A licence says you are trained to fly; a medical certificate says you are fit to. The two are separate, and the medical comes in classes that match the kind of flying you do, each with its own period of validity that shortens as you get older. The classes and the numbers differ between the FAA and EASA, so it pays to learn the right set for your licence.
This is general educational information, not operational, legal, or regulatory advice. Rules differ by authority and change over time. Always verify against current official sources and follow your operator's approved procedures.
What a medical certificate is for
A medical certificate is a statement, issued after examination by an authorised medical examiner, that you meet a defined standard of fitness for a class of flying. The international framework sits in ICAO Annex 1 (Personnel Licensing), which sets the medical assessment standards each authority then implements. The principle behind the classes is simple: the more demanding and the more public the flying, the higher the standard and the more often it is checked. An airline captain carrying hundreds of passengers is held to a tighter standard, examined more frequently, than a private pilot flying friends at the weekend.
Two things follow from that. First, the class you need follows the privileges you exercise, not just the licence in your wallet. Second, validity is not a flat number: it depends on your age, because the medical risks the examination is screening for rise with age, so the certificate is renewed more often as you get older.
The FAA classes and their validity
The United States, in 14 CFR 61.23, defines three classes:
- First-class, required for airline transport pilot privileges. Valid 12 calendar months if you were under age 40 at the examination, and 6 calendar months if you were 40 or over.
- Second-class, required for commercial pilot privileges. Valid 12 calendar months, regardless of age.
- Third-class, required for private, recreational and student flying. Valid 60 calendar months if you were under age 40 at the examination, and 24 calendar months if you were 40 or over.
A higher-class medical also carries the privileges of the lower classes for their respective durations, so a first-class certificate continues to serve as a third-class long after it has lapsed for first-class privileges. The United States also offers BasicMed, an alternative to the third-class medical for certain private operations, with its own conditions; it sits alongside, not inside, the three-class scheme.
The EASA classes and their validity
EASA, in Part-MED (MED.A.045), uses a parallel but differently named set:
- Class 1, required for commercial licences (ATPL, CPL, MPL). Valid 12 months, reduced to 6 months once the holder reaches age 60, or is engaged in single-pilot commercial air transport carrying passengers and has reached age 40.
- Class 2, required for the private pilot licence (PPL) and similar. Valid 60 months until age 40, 24 months between 40 and 50, and 12 months after 50.
- LAPL medical, the lighter standard for the light aircraft pilot licence (LAPL). Valid 60 months until age 40, and 24 months after 40.
The exact behaviour right at the age boundaries, for instance a certificate issued just before a birthday, is set out in MED.A.045, which is the place to confirm an edge case rather than estimate it. The UK, since leaving EASA, operates its own closely aligned Part-MED, and also offers a Pilot Medical Declaration as a lighter route for some private flying, broadly comparable in spirit to BasicMed.
The two systems side by side
The mapping is rough but useful: the FAA first-class lines up with the EASA Class 1 for the most demanding commercial flying, the second-class with the commercial end of Class 1/Class 2, and the third-class with Class 2 or the lighter LAPL for private flying. The validity numbers, though, are genuinely different. The clearest contrast is at the private level: a private pilot's medical lasts up to 60 months when young under both systems, but the FAA third-class drops to 24 months at 40 while the EASA Class 2 keeps 24 months only to 50 and then 12 months beyond. Do not assume your home figure applies abroad.
What the examination looks at
A medical examination is not a single pass-or-fail test but a structured screen across the systems that matter most in flight. It checks vision, distance and near acuity and, importantly, colour perception for reading lights and displays; hearing, by conversation and, at the higher classes, audiogram; the cardiovascular system, including blood pressure and, for Class 1, periodic electrocardiograms; and the respiratory, neurological and general state of health. The higher the class, the more thorough and the more frequent the checks, which is the same logic that drives the shorter validity periods: an airline medical screens harder and more often than a private one.
A certificate need not be a flat yes or no. It can be issued with limitations that make it safe to fly within bounds, the most familiar being the requirement to wear corrective lenses, and others restricting a pilot to multi-pilot operations or to flying with a safety pilot. The FAA handles unusual cases through a special issuance process, and EASA through operational limitations recorded on the certificate. The point is that a condition does not automatically end a flying career; it is assessed against the standard for the class.
When your fitness changes
A medical certificate is a snapshot, and the rules put a continuing duty on the pilot between examinations. Under EASA's MED.A.020 you must not exercise the privileges of your licence when you are aware of any decrease in medical fitness that might make you unable to do so safely, and you must seek advice after significant illness, injury, surgery, or starting regular medication. The FAA states the parallel duty in 14 CFR 61.53: no person may act as pilot while they know, or have reason to know, of a medical condition that would make them unable to meet the requirements for the medical certificate. In plain terms, a valid certificate in your pocket does not authorise you to fly when you know you are not fit. That self-grounding judgement, on a bad cold, on new medication, after a poor night, sits alongside the certificate and is just as binding.
A worked example
Take a pilot at age 45.
Flying privately under EASA, she holds a Class 2 medical. At 45 she is in the 40-to-50 band, so it is valid for 24 months. If she flew privately under the FAA instead, her third-class medical, at 40 or over, would also be valid for 24 months, a rare case where the two line up.
Now suppose she flies commercially. Under EASA she needs a Class 1, valid 12 months, because she is not in single-pilot commercial passenger operations, so the reduction to 6 months at 40 does not apply to her yet. Under the FAA, exercising airline transport privileges she needs a first-class medical, and at 40 or over that is valid only 6 months. The same pilot, the same age, holds medicals with very different renewal intervals depending on the system and the flying.
Finally, picture her at 62 as an airline captain under EASA: her Class 1 is now reduced to 6 months because she has passed 60, so she sees the examiner twice as often as she did a decade earlier. The standard has not changed; the frequency of checking has.
Common pitfalls
- Matching the medical to the licence rather than the privileges. It is the flying you actually do that sets the class you need.
- Forgetting that validity shortens with age. The same certificate lasts years when you are young and months later in your career.
- Carrying one authority's numbers into the other. The FAA and EASA periods and age bands differ, especially for private flying past 50.
- Confusing the medical with currency. A valid medical does not make you current, and being current does not keep your medical alive; they are separate clocks.
- Guessing the behaviour at an age boundary. Certificates issued near a birthday follow specific rules in MED.A.045 and 61.23; check them rather than estimate.
In Pilot EFB
Pilot EFB is a study and planning companion, and the medical certificate sits firmly outside it: the app does not hold, issue, validate or track the expiry of your medical, and it cannot tell you whether you are fit to fly. That is a matter for you, your authorised medical examiner and the current rule, just as recency is a separate question again. Pilot EFB is not a certified Electronic Flight Bag, so treat it as a study and planning aid and confirm your medical against your authority's requirements.