Deferred: Is this the End?!

When you show up for a flight physical three things can happen: you get your medical certificate (most often); you are issued a medical certificate under a CACI (about 5 to 10% of the time in my practice); you don’t get your certificate and are deferred to the FAA’s medical division for further evaluation (about 5% of the time). Obviously, you would like to get your medical on the spot, one way or the other. If you are deferred, it means a wait, maybe a long wait. So, what can you do to reduce the chance of your being deferred?

First of all, stay healthy! Your getting deferred will occur if yo...