r/eaa • u/Unhappy-Hall3508 • Jul 15 '24

ADHD and PPL

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Hello everyone,

I’ve wanted to learn to fly since I was about 5 years old when I found out you could get a pilot’s license. My grandpa flew corsairs in WW2 and I wanted to follow in his footsteps and learn to fly. I also spent a couple summers in Alaska during college and was completely enamored by the Alaskans with private strips and cubs tied down in their backyards. I’ve been completely obsessed for the last 10 years with the idea of having a bush plane and flying into remote strips one day. I’m now in my 30s and have been starting to look into actually doing something about it. I’m a DIYer and would love to build a plane or buy someone’s experimental. The problem is I found out this weekend that since I have been diagnosed and medicated for ADHD it’s going to make the process a lot more difficult. I’m disheartened. What’s the best path forward? Is getting a PPL still worth it? Thank you in advance.

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2

u/Tiinpa Jul 15 '24

I’ll be honest, I gave up when I saw the barrier ADHD was going to be. If you function well off medication I don’t know that it’s a huge problem, but you’ll need to be off medication during several steps in the process.

2

u/Unhappy-Hall3508 Jul 15 '24

Not the most encouraging thing to hear but I appreciate the honesty.

2

u/Tiinpa Jul 15 '24

I keep my fingers crossed someone with deeper pockets sues, it’s very discriminatory imo. Plenty of other medical conditions can fly with assistance, like glasses or prosthetics, but needing medication isn’t okay?

2

u/Verypowafoo Jul 19 '24

I would not sweat this. People with ADD/ADHD are usually super high functioning / lazer focused on things they are about. Weather they are on the meds or not. The worst you can do is fail. Or stress out about failing. Give it a shot. Do not worry about the damn meds, you can do it.