Duration of an FAA Pilot Medical Certificate

Mar 2015

Abbreviated Briefing:

Duration: Airman medical certificates expire in 6 - 60 months depending on age and class, the general rule is:

1st Class (ATP): Every 12 months if younger than age 40, Every 6 months over 40
2nd Class (Commercial Pilots): 12 Months
3rd Class (Private / Student / Recreational Pilots):
- 2 Yrs if Over 40 Old
- 5 Yrs if Under 40 Old

See Details Below

Guidance is compiled and interpreted by professional pilots and physicians at FlightPhysical.com from the 2014 AME Guide page 18, FAA and FDA web data (www.FAA.gov & www.FDA.gov), instructions specified in the Aeronautical Information Manual, Federal Air Surgeon Bulletins from 1999-2015, and 14 CFR Part 61 and Part 67 (the FARs).

Operations requiring a medical certificate. Except as provided in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, a person:
1. Must hold a first-class medical certificate:
  1. When exercising the pilot-in-command privileges of an airline transport pilot certificate;
  2. When exercising the second-in-command privileges of an airline transport pilot certificate in a flag or supplemental operation in part 121 of this chapter that requires three or more pilots; or
  3. When serving as a required pilot flightcrew member in an operation conducted under part 121 of this chapter if the pilot has reached his or her 60th birthday.
2. Must hold at least a second class medical certificate when exercising:
  1. Second-in-command privileges of an airline transport pilot certificate in part 121 of this chapter (other than operations specified in paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section); or
  2. Privileges of a commercial pilot certificate; or
3. Must hold at least a third-class medical certificate--
  1. When exercising the privileges of a private pilot certificate;
  2. When exercising the privileges of a recreational pilot certificate;
  3. When exercising the privileges of a student pilot certificate;
  4. (When exercising the privileges of a flight instructor certificate and acting as the pilot in command;
  5. When exercising the privileges of a flight instructor certificate and serving as a required pilot flight crewmember;
  6. When taking a practical test in an aircraft for a recreational pilot, private pilot, commercial pilot, or airline transport pilot certificate, or for a flight instructor certificate; or
  7. When performing the duties as an Examiner in an aircraft when administering a practical test or proficiency check for an airman certificate, rating, or authorization.
Operations not requiring a medical certificate. A person is not required to hold a medical certificate--
1. When exercising the privileges of a student pilot certificate while seeking-
  1. A sport pilot certificate with glider or balloon privileges; or
  2. A pilot certificate with a glider category rating or balloon class rating;
2. When exercising the privileges of a sport pilot certificate with privileges in a glider or balloon;
3. (When exercising the privileges of a pilot certificate with a glider category rating or balloon class rating in a glider or a balloon, as appropriate;
4. When exercising the privileges of a flight instructor certificate with-
  1. A sport pilot rating in a glider or balloon; or
  2. A glider category rating;
5. When exercising the privileges of a flight instructor certificate if the person is not acting as pilot in command or serving as a required pilot flight crewmember;
6. When exercising the privileges of a ground instructor certificate;
7. When serving as an Examiner or check airman and administering a practical test or proficiency check for an airman certificate, rating, or authorization conducted in a glider, balloon, flight simulator, or flight training device;
8. When taking a practical test or a proficiency check for a certificate, rating, authorization or operating privilege conducted in a glider, balloon, flight simulator, or flight training device; or
9. When a military pilot of the U.S. Armed Forces can show evidence of an up-to-date medical examination authorizing pilot flight status issued by the U.S. Armed Forces and--
  1. The flight does not require higher than a third-class medical certificate; and
  2. The flight conducted is a domestic flight operation within U.S. airspace.

Operations requiring either a medical certificate or U.S. driver's license.

A person must hold and possess either a medical certificate issued under part 67 of this chapter or a U.S. driver's license when--
1. Exercising the privileges of a student pilot certificate while seeking sport pilot privileges in a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon;
2. Exercising the privileges of a sport pilot certificate in a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon;
3. Exercising the privileges of a flight instructor certificate with a sport pilot rating while acting as pilot in command or serving as a required flight crewmember of a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon; or
4. Serving as an Examiner and administering a practical test for the issuance of a sport pilot certificate in a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon.
A person using a U.S. driver's license to meet the requirements of this paragraph must--
1. Comply with each restriction and limitation imposed by that person's U.S. driver's license and any judicial or administrative order applying to the operation of a motor vehicle;
2. Have been found eligible for the issuance of at least a third- class airman medical certificate at the time of his or her most recent application (if the person has applied for a medical certificate);
3. Not have had his or her most recently issued medical certificate (if the person has held a medical certificate) suspended or revoked or most recent Authorization for a Special Issuance of a Medical Certificate withdrawn; and
4. Not know or have reason to know of any medical condition that would make that person unable to operate a light-sport aircraft in a safe manner.

Duration of a medical certificate. Use the following table to determine duration for each class of medical certificate:

First Class Rules (Airline Transport Pilots)

Table Above for Determining Duration of a **First Class** Aviation Medical Certificate
Age on Date of First Class Medical Exam:	If you are conducting operations requiring:	Then your flight physical expires, for that operation, at the end of the last day of the:
(i) Under age 40	an airline transport pilot certificate for pilot-in-command privileges, or for second-in-command privileges in a flag or supplemental operation in part 121 requiring three or more pilots	12th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(ii) Age 40 or older	an airline transport pilot certificate for pilot-in-command privileges, for second-in-command privileges in a flag or supplemental operation in part 121 requiring three or more pilots, or for a pilot flightcrew member in part 121 operations who has reached his or her 60th birthday.	6th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(iii) Any age	a commercial pilot certificate or an air traffic control tower operator certificate	12th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(iv) Under age 40	a recreational pilot certificate, a private pilot certificate, a flight instructor certificate (when acting as pilot in command or a required pilot flight crewmember in operations other than glider or balloon), a student pilot certificate, or a sport pilot certificate (when not using a U.S. driver's license as medical qualification)	60th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(v) Age 40 or older	a recreational pilot certificate, a private pilot certificate, a flight instructor certificate (when acting as pilot in command or a required pilot flight crewmember in operations other than glider or balloon), a student pilot certificate, or a sport pilot certificate (when not using a U.S. driver's license as medical qualification)	24th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.

Second Class Rules (Commercial Pilots)

Table Above for Determining Duration of a **Second Class** Aviation Medical Certificate
Age on Date of Second Class Medical Exam:	If you are conducting operations requiring:	Then your flight physical expires, for that operation, at the end of the last day of the:
(i) Any age	an airline transport pilot certificate for second-in-command privileges (other than the operations specified in paragraph (d)(1) of this section), a commercial pilot certificate, or an air traffic control tower operator certificate	12th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(ii) Under age 40	a recreational pilot certificate, a private pilot certificate, a flight instructor certificate (when acting as pilot in command or a required pilot flight crewmember in operations other than glider or balloon), a student pilot certificate, or a sport pilot certificate (when not using a U.S. driver's license as medical qualification)	60th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(iii) Age 40 or older	a recreational pilot certificate, a private pilot certificate, a flight instructor certificate (when acting as pilot in command or a required pilot flight crewmember in operations other than glider or balloon), a student pilot certificate, or a sport pilot certificate (when not using a U.S. driver's license as medical qualification)	24th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.

Third Class Rules (Private / Student / Recreational Pilots)

Table Above for Determining Duration of a **Third Class** Aviation Medical Certificate
Age on Date of Third Class Medical Exam:	If you are conducting operations requiring:	Then your flight physical expires, for that operation, at the end of the last day of the:
(i) Under age 40	a recreational pilot certificate, a private pilot certificate, a flight instructor certificate (when acting as pilot in command or a required pilot flight crewmember in operations other than glider or balloon), a student pilot certificate, or a sport pilot certificate (when not using a U.S. driver's license as medical qualification)	60th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(ii) Age 40 or older	a recreational pilot certificate, a private pilot certificate, a flight instructor certificate (when acting as pilot in command or a required pilot flight crewmember in operations other than glider or balloon), a student pilot certificate, or a sport pilot certificate (when not using a U.S. driver's license as medical qualification)	24th month after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.

First-Class Medical Certificate: A first-class medical certificate is valid for the remainder of the month of issue; plus
- 6-calendar months for operations requiring a first-class medical certificate if the airman is age 40 or over on or before the date of the examination, or plus
- 12-calendar months for operations requiring a first-class medical certificate if the airman has not reached age 40 on or before the date of examination
- 12-calendar months for operations requiring a second-class medical certificate, or plus
- 24-calendar months for operations requiring a third-class medical certificate, or plus
- 60-calendar months for operations requiring a third-class medical certificate if the airman has not reached age 40 on or before the date of examination.
Second-Class Medical Certificate: A second-class medical certificate is valid for the remainder of the month of issue; plus
- 12-calendar months for operations requiring a second-class medical certificate, or plus
- 24-calendar months for operations requiring a third-class medical certificate, or plus
- 60-calendar months for operations requiring a third-class medical certificate if the airman has not reached age 40 on or before the date of examination.
Third-Class Medical Certificate: A third-class medical certificate is valid for the remainder of the month of issue; plus
- 24-calendar months for operations requiring a third-class medical certificate, or plus
- 60-calendar months for operations requiring a third-class medical certificate if the airman has not reached age 40 on or before the date of examination.

Note: Each medical certificate must bear the same date as the date of medical examination regardless of the date the certificate is actually issued. Each medical certificate must be type-written, either by typewriter or computer print-out.

Commentary:

You may note, there is no expiration date on your Airman Medical Certificate. Why is that determination so difficult?

It seems like a simple question, How long will my Pilot Medical Certification be Good for? Unfortunately, duration of an airman's medical certificate is one of the most convoluted and confusing topics in aviation. We'll attempt to demystify the calculation. As delineated in the above table, the answer to this common, practical question can be complex. In all cases the starting points for determining the duration of your flight physical is to factor the class of the certificate and the age of the pilot on the date that the flight physical examination was performed. Compare these factors to the privileges you intend to exercise (private, commercial, etc) to answer the common question: am I medically legal for the aviation activity I am considering? The timer starts ticking after the remainder of the month when your AME issued the Airman Medical Certificate plus X additional months.

First, by way of disclaimer, you must recall that all pilots have a duty to ground themselves at any time they themselves become aware of a personal medical issue regardless of the calculated expiration date of your medical certificate. This duty exists whether or not the AME or FAA has knowledge of the medical issue. This is a personal and professional responsibility of all pilots. Assuming you remain in good health (to the best of your knowledge), then your certification will be valid for the highest level of privileges initially approved for at least 6 months. After that, depending on your age and the type of aviation operations, your Medical Certificate will still be valid for up to 5 years (60 months) for young pilots exercising private aviation operations. In all higher level certificates (1st Class, 2nd Class), the pilot medical certificate validity cascades to the next lower class at each expiration point described in the table. The expiration timeline is derived from your historic age at time of your last exam and this is compared to the current class privileges that you (the pilot) intend to exercise on the present day. This time shift can be a confusing concept at first, so here are some examples to illustrate:

Example 1. A 47 year old airline pilot, gets her flight physical on June 15th, 2014. We euphemistically refer to the remainder of June 2014 (16th - 30th) as a fractional bonus time. According to the table, her first class certificate is good for operations requiring first class medical certification (Airline Transport Pilot) for 6 months after the fractional bonus time. This covers her for airline left seat duty (Class 1) through Dec 31, 2014. Her certificate then reverts to the equivalent of a 2nd class certificate for the first half of 2015. If she elects to downgrade her flying duties from airline to commercial pilot, there would be no need to repeat the exam for the first half of 2015 to exercise these lower 2nd class privileges. To summarize the first year following her flight physical, the original Medical Certificate is good for her to fly as an Airline Pilot in Command (1st class privileges) through Dec 31, 2014 and then as a Commercial Pilot or ATP Second in Command (2nd class privileges) for the next 6 months (Jan-Jun 2015) on that original Class 1 medical certificate from June 2014. If she had intended to continue working as Airline Pilot in Command (1st class), then she would have had to repeat the exam by Dec 31st 2014 and every 6 months forever until she stops exercising those higher privileges.

Assuming she upgrades to new equipment (bigger airliner) and now she is flying right seat stareting Jan 2015, since she does not need to function at that most restrictive level, the original medical certificate automatically reverted to a 2nd class certificate on Dec 31st, 2014 (fractional month of exam plus 6 months) and she is covered. She does not have to see the AME again if she just wants to fly ATP right seat (2 crew airliner) for the first half of 2015. This lower level 2nd class coverage exists for those 6 more months until a total of 12 calendar months (plus fractional month) have elapsed since the original exam. That 1st-->2nd reversion is true for any age. She is legal to fly as second-in-command in a 2 pilot airliner or as a commercial pilot (2nd class privileges) during Jan - Jun 2015 without another medical exam. If we fast forward to June 30, 2015 (1 year plus fractional month after exam), she now must get another AME exam to continue to fly commercially. Without another flight physical, her original certificate reverts down to 3rd class (Private Privileges) for an additional 12 months (Jul 2015 - June 2016). She only gets 2 years total because she was over age 40 at the time of the original flight physical.

Now move forward to the end of the 2 year exam anniversary: June 30, 2016. Because of her age over 40 at initial exam date, her privileges automatically scale down even further. Unless she gets another flight physical, she will no longer have class 3 privileges, and without seeing the AME again, she would only be eligible for operations that do not require medical certification, (gliders, balloons, etc) or those aviation operations that only require a current US Driver's License (light sport pilot activities). If she attempts another official FAA flight physical and fails, she would not even be eligible for light sport flight operations. Even though some pilot operations only require a driver's license, airman who pursue these activites must not have not failed an FAA flight physical. They must have either passed their most recent FAA Flight Physical (no time limit) or never taken one. Fortunately, this latter situation is uncommon. Many pilots who are healthy enough to retire from professional aviation and fly recreationally will successfully renew at the 3rd class level or revert to operations not requiring a flight physical without taking another exam.

Example 2. A 39 year old Private Pilot gets a Class 1 Medical Certificate on the same day June 15th, 2014. The FAA allows him to ambitiously apply and acquire an overshoot medical certification for an Airline Transport Medical Certificate (Class 1) even though he does not yet possess any higher aeronautical rating at the time of his flight physical. Like many pilots in the decisional phase of their career, he just wanted to see if he could pass the stricter medical exam--he thinks he might want to be an Airline Pilot one day and is testing the FAA medical system against his current state of health. He passes the 1st Class Exam. If he just stays at the level of a Private Pilot, then this 1st Class Airman Medical Certificate dated June 15th, 2014 is valid but his actual privileges are limited by his aeronautical rating, so it would medicolegally cover him for exercising those 3rd Class private privileges (carrying passengers, not for hire) until June 30, 2019--the remainder of that month plus 60 more since he was under age 40 at the time of the flight physical.

Alternatively, if this pilot gets motivated and earns his Commercial Pilot license during the first summer, say August 12, 2014, then his original medical exam from back in June 2014 would satisfy medical requirements for exercising the newly acquired aeronautical rating (class 2 privileges) even though he did not have that commercial pilot's license on the date of the medical exam. After his Commercial Pilot test and checkride, he now has the medical and aeronautical pieces to be legal without another visit to the AME. He can carry passengers for hire with his existing aviation medical certification through June 30, 2015 -- the fraction of the exam month plus another year.

Now assume a year has passed, and he has been flying as a new commercial pilot. We jump forward to June 2015. His original flight physical from June 2014 would now revert down to a 3rd class certificate valid for those limited privileges from July 2015 through June 30, 2019. For this younger pilot, he gets 60 total months after the month acquired because he was under age 40 at the time he got the exam. During the time July 2015 - June 2019 he is in reversion status. Although he could no longer exercise class 2 privileges without another visit to the AME, he could still continue to exercise class 3 (private) privileges even though he is now over 40.

Operations After Medical Expiration.

For each of the example pilots, there will eventually be a final reversion and expiration of the Class 3 privileges. Both of the pilots in our examples could still remain eligible for operations that do not require medical certification (gliders, balloons) after the final expiration. Without another FAA flight physical, they might still be able to participate in activities that only require a current US Driver's License such as the light sport pilot operations explained above. For air operations requiring either a medical certificate or U.S. driver's license, they could fly in these expired situations as long as:

their driver's licenses are valid,
they have no known health problems that would prevent them from operating those limited aircraft (self-declaration), and
they do not take and fail another FAA flight physical in the interim or have their most recently issued Airman Medical Certificate suspended, revoked or withdrawn by the FAA.

This page discussed Duration of an FAA Pilot Medical Certificate

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