Late last year NZALPA celebrated New Zealand’s first class one medical applicant with Type 1 diabetes successfully being granted a conditional certificate. 

NZALPA Medical and Welfare Director Andy Pender says the Wellington based member’s diligence in recording his blood sugars over a seven year period, and abiding by a strict diet, saw him rewarded with the precedent-setting certificate issue. 

“It has been a long wait for this gentleman, where the door to medical clearance was firmly held shut for a long period of time. Through his own discipline and persistence he has managed to overturn the long held view that type 1 diabetics do not meet the medical criteria for the professional level of medical certification,” Andy Pender says. 

Although the certificate is restricted to multi crew, and continued maintenance of his diet, the issuance of the medical has been heralded as a major breakthrough. 

Andy Pender says any other pilot interested in getting guidance on the app-based measuring equipment for Type 1 diabetes is welcome to contact him. 

Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is also reviewing its stance on Type 1 diabetics, although it is yet to certify any class one applicants as meeting the medical standard. 

“We are in the process of a review of our part 67, the medical regulation, and the associated guidance material,” says CASA Principal Medical Officer Dr Simon May. “Whilst a pilot with Type 1 diabetes will not meet the standard, it is possible that we may allow in our guidance material a route for insulin-treated pilots to gain restricted certification. This will be discussed and likely consulted on as part of the review of our guidance material”.