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The medical certificate, in order.

What a medical certificate is, which class goes with which privileges, and the sequence most first-time applicants follow. This is an educational summary, not medical advice and not an eligibility determination.

Version medical-guide-v1.0 · last reviewed 2026-08-31

Jump to: find an Aviation Medical Examiner →

Read this first. This is an administrative orientation, not medical advice. We do not ask about your health, we never tell anyone how to answer a question on an FAA form, and nothing here determines whether you qualify. Those conversations belong with an Aviation Medical Examiner and the FAA.

What a medical certificate is

An FAA medical certificate is a document issued after an examination by an Aviation Medical Examiner — a physician the FAA has designated to perform these exams. It is the FAA’s way of establishing that a pilot meets the medical standards for the privileges they intend to exercise. It is not a general health check-up, and it is not issued by your usual doctor unless that doctor happens to be an AME.

It is also separate from your pilot certificate. The medical certificate says you meet a medical standard; the pilot certificate says you are qualified to fly. You will usually carry both.

Things people get wrong first

A medical certificate and a student pilot certificate are two different things.
They are issued through different processes: the medical certificate comes from an Aviation Medical Examiner after an examination, and the student pilot certificate comes from an application in IACRA that a recommending instructor or other authorized certifier completes. Getting one does not get you the other.
You may generally begin taking lessons before you hold either certificate.
Flight training with an instructor on board is not the same thing as flying solo. Talk to your instructor about the order that makes sense for you — many students start lessons while their paperwork is in progress.
You must hold the required medical certificate before you fly solo.
Solo flight is the milestone that makes the paperwork urgent. Plan the medical early enough that it does not become the thing holding up your training.
The FAA states that the examination must take place within 60 days after you submit MedXPress.
Submit the application, save the confirmation number the system gives you, and schedule the exam so it happens inside that window. If it lapses, you complete a new application.
Nobody on this website can tell you whether you will qualify.
We do not ask about your health, we do not want to know, and we will never tell you how to answer a question on an FAA form. Those conversations belong with an Aviation Medical Examiner.

Which class goes with which privileges

The class of medical certificate follows the flying you intend to do. The FAA’s own guidance for examiners is the authority; the summary below is orientation.

  • First Class

    Airline transport pilot privileges. If your goal is an airline cockpit, this is the standard your career eventually depends on.

    Usually held by: Airline pilots, and career-track students who want to know early where they stand.

    If the airlines are the goal, the FAA's own material points people toward understanding First Class requirements early rather than late. Discuss that with an Aviation Medical Examiner before you spend money on training — the AME, not this website, is the person who can talk about your situation.

  • Second Class

    Commercial pilot privileges — flying for compensation or hire.

    Usually held by: Commercial pilots, flight instructors being paid to instruct in many arrangements.

    A common step for pilots moving from recreational flying into paid flying.

  • Third Class

    Private, recreational, and student pilot privileges.

    Usually held by: Most people learning to fly for personal flying.

    This is the class most first-time students obtain. It is required before you may solo an aircraft.

If the airlines are your goal, the sensible move is to raise First Class eligibility with an AME early — before large amounts of money and time are committed. That is a scheduling recommendation, not medical advice, and only the AME and the FAA can speak to your own situation. See where the medical sits in the whole career path.

The sequence, start to finish

  1. 01

    Decide what flying you intend to do

    The class of medical certificate follows the privileges you intend to exercise. Personal flying points toward Third Class; paid flying toward Second; an airline career toward First. If you are unsure, say so out loud to an instructor and to an AME — it is a normal question.

    FAA — classes of medical certificates ↗

  2. 02

    If you have any uncertainty about conditions or medications, call an AME office first

    Many AME offices will talk through the process with a prospective applicant before anything is filed. That conversation is with a physician, in private. Do not describe your medical history on this website or to us — we have no role in it and no way to help.

  3. 03

    Create the MedXPress application

    FAA MedXPress is the FAA's online application. You complete it yourself, directly with the FAA. Read the FAA's instructions on that page as the authority for what is required.

    FAA — get a medical certificate ↗

  4. 04

    Save the confirmation the FAA gives you

    The system issues a confirmation number when you submit. Keep it somewhere you can find it — your AME's office will ask for it. Keep it out of email threads and off shared devices; it belongs to your application.

  5. 05

    Schedule and attend the examination with an AME

    The FAA states the examination must occur within 60 days after submitting MedXPress. Bring photo identification and whatever the office tells you to bring. The AME conducts the exam and handles the outcome with the FAA.

  6. 06

    Keep what you are issued, and follow the FAA's instructions

    If a certificate is issued, keep it with your pilot documents. If the FAA asks for additional information, respond through the channel the FAA specifies. Deadlines in FAA correspondence are real; treat them that way.

The FAA states that the examination must take place within 60 days after you submit MedXPress. Book the appointment before you submit if the AME you want is busy — the clock starts at submission, not at booking.

This page is written to print cleanly — use your browser’s print command if you want it on paper.

Find an Aviation Medical Examiner

The FAA publishes the authoritative list of examiners. We do not copy it, cache it, or keep our own version of it — so this assistant gets you ready for the official search instead of pretending to be one.

Your location is not attached to this link. You will enter it once, on the FAA's own page, so it is never transmitted through The Pilot Method.

A general area only. Do not enter a street address — we neither need nor want your precise location.

In the official locator, check the examiner's authorized classes. Not every AME is authorized for every class, so confirm First Class before you book if that is what you need.

Your search, ready to run

Open the official FAA locator and search for your area, then check the results for an ame who can issue first class. Call the office before booking to confirm what they can do and what to bring.

Open the official FAA AME Locator ↗FAA Designee Locator ↗

What the official locator will ask you

Location
The locator searches by state, city, or ZIP code. Pick the area you can realistically drive to for an appointment.
Distance or radius
You can widen the search area when a smaller town returns few results. Widening it is often the difference between no results and several.
Examiner name
If a school or another pilot referred you to a specific physician, you can confirm the designation by name rather than browsing.
Designation and authorized classes
The results show what an examiner is authorized to do. This is where you verify First Class capability or a special designation before calling.

Why we do not publish our own list of examiners

We have no approved API and no licence to republish FAA examiner data, so we do not hold, cache, or reproduce any of it — and we will never invent a listing to make a page look fuller. If we ever publish AME profiles, these are the rules we are binding ourselves to in advance. No records exist today.

  • Opt-in only

    An examiner or their office claims and publishes their own profile. No listing is ever created by scraping, importing, or copying a public dataset we have no licence to republish.

  • Official source URL on every record

    Each published profile must carry a link to the authoritative FAA locator entry so a visitor can verify the designation at the source instead of trusting us.

  • Last-reviewed date on every record

    A profile displays when a human last confirmed it. A stale record is shown as stale rather than presented as current.

  • Correction and removal on request

    A named contact route for corrections and unconditional removal, honoured without requiring a reason and without a retention period for the removed listing.

  • No ranking, no pay-to-rank, no advertising slots

    Ordering is neutral and mechanical. Nobody may pay for position, prominence, or a badge, now or later.

  • No personal contact data republished without consent

    Direct contact details appear only when the office itself supplies them for publication.

Primary sources

The linked source always controls. Where this page and the source differ, the source is right.

Scope, version and corrections

Educational orientation only. It does not tell you how to answer any medical question, does not assess your eligibility, and never replaces an Aviation Medical Examiner or the FAA.

Content version
medical-guide-v1.0
Last reviewed
2026-08-31
Cost
Free, permanently. No account required.

Found something wrong or out of date? Report it to fly@pilotmethodaviation.com and we will review it against the source.

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