Pilots With Diabetes

The primary aim of this website is to help enable people with insulin-treated diabetes to fly privately and professionally worldwide.

Background
"Pilots With Diabetes" (PWD) was formed by a group of former commercial and military pilots, aspiring commercial pilots and private pilots based in the United Kingdom, all of whom have insulin-treated diabetes (ITDM).

In 2012, a major breakthrough was achieved in the UK when the CAA introduced commercial and unrestricted private flying for pilots with ITDM – after five years of dialogue between PWD and the CAA. (Details of the systems can be found on the links below.)

On November 7, 2019, another major breakthrough came when the USA FAA announced new policy to enable pilots with insulin treated diabetes to gain Class 1 and 2 medicals for commercial flying, based on Continuous Glucose Monitoring protocol. Details can be found in the update links at the bottom of this page.

In May 2020 Australia issued its first First Class Medical and it is understood that additional applications are under consideration - another terrific great breakthrough.

Currently eight countries worldwide allow private flying with ITDM (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Austria, Israel and the Philippines)

Six countries allow multi-crew commercial flying; Canada since 2002 and the UK since 2012, Ireland since 2014, Austria since 2017, Australia since 2020 and Kuwait (specific details being sought), while the USA FAA's protocol has no requirement for minimum two-crew cockpit operations.

In early 2019, a restriction in Canada which only allowed previously operational commercial pilots grounded by diabetes to return to flying operations once stable diabetes control was established, was lifted. We hope that this restriction will also be lifted in the UK, Ireland and Austria. The USA's new system enables both "ab intio" pilots aiming to embark upon a new flying career, plus previously operational commercial pilots to gain Class 1 and 2 Medicals and fly commercially.

We are hopeful that the UK, Ireland and Austria commercial and private flying policy can be adopted across the rest of Europe and that the recent FAA policy can help other countries in Europe and around the world adopt private and commercial flying for pilots with diabetes.

A huge thank you goes to the American Diabetes Association's support for the recent enabling of commercial flying in the USA. A huge thank also goes to AOPA UK, AOPA USA and IAOPA Europe plus the International Diabetes Federation plus other diabetes associations for on-going support for PWD.

To find out more information, or if you have new information for any country, please contact the following:

UK - (co-ordinating) contact link
Europe - contact link
Europe (Germany) - contact link
USA - contact link
Australia - contact link
Canada - contact link
South Africa - contact link
Philippines - contact link

UPDATES:

November 2019: USA FAA announcement - Decision Considerations Disease Protocols - Diabetes Mellitus Type I or Type II - Insulin Treated - CGM Option

March 2015: In the USA an "Expert Panel Recommendations for Pilots with Insulin-treated Diabetes" paper was released in March 2015

February 2015: The UK CAA has published an updated policy for pilots with diabetes (PDF)

Meantime there are specific efforts under way in the UK, USA and across Europe to help enable piloting with ITDM.

Disclaimer: This website is for informational purposes only; no responsibility for details posted is held; independent verification is required.

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