WASHINGTON – On Friday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) sent a letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administer Billy Nolen and Office of Aerospace Medicine Federal Air Surgeon Susan Northrup highlighting accounts from individuals in the aviation industry who experienced adverse events after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. The FAA Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation are copied on the letter.
Sen. Johnson shared the experiences of four pilots and one air traffic controller who suffered severe adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination. “What steps has FAA taken or will FAA take to investigate whether Cody Flint, Hayley Lopez, Greg Pierson, Bob Snow, Wil Wolfe, and other pilots experienced COVID-19 vaccine adverse events?” the senator asked.
The senator also revealed data that he received from a Department of Defense (DoD) whistleblower showing increases in disease and injuries in pilots across DoD.
The senator wrote, “Based on data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, the whistleblower reported that the total number of disease and injuries in pilots across DoD was 265 in 2016; 252 in 2017; 164 in 2018; 223 in 2019; 2,194 in 2020; 2,861 in 2021; and 4,059 in 2022. These increases in disease and injuries in pilots across the DoD over the last three years, and particularly over the last year, raise questions as to whether FAA has seen similar increases in disease and injuries in individuals in the aviation industry.”
The letter follows previous reports about the FAA expanding its acceptable parameters used by aviation medical examiners to screen pilots for a heart condition that could affect their ability to operate an aircraft safely. The FAA assured Sen. Johnson’s office that the change in its guidance for aviation medical examiners has “nothing to do with COVID vaccinations.”
Sen. Johnson noted that despite this assurance, “questions still remain regarding the FAA’s decision to issue this change and its awareness of adverse events connected to the COVID-19 vaccines.”
Read more about the letter in the Epoch Times.
The full text of the letter can be found here and below.
January 27, 2023
Mr. Billy Nolen
Acting Administrator
Federal Aviation Administration
Dr. Susan Northrup
Federal Air Surgeon
Office of Aerospace Medicine
Dear Acting Administrator Nolen and Dr. Northrup:
I write to request information about changes the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) made to its guidance for aviation medical examiners.
As previously reported, “[i]n October [2022], the FAA widened the acceptable parameters it uses when screening pilots for a specific heart condition.”[1] The FAA made this change in its “Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners,” a nearly 600-page document.[2] The document contains a section titled “normal variants” that lists certain electrocardiograms (ECG) findings that “are considered normal variants and are not cause for deferment unless the airman is symptomatic or there are other concerns.”[3] In that section, the FAA widened the acceptable PR interval – a “heart health metric measured by electrocardiograms” – for a first-degree atrioventricular block.[4] In the FAA guidance dated May 25, 2022, the acceptable PR interval was less than 0.21 seconds for individuals younger than 51 years old.[5] On October 26, 2022, the FAA changed the acceptable PR interval to less than 0.30 seconds and removed the reference to the individuals’ age.[6] According to a media report, a “PR interval that exceeds 0.2 indicates a first-degree atrioventricular block, which can cause a slower heartbeat or abnormal rhythm.”[7] The images below highlight this change in the FAA document:
Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners –Dated May 25, 2022
Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners – Updated October 26, 2022
After members of the public noticed this change in the FAA’s guidance, some individuals raised concerns that this update was a result of pilots experiencing heart-related injuries connected to the COVID-19 vaccines.[8] Indeed, over the last several months and before the FAA updated its guidance, pilots and air traffic controllers have come forward to share their first-hand accounts of COVID-19 vaccine-related injuries.[9] These testimonials provide a glimpse at the types of severe adverse events pilots have experienced after receiving the COVID-19 vaccines. Below are a few examples:
| Name | Age(at time of adverse event) | Job Description | Date of Vaccination | Date of Adverse Event | Description of Adverse Event | Diagnosis |
| Cody Flint[10] | 33 | Agricultural pilot | Feb. 1, 2021 – Pfizer | Feb. 1-3, 2021 | Experienced tunnel vision, burst of pressure in ears, while flying | Left and right perilymphatic fistulas, and elevated intracranial pressure |
| Hayley Lopez[11] | 29 | Air traffic controller | Oct. 8, 2021 – Pfizer | Oct. 8-31, 2021 | Chest pain, dizziness, high heart rate, high blood pressure | Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), dysautonomia, fibromyalgia, orthostatic hypotension |
| Greg Pierson[12] | 60 | Commercial pilot | Aug. 26, 2021 – Pfizer | Within 24 hours of receiving the vaccine | Erratic and highly elevated heart rate | Atrial fibrillation |
| Bob Snow[13] | 60 | Commercial pilot | Nov. 4, 2021 – Johnson & Johnson | April 9, 2022 | Cardiac arrest immediately after landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport | Sudden cardiac arrest |
| Wil Wolfe[14] | 56 | Commercial pilot | Nov. 9, 2021 – Johnson & Johnson | Nov. 22, 2021 | Seizure, paralysis on the right side of body | Mr. Wolfe died on Nov. 26, 2021 |
It remains unclear what, if anything, the FAA has done as it relates to these individuals’ experiences or if it is actively monitoring COVID-19 vaccine adverse events in the aviation industry. Altogether, according the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), as of January 13, 2023, there have been 1,505,275 adverse events and 33,746 deaths associated with the COVID-19 vaccines.[15]
Notably, my office recently received data from a Department of Defense (DoD) whistleblower showing an increase in disease and injuries in pilots across the DoD in years 2020-2022 compared to years 2016-2019.[16] Based on data from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database, the whistleblower reported that the total number of disease and injuries in pilots across DoD was 265 in 2016; 252 in 2017; 164 in 2018; 223 in 2019; 2,194 in 2020; 2,861 in 2021; and 4,059 in 2022.[17] These increases in disease and injuries in pilots across the DoD over the last three years, and particularly over the last year, raise questions as to whether FAA has seen similar increases in disease and injuries in individuals in the aviation industry.
Despite increases in reports of adverse events associated with the COVID-19 vaccines, on January 20, 2023, an FAA representative assured my office that the change to the FAA’s guidance “had nothing to do with COVID vaccinations.”[18] The representative noted that, “new scientific evidence enabled the FAA to safely raise the tolerance used to screen for a certain heart condition. The update was an effort to save pilots at the expense of an unnecessary cardiac evaluation that did not contribute to a fly or no-fly decision.”[19] FAA’s full response to my office is included below:
Email from FAA to Senator Ron Johnson’s Office – January 20, 2023
Even though the FAA has assured my office and other media outlets[20] that the change in its guidance for aviation medical examiners has “nothing to do with COVID vaccinations,” questions still remain regarding the FAA’s decision to issue this change and its awareness of adverse events connected to the COVID-19 vaccines. Accordingly, please provide the following information by no later than February 10, 2023:
1. What steps has FAA taken or will FAA take to investigate whether Cody Flint, Hayley Lopez, Greg Pierson, Bob Snow, Wil Wolfe, and other pilots experienced COVID-19 vaccine adverse events?
2. Is FAA aware of any individuals experiencing adverse events connected to the COVID-19 vaccines?
3. On December 12, 2020, one day after the Food and Drug Administration issued an Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, FAA announced that it “has determined that pilots may receive the vaccine under the conditions of their FAA-issued airman medical certification.”[21] Please provide all records[22] relating to how FAA made this determination.
4. Has FAA evaluated whether any changes should be made to its guidance for aviation medical examiners based on adverse events associated with the COVID-19 vaccines? If so, please explain when those evaluations occurred and what was found. If not, please explain why.
5. In correspondence with my office, FAA wrote that it made the decision to change the guidance for aviation medical examiners relating to atrioventricular block based on “new scientific evidence.”[23] Please provide this evidence and indicate when FAA first became aware of each piece of evidence.
6. For each year from 2013 through 2022, provide the number of individuals who had a first-degree atrioventricular block with PR intervals greater than 0.21 seconds.
7. How many individuals are currently certified to fly that have PR intervals greater than 0.21 seconds?
8. How often has FAA updated this specific section of its guidance relating to the PR intervals associated with first-degree atrioventricular blocks in the past ten years? Please provide those dates.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
