2.3 Medical Certificates, Duration, and Disqualification

Medical qualification is a privilege rule, not a piece of plastic you once obtained. Section 61.23 says when a medical is required and how long each class supports each kind of operation. Section 61.53 says you still may not fly if you know you do not meet the standard. Section 61.3 says what must be in the airplane when you do fly.

When a private pilot needs a medical — 61.23(a) and (c)

Unless an exception applies, a person must hold at least a third-class medical certificate when:

• Exercising the privileges of a private, recreational, or student pilot certificate,
• Exercising flight-instructor privileges while acting as PIC or as a required flight crewmember,
• Taking a practical test in an aircraft for a recreational, private, commercial, ATP, or flight instructor certificate, or
• Performing examiner duties in an aircraft.

The important private-pilot exception is 61.113(i) BasicMed, which 61.23(a)(3) and 61.23(c)(1)(v) explicitly carve out. Glider and balloon private operations are also carved out of the medical requirement. For the PAR airplane applicant, the working rule is: third-class or BasicMed, plus 61.53 self-grounding.

A first-class or second-class certificate always includes third-class privileges. A 25-year-old who just passed a first-class exam is not required to keep buying first-class exams to fly a Skyhawk on the weekend. When the higher-class privileges time out, the same certificate keeps supporting private operations until the third-class row of the table expires.

Duration — use the 61.23(d) table, not folklore

Duration is counted to the end of the last day of the Nth month after the month of the examination shown on the certificate. Age is the age on the date of that examination, not the age on the day you fly. An airman examined at age 39 keeps the under-40 duration for that certificate even after turning 40.

Read the table as a step-down, not as three unrelated cards.

Example (under 40, first-class). Examined March 10 at age 34. First-class / ATP PIC privileges run through March 31 of the following year (12th month). Commercial privileges on that same certificate also run 12 months. Private-pilot privileges continue through March 31 five years after the exam month (60th month).

Example (age 40 or older, third-class). Examined March 10 at age 41. Private privileges expire at the end of March two years later (24th month). There is no 60-month third-class period for an exam taken at 40 or older.

Example (examined at 39, now 41). The under-40 row still governs that certificate. The next exam, taken after the airman’s 40th birthday, will use the 24-month private row.

Do not convert calendar months into “two years to the day” or “five years minus one day.” A June 1 exam and a June 30 exam taken under the same age row expire at the same midnight: the last day of the 24th or 60th month after June.

Student pilots use the same third-class duration rows when a medical is required. The student-pilot certificate itself no longer carries the medical; medicals are separate part 67 certificates. A student whose third-class expires is not legal to solo an airplane unless BasicMed 61.23(c)(3) and 61.113(i) are fully met — and student BasicMed still cannot override 61.89’s no-passenger rule.

61.53 — the valid card is not a hall pass

Section 61.53 is the rule that catches pilots who treat the medical as a season ticket.

• Operations that require a medical (61.53(a)). No person who holds a part 67 medical may act as PIC, or as any other required pilot flight crewmember, while that person knows or has reason to know of a medical condition that would make the person unable to meet the standard for the required medical, or while taking medication or receiving treatment that results in the same inability.
• Operations that do not require a medical (61.53(b)). The 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.
• Medical-or-driver’s-license operations, including BasicMed (61.53(c)). If the person is using a U.S. driver’s license, paragraph (b) applies. The BasicMed course completion statement repeats the same idea in the first person.

A sinus infection, inner-ear congestion that blocks a Valsalva, a new narcotic pain prescription, or a dose of an OTC antihistamine the FAA considers disqualifying are temporary medical deficiencies. The expiration date on the certificate does not move. You cancel the flight.

Medications are a 61.53 problem even when the underlying condition is mild. The FAA publishes do-not-issue / do-not-fly guidance for many prescription and over-the-counter drugs, including common sedating antihistamines. “My AME did not list it on the certificate” is not authorization to fly the morning after a nighttime dose that is still active. When in doubt, do not act as PIC until the drug is gone and you again meet the standard.

Temporary disqualification, special issuance, and SODA — high level

Part 67 lists disqualifying conditions (certain cardiac, neurologic, psychiatric, and substance-related diagnoses among them). That list is not the entire medical standard; the AME also applies the general “able to perform airman duties” requirement.

If a condition is disqualifying but controllable, the FAA may issue an Authorization for Special Issuance of a medical certificate. Special issuance is a time-limited permission with follow-up reports. It can later be withdrawn. A withdrawn special issuance is a hard stop for both ordinary medical privileges and BasicMed (see 61.23(c)(3)).

A Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA) is different. It is used for a static defect that will not change — a color-vision deficiency that was flight-tested, for example — and it does not expire with the medical the way a special issuance does. PAR items usually want you to recognize that special issuance is the path for a changing or monitored condition, not to recite every clinical protocol.

An application that is completed and denied is also a hard fact. That person does not keep flying on the previous third-class, and that person does not step sideways into BasicMed on the strength of an older certificate.

Documents to carry — 61.3

When exercising private-pilot privileges you must have in physical possession or readily accessible in the aircraft:

1. Your pilot certificate (or a qualifying temporary document listed in 61.3(a)),
2. An acceptable photo ID (State driver’s license, government ID, U.S. Armed Forces ID, official passport, SIDA credential, or another form the Administrator finds acceptable), and
3. The medical certificate issued under part 67, or — if you are operating under 61.113(i) — a valid U.S. driver’s license plus the part 68 documents 61.113(i)(3) requires in the logbook (the completed comprehensive medical examination checklist and the medical-education course certificate).

Section 61.3(l) requires you to present the airman certificate, medical or part 68 documents, and photo ID on request to the Administrator, an NTSB representative, law enforcement, or TSA. “It is at home on the fridge” is not readily accessible.

A flight review endorsement lives in the logbook, not on the medical. Passenger-currency landings live in the logbook. Those are 61.56/61.57 problems, not 61.23 problems — but a ramp check that starts with “show me your medical” often continues into the logbook. Keep the story consistent: unexpired medical or current BasicMed, no 61.53 deficiency, and the recency the privilege actually requires.

The PAR sequence is predictable. First they ask which class a private operation requires (third). Then they ask how long that class lasts at a stated exam age (60 or 24 calendar months). Then they ask whether a cold, a new medication, or a denied application is cured by the unexpired date (it is not).