With nose bag in place and arms crossed at FL210 picking off the miles like nobodys business on a Cirrus demo, I got to thinking about the FAAs new BasicMed. Particularly, how pilots might be tempted to bend one of the rules to squeeze the most efficiency from a turbocharged airplane. The FAAs advisory circular AC 68-1, which describes how pilots can exercise their certificate privileges without holding at least a Third-Class medical certificate, limits flight above 18,000 feet MSL. Tempted to crack FL180 for another 6 knots in your turbocharged Mooney? According to the advisory circular, youd be operating outside of BasicMed privileges. There's even a bit on flight planning.
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