3rd class to 1st class question

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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I have a 3rd class medical that is about 2 months old.
I am going for a first class next week. I am in good health and have no issues of which I am aware but I got to thinking.

Suppose the EKG or something other is no bueno when going for the 1st, does my 3rd still apply or would I be completely medically unfit to fly?
 
Congrats on going for first class, but may I ask why? Unless you want to exercise certain commercial priveleges/ATP I don't see the advantage. Thinking of air carrier work?

Anyway, I believe the answer depends on what would deny the first class and if that also disqualifies the third class. Let's say you 'fail' the EKG per your example; while the FAA does not check for that on a third class they've now become known of a potentially disqualifying heart or medical condition that may trickle down to your third class. My understanding is FAA has the authority to review your medical at any time..

My $0.02, and I'm happy to be proven wrong by a more qualified poster.

Note I've always been told that you should go for the lowest level medical you need to mitigate the chances of a denial, as that becomes an obstacle for all future medicals, tying back to my first sentence on this post.. why get it if you don't absolutely need it. You can CFI with basicmed even.
 
Tantalum said:
Congrats on going for first class, but may I ask why? Unless you want to exercise certain commercial priveleges/ATP I don't see the advantage. Thinking of air carrier work?

Anyway, I believe the answer depends on what would deny the first class and if that also disqualifies the third class. Let's say you 'fail' the EKG per your example; while the FAA does not check for that on a third class they've now become known of a potentially disqualifying heart or medical condition that may trickle down to your third class. My understanding is FAA has the authority to review your medical at any time..

My $0.02, and I'm happy to be proven wrong by a more qualified poster.

Note I've always been told that you should go for the lowest level medical you need to mitigate the chances of a denial, as that becomes an obstacle for all future medicals, tying back to my first sentence on this post.. why get it if you don't absolutely need it. You can CFI with basicmed even.
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I have an opportunity requiring a 2nd class. I was given the advice "Go ahead and get a first since that is your long term plan. Better to find out now then when you need it". I don't know if that is good advice or not but I have heard that from 2 different sources when inquiring about this.
 
Cool! Go for it! If that is the long-term plan then certainly makes sense to uncover anything up front
 
No clue how that works but if anything shows up and it would call for an SI, probably BuBye flying anything but LSA and Gliders.

Seems to me you should go in for a "practice" 1st Class and see what happens.
 
If there is a problem on your ECG it may prevent you from flying on your 3rd class. It depends on what it would be.

Also keep in mind that any exam done within 2 months of a previous exam is automatically deferred. So if you are in that window, maybe move the exam until just outside that window. Otherwise, even if qualified, the system won't let your AME issue the certificate.
 
WingmanMed said:
If there is a problem on your ECG it may prevent you from flying on your 3rd class. It depends on what it would be.

Also keep in mind that any exam done within 2 months of a previous exam is automatically deferred. So if you are in that window, maybe move the exam until just outside that window. Otherwise, even if qualified, the system won't let your AME issue the certificate.
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I didn't know that. Any reason why?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I didn't know that. Any reason why?
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I honestly don't know. I suspect it is because the FAA has 60 days to overturn an AME who has issued a certificate. So maybe they don't want to have to repeat overturn back to back exams. But that is just speculation.
 
X3 Skier said:
No clue how that works but if anything shows up and it would call for an SI, probably BuBye flying anything but LSA and Gliders.

Seems to me you should go in for a "practice" 1st Class and see what happens.
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I denial or deferral would rule out flying an LSA unless he later succeeded in getting a medical certificate.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I have an opportunity requiring a 2nd class. I was given the advice "Go ahead and get a first since that is your long term plan. Better to find out now then when you need it". I don't know if that is good advice or not but I have heard that from 2 different sources when inquiring about this.
Click to expand...

Bryan, at our age we start to transition from "perfectly healthy" to "I have a few things going on that may or may not be an issue".

As a result, if you're going to try for a 1st class, I'd strongly suggest you pay your AME for a consult, where they do the full 1st workup, including EKG, but with no paperwork generated, no MedXPress, nothing. Gather the information for him, but don't even log in to MedXPress. I did that before I started my current job, where I also need a 1st class. He was able to tell me "Okay, I need a note saying this and this from your doctor about this issue, but this other one is not a problem", etc., etc. Then I was able to see my doctor, get the required documentation, and a month later saw my AME again for the "real" 1st class medical exam. Since everything was in order, it was easy and he issued it and there were no problems or delays.

It was worth it to me to essentially pay for two visits (although he actually cut me a discount on the consult, since "hey, I didn't have to do any paperwork!").

After that I've only gone in for normal visits since, but you can bet that if I have anything remotely an issue come up in the future, I'll be paying for another "consult"!
 
It’s worth it to do a consult, I would be stuck in the special issuance vortex if I had just done a medical and no consult, I was able to keep in the air by doing a basic med.
Well worth it, especially if you fly for a living
 
me, after passing my 1st class medical

spidey.gif
 
Altar (though that may have been a Freudian slip).
 
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