Have a question about Class III medical certifcates - what is exactly involved ? What tests are administered ? How long does it take ?
Any info would be appreciated…
Here is the deal:
Also, the cost is around $80 dollars and it takes about 30 - 40 minutes including the forms you must fill out. Only certain designated doctors (who are commonly pilots too BTW) can give the exam.
The SDMB is chock-full of pilots.
A Class III is fairly straightforward. They check to see if you can read an eye chart, your periferal vision, etc., they check to make sure you can see red and green, there is a hearing test (the doc just whispers something to see if you can hear), blood pressure, heart rate, unrine, height, weight… basically it’s a normal physical. How long does it take? The wait in the lobby will probably be longer than the test.
If you need vision correction there will be a limitation on the certificate that says “holder must wear corrective lenses while flying” (or close to that).
First, you need to find a Flight Surgeon who can administer FAA medicals. Ask at the airport, your ground school instructor, or contact the FAA for a list of doctors. I’m sure there’s a site somewhere that has them.
As for the exam itself, to the best of my recollection…
When you get to the doctor’s office, you will complete a form asking about you medical history and any medications you are currently taking.
You will give a urine sample, and a nurse will take your blood pressure and pulse. They will test your vision by having you read the lowest row on a chart, and will test the location of your “blind spot”. To check your color vision, you will look at a series of charts with multi-colored dots, and will be asked to identify what number you can read withing the chart. For hearing, the nurse may have you turn around while numbers are whispered to you, and you will have to repeat them back.
When the doctor arrives, he/she will listen to your heart and breathing, and examine your ears, eyes, throat, sinuses, and generally look for anything that might interefere with your controlling of an airplane. And if applicable, the doc will check for hernia.
I think the last time I had one done, I was in and out in about 45 minutes. Of course, some of that time was spent waiting for the doc to come into the room after the nurse was finished.
If you’re in decent health and aren’t on any medications, it’s a breeze.
Total cost: $95
Soon someone will show up here with a link to the FAA’s requirements.
Wow… thanks folks !
If you can see well enough to drive to the doctors office, and can walk well enough to get inside, you are pretty much set. 
Even the First class is a walk in the park.
Federal Aviation Regulations, Part 67
Here’s the requisite paperwork.
I think it took me about 20 minutes fill out the forms; most of that was remembering when and why I had seen a doctor over the past several years. The actual exam was straightforward and very similar to what AV8R described.
For most people, it’s a pretty easy approval. However, some relatively common disorders, including diabetes, heart disease, bipolar disorder, and epilepsy are potentially disqualifying conditions, as are the medications taken to treat them. If you have one of these conditions, you’ll certainly want to consult with an examiner before you get too far in your training.
Well, as one who failed the first class (after finishing the commercial training), I wouldn’t call it a ‘walk in the park’. In my case, my vision was outside of limits (-5.5 diopters).
There are a few big items that can get you disqualified for even a cat III. Diabetes that cannot be controlled through diet. Heart murmurs. Depression treated with drugs. Any number of chronic conditions that can only be controlled with medication. A few others.
I will agree that if you don’t have any obvious pre-existing conditions, the odds of the doctor finding something in the medical that disqualifies you are very, very slim.
Obviously spoken by someone who’s never been sick a day in his life.
Me, I have thick glasses, asthma, and a bad knee, so seeing and breathing and walking into the doc’s office all at the same time was just a touch problematic
But I passed on the first round.
If you have any sort of chronic condition (like asthma) the FAA will want to know it’s properly controlled. If something like your vision is off, but you can still see well enough to drive, there is a means to deal with that (I’m colorblind, so I had some additional paperwork and a short trip to a towered airport with an FAA representative to be allowed to fly at night)
At my airport we have three guys who are post-coronary artery bypass patients flying and a type II diabetic. They’re allowed to fly because they’ve satisfied the FAA they aren’t a hazard to others.
AOPA has a “learn to fly” section with a FAQ on the medical, I think they have what they call a “tubo-medical” that can help you determine if there any areas of concern before you go in, and will help you find a flight surgeon/AME to go to in your area.
Otherwise, the exam is pretty straightforward. The vision test is a little more thorough than you might have had before, and you may be asked to do some balancing tricks like standing on one foot with your eyes closed, but mostly it’s heart-lungs-please-cough-pee-in-a-cup type stuff. No needles involved.
Truthfully, I always get a lot more worried about the exams than I should.
Typically, I show up late to the party and find that all the good questions have been answered!
FYI, klas the pee-test that keeps getting mentioned is the test for one of the big disqualifiers: diabetes. When I took my first FAA physical I wondered how in the world I could get in and out in 30 minutes after giving a urine sample. Of course my thinking was in Air Force mode, where the urine would be sent to Neptune and back to test its specific gravity while five flight surgeons (four of them in training) monitored my bladder to determine if an unusual amount of urine had been discharged. I was amazed to discover that all they do is test for sugar in your urine with one of those strips.
As for the eye tests, the FAA has more depth-perception tests than I was expecting (this may just be a Class I thing - correct me if I’m wrong). These consist of the “which dot is higher” and “where does the dot intersect the line” type of tests.
FWIW, on my last trip I flew with a captain who had suffered a heart attack and had come back (11 months later) and regained his Class I medical. He is scrutinized more now by the FAA, but at least he’s flying!
Good luck!
They do that for Class III as well.
Sorry about that. This statement is inconsiderate of those who may have had trouble with their medicals.
As for mine, I managed to sqeak by the First Class with a kidney stone. If it had been more than one, though…