Get your Class 1 medical before you commit to flight school
You cannot hold a commercial pilot licence without a Class 1 medical certificate. It is the one entry requirement that no amount of study or flying can change. It is a single appointment and costs a small fraction of what a training course costs. Do them in that order.
What the first examination covers
The initial Class 1 examination must be done at an Aero-Medical Centre, not by an individual examiner. It is the most thorough medical you will have in your career. Under Part-MED it includes:
- Eyesight: distance, intermediate and near vision, with and without correction, and an examination of the eyes.
- Colour vision: normally the Ishihara plates first, with further testing if you do not pass them.
- Hearing: pure-tone audiometry.
- Heart and circulation: an ECG, blood pressure and examination.
- Lungs, blood and urine tests, and a general physical examination.
- Mental health: a mental health assessment is part of the initial examination, together with screening for drugs and alcohol.
What causes problems
The findings that most often stop or delay a Class 1 are these:
- Colour vision. A Class 1 applicant must be colour safe. Failing the Ishihara plates leads to further testing, not to refusal, but an applicant who does not pass the further tests cannot hold a Class 1.
- Refractive error. Glasses and contact lenses are acceptable. Vision must correct to the required standard, and a strong prescription, beyond +5 or −6 dioptres, is referred to the licensing authority's medical assessor and needs a satisfactory specialist eye evaluation.
- Diabetes requiring insulin, which is disqualifying for Class 1.
- Epilepsy, which is disqualifying except where there has been no recurrence since the age of five, or none for more than ten years without treatment.
- Heart conditions and some neurological and psychiatric histories, which are assessed case by case and may need specialist reports.
Many findings end in a certificate with a limitation, such as a requirement to wear corrective lenses, or in a referral to the licensing authority's medical assessors. A referral is a process, not a verdict. It can take weeks or months, which is another reason to start early.
How long it lasts
A Class 1 certificate is valid for 12 months. That drops to six months for pilots aged 40 and over flying single-pilot commercial passenger operations, and for all pilots from 60. You will renew it at least once a year for the whole of your career, so the first one is a preview of a routine you need to be comfortable with.
What to do
- Book the initial Class 1 before you sign a training contract or pay a deposit. Your national aviation authority publishes the list of approved Aero-Medical Centres; in Poland that is the Civil Aviation Authority (ULC).
- Declare your history fully. An undeclared condition found later puts the certificate and the career at risk. A declared one is assessed.
- Bring existing reports for anything you have been treated for, including eye prescriptions.
- If you have a known condition, ask first. An Aero-Medical Centre can tell you what evidence will be needed before you pay for the full examination.
Medical fitness is decided by the aeromedical examiner and the licensing authority, not by a school and not by FlyEASA. What we do is check that it has been dealt with before a route and a budget are built: medical status is one of the first things reviewed in the FlyEASA planning process.
