HIV Positive Pilot Denied Certificate To Fly in Scotland

By: Jack MacNamara, Staff Writer

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — A male pilot from Glasgow, Scotland has been denied a medical certificate so that he could have worked as a commercial airline pilot simply because of his HIV positive status.

The man, was garnered fame after Patrick Strudwick at BuzzFeed and then the BBC broke the story. The pilot who still wishes to remain anonymous, had been offered a position on EasyJet’s Training Program. However the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) refused to grant him the medical certificate. Could it have been the stigma that has surrounded HIV over the past 30 years?

European regulations says that certain medical conditions including being HIV positive or having type 1 diabetes, automatically prevents the CAA from issuing medical certificates. Going under the anonymous name of “Anthony”, the pilot said…‘I had started to accept the diagnosis’

According to “Anthony”, when he first found out about his HIV diagnosis three years ago, a representative at the CAA told him he still qualified for the certificate but, he would only be able to fly with a co-pilot. “Anthony” then passed all his assessments with EasyJet and then the hammer dropped as he was denied his medical certificate clearing him to fly as a commercial pilot.

Anthony revealed he thought being HIV positive didn’t prevent people from doing anything anymore. ‘I had started to accept the diagnosis because of that,’ said Anthony.

This outrageous action taken by the CAA left him ‘very confused’ and ‘disappointed’.

After this story hit the airwaves, HIV Scotland is calling for a rule change, and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) says that they are considering it.

A spokesperson for CAA released the following statement: ‘We support a rule change in this area, where it is safe to do so, and will continue to work with EASA and HIV experts to reassess this regulation, with a view to enabling applicants to obtain an initial Class 1 medical certificate.’

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