2.4 BasicMed (14 CFR 61.113(i) and Part 68)

BasicMed is 14 CFR 61.113(i) plus part 68. It lets a private pilot (and certain student, recreational, CFI-as-PIC, and examiner operations listed in 61.23(c)) act as PIC or serve as a required flight crewmember without holding a current part 67 medical, provided every condition in 61.113(i) and 61.23(c)(3) is true at the same time. Miss one condition and you are not on BasicMed — you are an unmedicaled private pilot, which for airplane passenger or solo PIC operations is not a legal category.

Current aircraft and operating limits — 61.113(i)(1) and (2)

Congress and the FAA expanded BasicMed in 2024 (89 FR 90577, November 18, 2024). The current regulation — not the 2017 textbook — is what PAR will use:

• The aircraft is authorized to carry not more than 7 occupants,
• It has a maximum takeoff weight of not more than 12,500 pounds,
• It is operated with no more than 6 passengers on board, and
• It is not a transport-category rotorcraft certified under part 29.

Those are two different occupant numbers. Seven is what the aircraft is authorized to carry. Six is how many passengers may be on board for that flight. The PIC counts as an occupant but not as a passenger. A seven-seat airplane with the PIC and six friends is at the limit. A seven-seat airplane with the PIC, six friends, and a seventh passenger is over the line even if a seat is empty in the back of someone’s memory of the old rule.

The 6,000-pound / 6-occupant / 5-passenger figures are superseded. They are the most likely stale distractor on a 2026 PAR item. An A36 Bonanza, a Cessna 206, or another airplane between 6,000 and 12,500 pounds that is authorized for no more than seven occupants is inside the current aircraft box. A part 29 transport helicopter is not, regardless of weight.

Every portion of the flight must also stay:

• At or below 18,000 feet MSL,
• At or below 250 knots indicated, and
• Inside the United States, unless the country in which the flight is conducted authorizes it.

Climbing through 18,000 for a few minutes “just for the tailwind” ends BasicMed for that portion of the flight. There is no 17,999-foot grace band in the regulation. Night is allowed. IFR is allowed. Flight in actual instrument conditions is allowed. BasicMed is not a day-VFR-only medical. What it does not allow is using BasicMed as the medical qualification for a commercial privilege, a part 135 flight, or any 61.113(a) compensated PIC job that a private pilot could not do on a third-class medical.

Who may use BasicMed — 61.23(c)(3)

Holding a driver’s license is necessary and not sufficient. The airman using a U.S. driver’s license for 61.113(i) must:

• Comply with all medical requirements or restrictions on that driver’s license,
• Have held a part 67 medical certificate at any point after July 14, 2006,
• Complete the § 68.3 medical education course during the 24 calendar months before acting as PIC or required crew, and retain the completion certificate,
• Receive a comprehensive medical examination from a State-licensed physician during the 48 calendar months before acting as PIC or required crew, conducted under part 68, and
• If diagnosed with any medical condition that may impact the ability to fly, be under the care and treatment of a State-licensed physician when acting as PIC or required crew.

Further:

• The most recently issued medical may be expired and may include a special issuance,
• That medical cannot have been suspended or revoked,
• The most recently issued special-issuance authorization cannot have been withdrawn, and
• The most recent application for an airman medical certificate submitted to the FAA cannot have been completed and denied.

July 14, 2006 is a one-time historical gate, not a recency clock. An airman whose last medical was in 2015 and is long expired may still qualify if that medical was not revoked or suspended, the last application was not denied, and the course and physician exam are current. An airman who has never held a medical after that date cannot use BasicMed. An airman whose most recent application was denied cannot use BasicMed to step around the denial.

A driver’s license that is suspended, or that carries a limitation the airman is ignoring (corrective lenses, daylight-only driving, and similar restrictions), is not a valid medical qualification. 61.23(c)(3)(i)(A) imports those restrictions into the cockpit.

Two clocks: 24-month course and 48-month physician exam

Part 68 splits BasicMed recency into two documents. Do not average them.

Medical education course — 68.3 and 61.23(c)(3)(i)(C). Complete the FAA online course during the 24 calendar months before acting as PIC or required crew. The course covers self-assessment, warning signs, medication impairment, 61.53, and the official checklist. On completion, the system issues a certificate that must be retained in the logbook and made available on request. The certificate includes name, address, and airman certificate number. The course also transmits required items to the FAA, including a National Driver Register release and the signed statement: the airman understands that a person may not act as PIC or required crew if the person knows or has reason to know of any medical condition that would make the person unable to operate the aircraft safely.

Comprehensive medical examination — 61.23(c)(3)(i)(D), 68.5, and 68.7. Receive a comprehensive exam from a State-licensed physician — not necessarily an AME — during the 48 calendar months before acting as PIC or required crew. The physician uses the FAA Comprehensive Medical Examination Checklist (CMEC), Form 8700-2. The completed checklist must be in the logbook (61.113(i)(3)(i)). The airman, not the FAA, keeps that checklist; it is not a new plastic medical certificate.

A course completed 30 calendar months ago with a physician exam completed 12 months ago is not current BasicMed. A physician exam completed 50 calendar months ago with a course completed last week is also not current. Either stale document grounds the BasicMed privilege until that document is renewed. Calendar-month counting matches 61.23: expiration is tied to the month, not to the anniversary hour of the click or the physical.

61.53 still applies, and so does 61.113(a)

BasicMed replaces the unexpired part 67 card for qualifying flights. It does not replace self-assessment. Section 61.53(c) points a driver’s-license operator to 61.53(b): do not act as PIC or required crew if you know or have reason to know of a medical condition that would make you unable to operate safely. The 68.3 completion statement is the same rule in writing.

A BasicMed pilot who develops chest pain, starts a disqualifying medication, or has a new neurologic diagnosis does not wait for the 48-month exam to expire. That pilot stops acting as PIC. If the condition may affect the ability to fly, 61.23(c)(3)(i)(E) also requires that the airman be under a State-licensed physician’s care when flying again.

BasicMed also does not create a compensated-flying privilege. A private pilot on BasicMed still may not hold out, still may not pay less than a pro-rata share, and still may not carry passengers or property for hire except under 61.113(b)–(h). The larger 12,500-pound airplane does not come with a larger commercial certificate.

Documents in the airplane are the 61.3 set for a 61.113(i) flight: pilot certificate, photo ID, valid U.S. driver’s license, and — available in the logbook — the completed CMEC and the course certificate. Leave those two papers in a desk drawer and you have failed 61.113(i)(3) even if the course and the physical were done on time.

The clean PAR picture is a box, not a slogan. You are inside the box only if the airplane, the altitude, the airspeed, the country, the passenger count, the driver’s license, the 2006-or-later medical history, the 24-month course, the 48-month physician exam, and 61.53 are all true. The old 6,000-pound / six-occupant jingle describes a rule that is no longer the current 61.113(i) text.