Beginning adventure with aviation? You should be aware of the fact that the essential requirement is health state. Depending on what you want to do… paragliding, gliding, flying a small plane or helicopter touristically, for his own pleasure or professionally. In any case you will have to undergo the relevant aero-medical assessment to meet the aviation medical requirements. Normally all the medical assessment takes no more than half a day starting from the early morning and the medical approval is normally issued right away after medical examination is successfully completed.
Well-known aero medical centers where you can do all the research and get the medical certificate of health class here (link).
List of all Polish CAA approved medical examiners who issue / extend aero-medical health class is here (link).
Minimum level of medical certificate required, validity of medical certificates
Class 1 (for CPL, MPL, ATPL applicants) holds validity for:
- 12 months or..
- 6 months if you are over 40 and carry out single pilot commercial air transport operations carrying passengers.
- 6 months if you are over 60.
Class 2 (for PPL, SPL, BPL applicants) holds validity for:
- 60 months, until you are 40. If you are issued with a class 2 medical before you reach 40, it will no longer be valid once you are 42 years old.
- 24 months if you are between 40 and 50. If you are issued with a class 2 medical before you reach 50, it will no longer be valid once you are 51 years old.
- 12 months if you are 50 or over.
LAPL (for LAPL applicants) holds validity for:
- 60 months, until you are 40. If you are issued with a class 2 medical before you reach 40, it will no longer be valid once you are 42 years old.
- 24 months if you are 40 or over.
Aero-medical assessments can divided into:
Pre-entry – that is for candidates for pilots, parachutists, etc.; due to the fact that this is the first assessment for the person, it lasts a minimum of half a day, you should visit a few professionals who exactly will look at your eyes, ears, heart, etc. After completion of the assessment you will receive medical certificate of appropriate class (1, 2, or 3) with the expiration date according to this assessment.
Periodical – that is, for those who wish to extend the validity of their medical class. This time it will be certainly faster procedure, a smaller number of specialists to visit, and after completion of the study you will receive a medical certificate with the next expiration date.
Occasional – this type of research is carried out in a situation where there were some unusual circumstances, the events that one had a significant impact on health, eg. a serious car accident, severe fractures, surgery, etc. Depending on the situation, you are subjected to the relevant tests and after taking them you receive appropriate decision.
Issue, revalidation and renewal of medical certificates
The validity period for a medical certificate will be determined by your age when you take the medical and calculated from the date of the examination in the case of issue and renewal. If you are applying for revalidation of a certificate, it will be calculated from the expiry date of the previous certificate. You can have your revalidation examination up to 45 days before your previous one expires.
If you have not had your revalidation exam in the 45 days before it expires, you will need a renewal examination.
If you hold a Class 1 or 2 medical certificate and it expired more than two years before, the examiner will need to assess your aeromedical record before carrying out the renewal examination. If it expired more than 5 years before, the process for initial issue will apply, though the fitness decision will be based on the revalidation requirements; in this circumstance Class 1 applicants will need to attend an Aeromedical Centre.
If you hold a LAPL medical certificate that has expired your examiner will assess your medical history and carry out the renewal examination as detailed in the medical assessment section.
Legal bases of aero-medical assessments and classes can be found in this document: