I am sure that something can be done. I have two real life examples of two situations I think you will identify a bit with:

1. Was waiting for my instructor to land with the group she went up with, so we could work on my crosswind landings. An 11 year old girl was flying left seat. She flew almost the whole time, obviously within legal boundaries. So i do believe that with a CFI you can go up on the left seat and learn things. But like you pointed out, you just might not be able to get the FAA medical, in which case you would never be able to solo.

anyhow,

2. Found out about an ex cop who used to take some sort of drug to help him sleep. Turns out that it was baned by the FAA, in any case, they required him to take psychological evaluations and therapy, but once he completed that, he was able to resume with his medical.

so, bottom line is if you want left seat time, thats easy. Just find an instructor, tell them your situation, and I bet they will be more then happy to teach you about flying, but keep in mind, I dont know the exact legalities of your situation, what's waiverable and what's not. So it could turn out that all you can do is go up with an instructor and not go past the 'discovery' flight kinda thing, but you could still learn the maneuvers, navigation, etc. so long as the instructor is always there.

Hope that gives you some hope. Wait till someone with more knowledge and experience chips in, im just a student pilot as of right now!

It is perfectly legal to go up with an instructor all you want for lessons, and I'm sure you would be find an instructor sympathetic to your cause.  As Flavio stated though, without a medical you would not be able to solo, which is a huge part of the PPL course.  If you wanted, I would recommend contacting the AOPA's medical division to see what options you have for obtaining a medical.  Sometimes it is as simple as changing medications or getting a waiver.  You would be amazed at the knowledge they have of the medical process.  I am willing to bet you aren't the first PTSD patient with a passion for flying. 

As for if it is worth it to do it, that is entirely up to you.  If you like to fly, and will don't mind spending the money on the instructor for that chance, go for it. 

While I may never be a Marine, I will always hold those who are in the utmost respect.  Semper Fi

I can see no reason why it wouldn't be legal for you to fly all you want as long as you have an instructor with you.  I'm sure there are loads of instructors out there willing to fly with you whenever you want if you were to explain your situation. 

As long as you can convince whoever you're flying with you'll be safe up there and they are fully aware that they are pilot in command and responsible for everything that happens while both you are flying and they are flying, there should be no legal issue as far as I can see after a (very) brief glance at the FARs.

Heck, most of flight training happens with the instructor not even touching the controls during the entire flight, so I see no reason why you couldn't go and learn all the techniques you wanted to learn and fly as much as you wanted with an instructor.

Just out of curiosity, have you spoken to an aviation medical examiner about whether or not you can legally fly on your own?

I'll just agree with what's been posted.. and add (as a non-current CFI), that I've done that type of "instructing". We had a club member with lung problems.. He absolutely could not ever pass another FAA physical, but we'd go up fairly often. He never logged any of it.. he just wanted to fly... and I was happy to help. I don't think I ever touched the controls with him on board (he was actually a first-rate pilot.. coulda taught me much more than I could have ever taught him (and he did)).

He paid for the airplane, and paid me the instructor's rate (and then some).

Go find an FBO... explain your situation.. you'll have NO trouble finding a CFI who, at the very least, would give you a never-ending intro-flight. You can sign up for ground school too... learn plenty, and meet other aspiring pilots.. And of course.. you can ask questions here, as you go ..

  Thanks for good info Brett!   I've had an FBO in mind for about 3 years now. but with all I've had going on (VA, got married, moved), and the negative feedback I was getting from ATP pilots, I just shyed (sp?) away from it. I understand they have a Cessna 152 RG (I didn't know there was such an aircraft).

  Ritter, thanks for reminding me about the Sport License. I bought the Sporty's Recreational and PPL DVD series last year and enjoyed the heck outta them. I need to bring those out of whatever box they're in and watch them some more.  If I remember correctly, one needs a drivers license, instruction until proficient in the pattern, must stay within 10(?)nm from the home airport/field and, is not authorized to  have a passenger on board, other than an instructor and definate VFR weather conditions. THAT might be my ticket!!!

  And, to answer the flight sergeon question directly - no, I shyed away from going to the One flight sergeon everyone in a 50 mile radius pointed to in my area. And, yes, I assumed that I would be disqualified. Again, with feedback I got from the professional pilots, and with official FAA med list I have/had, I figured it best, to stay away for now.

  That being said, I did not mean to mislead everyone by the "medically disqualified" part. I guess I should have stated that I would "more than likely" be medically disqualified, since I have never been officially denied. The way I figured things is, I would need to be medically cleared before soloing, and at that point, I wouldn't be able to, or wouldn't want to lie about my meds and condition. I figure, if I had kept my problem hidden, remained undiagnosed and remained untreated that, that would be one thing, but to be diagnosed with a problem and under treatment for an undetermined amount of time are two totally different situations. That's the reason why I stated "medically disqualified", because I'm sure it will be a serious factor that will most likely bar me from being cleared for flight.

  I've always liked to be honest with everyone and everything I've done throughout my life, even if honesty got me into trouble. One of the hardest things I've had to do is be honest with myself and admit that I couldn't "tough it out anymore", and I got to the point that I had to stick my hand out for help. Fortunately, there was a quick hand that was ready and waiting for my hand to reach out.

   I'd wouldn't mind staying in the pattern in a J2/J3/L4, C120/140 or a C150/152 

Semper Fi, Dave

  Oh, sorry Dave. Yeah, it seems the older I get the smaller the world seems to get.

www.flybyknight.biz/index.html

  And I was wrong about the C 152 RG. They have a C 152 and 172 RG and they're in Hammond: Northshore Regional (KHDC). It's on the west side the airport.

  I haven't been out there in a while, but as far as I know, Top Gun is still in operation. I think there's a place called Aces High (?) right behind Top Gun - I don't know if they're still around, and Tom Seigrist (sp?) at Cloud Chasers has been steadily selling off his aircraft. He may have closed up shop already, he's got to be in his late seventies now, but still an old school, hardcore, military style instructor. I know he lost a C310 in an engine failure shortly after take off around seven years ago (2 killed), and I want to say he lost a C210 coming back from the New Orleans area a couple of years later, he might have sold it - either way he got rid of it. I was considering buying a nice C150 (N704KT) about 6 years ago. One of the guys in my ground school class beat me to it though - oh well.

  St. Tammany is still a grass strip, and is listed as Covington, but it's actually in Abita Springs off of highway 36. I've never seen much action out there, but they had a plane crash out there about year ago with 3 or 4 killed. I can't remember what type of plane it was, but no one I talked to could imagine a 4 seater wanting to land there.
 
   Covington/Vincent, right by Covington High School, has been a private grass/dirt strip for about 20 years now.

  Also, after Hurricane Katrina came through, the National Guard, U.S. Customs, FBI, Secret Service, DEA and all the other government agencies that don't exist pretty much took over most of Hammond airport. It's not towered as of yet, but the military has a "temporary" ATC system in place. They re-did runway 13/31 before the hurricane, so it's not so bumpy. And rumor is, that they have/will lengthened runway 18/36 to about 7000'. Another funny thing is, that the City of Hammond was in the process of trying to shut down the airport before Katrina. It makes government sense to re-do a runway and then shut the place down  

  If you left the northshore more than 5 years ago, you wouldn't recognize the place now - there are traffic lights galore, Highway 190 has 5 and 7 lanes, Highway 59 was up to 3 lanes a while back and I think they widened it to 5 lanes recently, forests have been clear-cut and marshes have been filled in to put up more and more subdivisions - it's real mad house. Nowadays, you pay $3 on the northshore toll booths only for The Causeway, instead of $1.50 on the north and south sides. I really don't go out if I don't have to, and if I do go out, I do it late in the evening or early in the morning while all the idiots are not out and about.

   Slidell is growing steadily as a town. There's a skydiving place that opened up there (KASD) about 3 years, although I've never jumped there. Other than that, there isn't much action around there that i know of.

   Picayune/Magnolia areas are growing by leaps and bounds also, what I understand, since the casinos have opened a while back. I haven't been in that area in quite awhile. It was beautiful country the last time I went out there.

   NASA is still occupying most of Stennis, if not all of it. I'm not sure Diamondhead is back in business or not, but the Gulfport airport is mostly occupied by all the government agencies as Hammond is. Gold Coast Skydiving is still kicking in Pascagoula/Moss Point.

  I think that covers most of the area...   

Semper Fi, Dave

You all know how I feel about Sport Pilot licenses... so I won't get into that  (yet)

But I will point out what I've seen and learned over the last several years.

You pretty much have to buy an airplane to use a Sport Pilot license. Very very few clubs have them available for rent. FBO's who plan on staying in business don't rent them either. And those who do are living on the edge. I mean, would YOU invest tens of thousands of dollars into an airplane, and then let someone who isn't able to sit through a simple, 3rd-class, FAA physical fly it ?.. do you think your insurance company is crazy about that idea ??  Would YOU insure a $50,000 - $100,000 investment under those circumstances ?

Now... let's discuss you buying an LSA. While you might have no problem getting an insurance company to accept your premiums.. Getting them to pay a settlement is a different story. Let's go with a best-case scenario (nobody gets injured or killed)... The wind shifts as your coming over the numbers.. you land hard and with a lot of side-loading.. after a couple of bounces and a ground-loop.. the airplane is damaged beyond repair. Do you think they'll just cut a check ? Do you think they might investigate your medical fitness.. prior conditions/medications, and make it a legal battle costing you near what the settlement is worth ? Throw in an inury or death and.. well.. you get the idea

Flying airplanes is serious, sober business. This Sport Pilot stuff is bad news, and a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Thankfully; even after years of promotion, it's yet to get a head of steam going. Anyone who gets far enough into the flying stuff, quickly realizes that the cost difference between getting a Sport Pilot license, and a normal PPL is miniscule compared to the cost of flying in general. Most(if not all) of FBOs/clubs that DO maintain LSA craft, require a PPL to rent them (because the compnay that insures their business requires it).

I have no problem with people who go LSA for cost reasons; buy their own aircraft, and fly just for fun. 99/100 of them end up getting a PPL anyway. However.. going the Sport Pilot route because you CANNOT pass a physical, is bad idea on too many levels to discuss. And for practicality.. you really can't use a Sport Pilot license, unless you can afford an airplane. And if you don't have CASH for that airplane.. banks aren't lining up to lend money to people who'd have trouble insuring the investment.

Take an intro flight (or fifty).. enroll in ground school. If you get to the point where you really want to be a pilot.. cross that bridge at that time. Talk to an aviation attorney and a flight surgeon. If the details can't be resolved.. so be it.