No Diagnosis, No Problem: Dr. Dumstorf’s Admission of Unchecked Authority
On June 27, 2025, during a legal proceeding held under oath, Dr. Matthew Dumstorf—one of the key figures overseeing the FAA’s HIMS program—made a striking admission. In response to questioning by the petitioner’s attorney, Dr. Dumstorf confirmed that he personally claims the power to deny a pilot’s medical certificate even if no qualified physician has ever diagnosed that pilot with any disqualifying medical condition whatsoever.
Petitioner's Attorney:
"Do you have the authority to deny a medical certificate to an airman who has not been medically diagnosed with any of the disqualifying medical conditions?"Dr. Dumstorf:
"My understanding is if, in my view of the records and the information that is presented, I believe the individual does not meet the medical standards regardless of whether or not an actual clinical diagnosis is present within those records, I have the authority to deny that individual's medical certificate application."Petitioner's Attorney:
"Just to clarify, you believe that you have the authority to deny an airman's medical certificate even if no medical doctor has ever diagnosed the airman with a disqualifying medical condition?"Dr. Dumstorf:
"yea"
This exchange is more than a bureaucratic curiosity. It reveals a profound and disturbing reality: in the FAA’s medical certification process, pilots can lose their careers based on nothing more than an administrator’s personal opinion—without any medical diagnosis, without independent verification, and without the involvement of the pilot’s own treating doctors.
Think about what this means in practice:
- A pilot can undergo years of evaluations, all concluding there is no disqualifying condition.
- No treating physician ever diagnoses a disorder.
- Yet a government employee who has never examined the pilot in person can still deny certification indefinitely—because he simply “believes” the pilot does not meet standards.
In any other field, this approach would be considered an abuse of authority. In medicine, it would be considered unethical. But within the opaque walls of the FAA’s HIMS program, it is normalized.
Consider that a pilot’s entire livelihood, reputation, and ability to provide for a family rests on this arbitrary judgment. Without due process safeguards or an evidence-based requirement for diagnosis, pilots are effectively stripped of their rights.
This moment underscores why Pilots for HIMS Reform exists: to expose a broken system where bureaucrats play doctor, where careers are destroyed without medical evidence, and where pilots are forced to prove their innocence against subjective impressions rather than objective facts.
The FAA is entrusted with safeguarding public safety, but it also bears an equally important responsibility: to respect the rights, dignity, and humanity of airmen. No pilot should lose everything on the basis of an administrator’s unverified opinion.
We believe reform is not optional—it is overdue.