Hearing that was even harder than hearing I had diabetes in the beginning. It was confirmed that I actually have Type 1. My mom recommended we go for a second opinion, so I went to see an endocrinologist. I put weight back on.īut by that Fall, I started to see a rise in my levels again. I got my A1c back down from 10% to around 5-6%. As I know now, I was in the honeymoon phase – my body was still producing some insulin on it’s own – so it looked like the Metformin was working. The FAA required me to stabilize my condition on Metformin for 6 months. W ith Type 2 diabetes, if you can manage it on oral medications – without insulin – you can still fly. I immediately got on the FAA site to see what kind of impact this would have on whether or not I could fly. I went to my family physician and he misdiagnosed me with Type 2 diabetes. I had the classic symptoms – the dry mouth, the losing weight. For about 2 weeks straight, I was feeling really weird. I was 21 years old and in the middle of my flight training. When were you diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes? Within weeks I was attending my first day. I fell in love and knew that’s what I wanted to do. We did a discovery flight – you go up with an instructor for an hour or so. It was a flight school offering flight lessons. But she gave me a flying magazine, where – after some major delays on my part – I found an ad that said “Learn to fly in sunny Phoenix, Arizona.” I would go to sleep on the couch, set an alarm to wake up in the morning when I was “over Portugal and Spain,” then “land in Italy.”įast forward to high school and my counselor asked “what do you want to do when you leave here?” I didn’t think I was smart enough to be a pilot because I looked at pilots like they were superheroes. I would “take off” in the afternoon, then set the program on autopilot, “flying” to Italy. About a half hour into the “flight,” they would get bored. My parents and brother would sit behind me on the couch and I would act like I was speaking from the flight deck. I begged my parents to buy me the Microsoft Flight Simulator, a computer program that mimics real-time flying. When I was 10 we moved to Phoenix, Arizona. I was 5 or 6 when I fell in love with aviation. My parents are Italian immigrants and most of my family is still in Italy, so my parents would take us there at least every other summer. I grew up in Chicago near O’Hare Airport. When did you know you wanted to be a pilot? CGM company Dexcom was an integral part of the process, as the CLARITY data that its systems provide gave FAA administration a deep understanding of how the technology works.Īffordable access to best-in-class technology like CGMs will be vital not only for more insulin-dependent pilots to be able to take to the air, but also for anyone with insulin-dependent diabetes to live a safe and healthy life.īeyond Type 1 took some time to speak with Pietro to celebrate the momentous occasion. Key to Pietro’s approval has been Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technology, as it provides clear and consistent feedback on blood sugar levels, increasing safety in the air. Very few pilots with insulin-dependent diabetes have been approved so far, but it is hoped that Pietro’s approval will pave the way for future pilots.
In 2015, the FAA announced that they would be considering a reversal of this policy and on November 7, 2019, they announced that they would officially begin reviewing First Class Medical Certificate applications from those with insulin-dependent diabetes.
This Spring, the very first insulin-dependent pilot was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly commercially! On Monday, April 13, 2020, pilot Pietro Marsala, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2012 while he was in flight school, was issued a First Class Medical Certificate, which provides clearance to fly commercially in the United States.īefore Pietro’s approval, no insulin-dependent people were certified to fly commercially in the US.
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