PA.I.A.K3· K
Medical certificates
Medical certificates: class, expiration, privileges, temporary disqualifications
To exercise pilot privileges you need either a current FAA medical certificate appropriate to the operation, or qualification under BasicMed . Three classes of FAA medical exist; each authorizes different privileges and lasts a different length of time.
The three medical classes
Each class is a different exam standard. A higher-class medical always satisfies a lower-class requirement — a current 1st-class can be used for any 2nd- or 3rd-class operation.
1st class
Required for ATP privileges. Most stringent exam.
2nd class
Required for commercial pilot privileges.
3rd class
Required for private, recreational, student, and sport privileges.
How long each class lasts
Each set of privileges has its own duration, measured from the end of the exam month — they don't stack in series. A 1st-class issued to a 35-year-old holds 1st- and 2nd-class privileges for 12 calendar months and 3rd-class privileges for 60 calendar months from the same exam date — so after month 12 it functions as a 3rd-class through month 60.
"Calendar months" means valid through the last day of the expiration month. A 3rd-class issued April 5, 2025 (age 35) is good through April 30, 2030.
The timeline below shows every cert / age combination at once:
Pilot qualifications · PA.I.A.K3
Medical certificate privilege timeline
Each privilege has its own clock from the exam date — they don’t stack.
1st class
Issued for ATP
2nd class
Issued for commercial
3rd class
Issued for private
Read each row left to right: the bands mark how long a freshly issued certificate keeps each level of privilege, every clock counted from the day of the exam — so the higher privileges fall away first while the lowest carries on. Hover any segment for details.
For pilots under 40 on the date of examination: a 1st-class medical authorizes ATP for 12 months, commercial for 12 months, and private for 60 months — all measured from the exam date. A 2nd-class medical authorizes commercial for 12 months and private for 60 months. A 3rd-class medical authorizes private for 60 months.
The age-40 rule
The threshold is your age on the date of the examination, not at issuance. If you turn 40 between exams, your next 3rd-class drops from 60 calendar months to 24. The same threshold tightens 1st-class privileges from 12 months to 6.
BasicMed
An alternative regulatory pathway that lets many private pilots fly without an FAA medical certificate. Eligibility, renewal intervals, and operational limits live in PA.I.A.K5.
Self-grounding under 61.53
The duty to self-ground is on you, not the AME.
Even with a current medical, you cannot act as PIC if you know — or have reason to know — of any condition that would make you unable to meet the requirements of your medical certificate . A current certificate does not override this.
Common groundings:
- Active illness — fever, gastrointestinal infection, anything that would keep you home from work
- Recent surgery, especially involving anesthesia
- Disqualifying medications (new prescriptions, sedating antihistamines, opioids)
- Recent loss of consciousness, seizure, or unexplained neurological event
- Any new diagnosis that hasn't been cleared by an AME
When in doubt, call an AME before the flight, not after.
Over-the-counter medications
The FAA's rule of thumb is to wait at least five dosing intervals after the last dose before flying. The dosing interval is the time the package directions say to wait between doses.
- Diphenhydramine (Benadryl): 4–6 hour interval → grounded ~24–30 hours
- Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed): 4–6 hour interval → grounded ~24–30 hours
- Doxylamine (NyQuil, Unisom): 6–8 hour interval → grounded ~30–40 hours
Sedating antihistamines are the most common gotcha — they show up in cold, allergy, and sleep aids, and the impairment can outlast the dosing interval. If a label says "may cause drowsiness," start the clock.
Common DPE questions
What class of FAA medical is required to exercise ATP privileges?
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