clear if waiting times are included). In this context, I was not sure I wanted to transfer my medical certificate and my license to Germany. Each JAR country has its own license register, and it is theoretically possible to have a medical certificate and a license issued by different countries. Typically, my MEP / IR rating was passed with a German examiner, but was issued by Switzerland.

So even if nothing changed since last Tuesday for me, physically speaking, I can’t legally exercise my flying privileges anymore. As long as I had a valid medical certificate, it was my duty as pilot to decide if I was fit for flying or not. Having a medical certificate does not mean I was always fit, but that I could make this call. Now, even if I feel fit, I’m simply not allowed to fly as pilot in command anymore. Just like yogurts turn from healthy to toxic at midnight (local time) on their expiry date, all my flying privileges vanished this week. So are the rules, and I respect them. I really hope to resume my flying in JAR-land in 2011, and this will start with a new medical examination.