Aviation psychiatry is not a formal subspecialty of psychiatry. It is a subset of psychiatry practiced by a physician knowledgeable of the interfaces among pilot health, federal regulation, safety systems, airline policies, and labor agreements.
Commercial airline pilots have demanding careers. Junior pilots accumulate student debt and then begin physically and financially demanding work. Military pilots leave a long, structured career and join large corporations with a new hierarchy. Women pilots join a culture historically controlled by men. Aviators with children can struggle adapting to raising kids with one, and sometimes both, parents away from home for long stretches.
Other issues, like regular sleep disruptions, being away from home routines and friends, fiscal pressures at an airline, and the cyclical nature of the industry, are all issues that cause stresses unique to aviation.
Dr. Gregory Kirk is a HIMS psychiatrist in Denver, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City and specializes in the complex FAA medical certification cases. He is Board-Certified by the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry in Adult Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Kirk began seeing pilots in 2012 in Denver and opened his Las Vegas office in 2020. Aviation Psychiatry expanded to Utah in Dr. Kirk’s SLC office in 2024. Dr. Kirk only works aviation cases so no other career interest distracts from the evaluating aviation safety cases. Dr. Kirk is licensed in Colorado, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.
Away from aviation, Dr. Kirk evaluates and treats players in the National Basketball Association and the National Football League and is an expert in unanticipated deaths and injuries associated with drugs, alcohol, behavioral disorders, and mental illness. Dr. Kirk has been nominated by his Denver peers as a 5280 Magazine “Top Doc” in Addiction Psychiatry.
Dr. Kirk has worked with more than 70 airlines and aviation companies, from the world’s largest airlines to small agribusiness companies, and finishes nearly 300 pilot evaluations per year. You can read more about Dr. Kirk’s qualifications here.
If the FAA issued a letter requiring you to have an evaluation, Dr. Kirk will want to see your letter as soon as possible. You can send it to Dr. Kirk’s HIPAA compliant secure email here: gregkirk@avipsy-secure.org.
Along with the FAA letter, the pilot can do Dr. Kirk’s free registration and triage form that will allow the pilot and Dr. Kirk immediately identify the key questions to answer for the FAA.
Dr. Kirk lives in Colorado and normally you can schedule a visit within ten days.
Dr. Kirk commutes to Las Vegas and Salt Lake City once every three weeks on average.
Denver appointments: https://www.avipsy.com/appointments/denver
Las Vegas appointments: https://www.avipsy.com/appointments/vegas
Salt Lake City appointments: https://www.avipsy.com/appointments/slc
A typical case results in between 10 – 11 hours of billing.
You can read more about fees at https://www.avipsy.com/fees.
No. Dr. Northrup and the FAA banned virtual appointments on January 22, 2025. For return visits only, virtual visits may be appropriate in some cases.
Dr. Kirk’s Colorado office is located in Denver’s City Park West in the elegant Bushong Mansion.
Dr. Kirk’s Nevada office is located in Town Square Las Vegas, a high-end shopping, dining, and entertainment district across Las Vegas Boulevard from Harry Reid International Airport.
Dr. Kirk’s Utah office is in downtown Salt Lake City across from the Gallavan Center. You can reach Dr. Kirk’s office from Salt Lake City International Airport on the Utah Transity Authority TRAX Green Line, departing from the ground level under baggage claim. The ride is $2.50 and takes 16 minutes.
This is hard to know before your evaluation. Even so, Dr. Kirk can give you guidelines about records you will probably need to acquire. Dr. Kirk will create a master records list by the end of your visit.
Once Dr. Kirk has all of your records, it generally takes about a month to finish your report. Academic time, conferences, holidays, and vacation time will add to the time to finish your report.
The FAA’s Part 67 medical standards do not hinge on if the pilot has a pilot’s license. So Dr. Kirk’s report would be valid for student pilots, general aviation pilots, and professional pilots.
Yes. If you are an FAA employed ATC, FAA Order 3930.3 is the prevailing regulatory standard and not Part 67. But, if you look closely, the language in 3930.3 for the most part is a clone of the Part 67 medical standards. If you are a contract-employee ATC, Part 67 standards apply to you just like for pilots.