Dr. J. Michael Ritze from Broken Arrow was recently awarded Recertification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a senior FAA aviation medical examiner (AME). 

The aviation medical examiner (AME) is a designee of the FAA and is empowered to determine if a medical certificate can safely be granted for aviation duty. Therefore, no doctor/patient relationship exists and the AME is not serving in the capacity of a personal physician.

Dr. Ritze has performed 1st, 2nd and 3rd class pilot medical/flight examinations for the FAA for 43 years. He also examines air traffic controllers for the FAA.  He is also a monitor for the human intervention motivation studies (HIMS) or the FAA. The FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute conducted the recertification process in Oklahoma City.

Dr. Ritze is a board-certified family practice physician and surgeon.  He has a master of science in forensic science administration from OSU-CHS in Tulsa.