Date of Defense
6-17-2025
Date of Graduation
6-2025
Department
Aviation
First Advisor
Dominic Nicolai
Second Advisor
Tom Grossman
Third Advisor
Thomas Kostrzewa
Abstract
This paper aims to document the personal experience of Stefan Crisp attempting to gain an airman medical certificate. It also aims to expose the airman medical certificate process for people with cerebral palsy in the United States. Stefan Crisp, who has cerebral palsy, attempted to gain an airman medical certificate through three attempts across multiple years. Research was done to compare the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to reveal similarities and differences between accessibility and requirements. Despite successfully navigating through Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 67, Stefan was unable to gain an airman medical certificate because of prohibitive financial requirements. Specifically, there were prohibitory financial requirements for gaining enough flight hours for a medical flight test. Stories of other pilots with cerebral palsy are included to show that it is possible to become a pilot with cerebral palsy. There are more cases of pilots with cerebral palsy in the United Kingdom. A list of recommendations for future pilots with cerebral palsy is included to guide people through the airman medical process. Before this paper was written, there was a severe lack of publicly available information on the airman medical process for people with cerebral palsy. This work fills in a critical gap in aviation literature on the airman medical process.
Recommended Citation
Crisp, Stefan, "Getting an Airman Medical Certificate with Cerebral Palsy" (2025). Honors Theses. 3968.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3968
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Open Access
Presentation