CLASS 1 MEDICAL / FIRST CLASS MEDICAL

Subhajit Debnath
Nov 27, 2024
8 min read

Updated: Dec 3, 2024

INTRODUCTION

A first-class medical certificate is required mainly for airline transport pilots. This certificate has the most restrictive medical standards. The holder of a medical certificate shall be mentally and physically fit to exercise safely the privileges of the applicable license.

WHO NEEDS IT?

Class 1 Medical Assessment is required for applicants and holders of:

(i) Commercial Pilot’s License (Aeroplane & Helicopter);

(ii) Airline Transport Pilot’s License (Aeroplane & Helicopter);

(iii) Private Pilot’s License (Aeroplane and Helicopter) where Instrument Rating (Aeroplane and Helicopter) privileges are required.

RULES

Rule 39B of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 regarding Medical Standards of flight crew stipulates that no licence or rating required for any of the personnel of the aircraft shall be issued or renewed unless the applicant undergoes a medical examination with an approved medical authority and satisfies the medical standards as notified by the Director General.

The validity of the medical for pilots is laid down in Rule 39 C.

Rule 103 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 which deals with Medical Standards of Air Traffic Controller (ATCO) stipulates that no license or rating shall be issued or renewed unless the applicant holds a Medical Assessment issued by the Director General after undergoing a medical examination with an approved medical authority and satisfying the medical standards as specified by the Director General for the purpose.

Rule 104 of Aircraft Rules 1937 lays down the Period of validity of Licenses and Medical Fitness Assessment.

REQUIREMENTS

An applicant for grant/renewal of a Flight Crew License/ Student Air Traffic Controller/ Air Traffic Controller license shall hold a valid Medical Assessment issued by DGCA in accordance with the International Standards and Recommended Practices contained in ICAO Annex 1, Chapter 6 and the medical requirements laid down by DGCA in consultation with Director General Medical Services (Air) who is the advisor to DGCA on the matters concerning Civil Aviation.

Medical Information Circular (MIC) issued by DGMS (Air) shall be issued as Aeronautical Information Circular (AIC) by DGCA. When the issue of AIC is awaited, the medical examiner shall carry out the assessment of an applicant as specified in the MIC.

REQUIREMENTS FOR APPLICANT

As a first step, the applicant for medical examination should make a request for appointment for medical examination directly to the DGCA Empanelled medical examiners and civil medical centres.
Appointment for Air Force Medical Centres shall be through Centralized Appointment Procedure.
Prior to the examination at IAF centres, the applicants are required to pay the following fee on Portal/ link https://bharatkosh.gov.in.

Type of Class	Type of license	Amount
Class 1	Initial issue of License	3000/-
	Renewal of License	2000/-

Applicants for issue of Student Pilot Licence may need to obtain a Cockpit Test Report from the Chief Flying Instructor/ Flight Instructor/ Assistant Flight Instructor of the Flying Club/ Institute and Instructor of the Gliding Club he/ she proposes to join only if it is felt necessary by the designated medical examiner and the requirement is endorsed on the CA 34/ 34A.

Applicants shall sign and furnish to the medical examiner a declaration:

Whether they have previously undergone such an examination and, if so, with what result;
Any period of sickness, injury, surgical procedure since the last medical examination;
Whether they are taking any drug or are on medication.

Any false declaration to a medical examiner made by an applicant shall amount to ‘False Declaration’ and will be considered a serious lapse. This shall be reported by the Examiner to DGCA for appropriate penal action within one week by email.

PROCEDURE FOR CONDUCT OF MEDICAL EXAM

The validity of the medical shall be

One year up to 60 years, six monthly thereafter &
For single crew operations, validity is six months above 40 years of age.

Prior to conduct of a renewal medical examination, the examiner must first review the previous Medical Assessment to determine the instructions issued by the DGCA Medical Assessor for the next medical examination.

All applicants for a Class 1 medical examination shall undergo medical investigations for the Initial/ Renewal/ Review Medical Examination as specified by DGCA from time to time. For Class 1 these are listed in FCL Circular No. 01 of 2017 (Readily available on DGCA Website).

WHO CAN CARRY OUT THE EXAM

The Class 1 medical examination for the issue and renewal of licences shall be carried out by the Medical Boards at the Indian Air Force Medical Centres, Civil Medical Centres and DGCA Empanelled Class 1 Medical Examiners listed in Appendix ‘B’ of CAR SEC 8 SERIES C PART 1.

INITIAL MEDICAL

Initial medical is done when a person with a valid Class 2 medical applies for the first time for a Class 1 Medical.

Also, in case the last medical date (Class 1) is more than 2 years old, a fresh initial (Re-initial) Class 1 medical is to be conducted only at any of the IAF Boarding Centers (IAM/ AFCME/ MEC(E)/ 11 Air Force Hospital (11 AFH)/ Command Hospital Air Force Bangalore (CHAF’B’)/ 7 Air Force Hospital (7 AFH), along with approved NOC by Medical Date, DGCA.

The applicant for a Medical Assessment shall undergo a medical examination based on the following requirements:

(a) Physical and Mental;

(b) Visual and Colour Perception; and

The applicant for any class of Medical Assessment shall be free from:

(a) Any abnormality, congenital or acquired; or

(b) Any active, latent, acute or chronic disability; or

(d) Any effect or side-effect of any prescribed or non-prescribed therapeutic, diagnostic or preventive medication taken; such as shall entail a degree of functional incapacity which is likely to interfere with the safe operation of an aircraft or with the safe performance of duties.

RENEWAL MEDICAL

Class 1 Medical Assessments are valid for 1 year for persons less than 60 years of age in Multi crew commercial Air Transport Operations or six months for persons above 40 yrs of age in Single crew commercial air transport operations.

The renewal medical may be done anytime from one month before date of expiry of validity of Medical Assessment to the date of expiry of validity.

If done earlier or later than that, an NOC is required.

Renewal Class 1 medical may be done after expiry of validity of previous (but not beyond two years since date of last medical) along with NOC.

The NOC form available in Procedure & training Manual, available on DGCA websites (dgca.gov.in) as Annexure ‘D’.

Applications for NOC are only to be made after obtaining a confirmed date of appointment from DGCA. Renewal medical exam is conducted at any of the Air Force Medical Examination Centre and by DGCA empaneled Class 1 Examiners.

PROCEDURE FOR APPEAL MEDICAL EXAM

All Aircrew declared Temporary Unfit are to be reviewed at IAF Boarding Centre after the period of unfitness is over. ATCO declared Temporary Unfit are to be reviewed by either a Class 1 medical examiner or at IAF Boarding Centre on a case to case basis, depending upon merits of each case, as decided by DMS (CA)/ JDMS (CA) at Medical Directorate, DGCA.

Permanent unfitness of a licence holder shall be recommended by the Medical Board at IAF Boarding Centre only after thorough evaluation by specialists and after relevant specialized investigations. The approval for declaring an aircrew permanently unfit is by DGMS (Air).

In the event of an aircrew/ ATCO being declared temporarily medically unfit for more than three months at a stretch or in aggregate or permanently unfit for issue or renewal of the licence, the applicant may appeal to the DGCA for a review of the medical assessment within a period of 90 days from the date of applicant having been declared permanently unfit. The appeal shall be addressed to the

DMS (CA),

Medical Directorate,

Directorate General of Civil Aviation,

Opposite Safdarjung Airport,

New Delhi – 110 003.

The appeal in the above cases shall be forwarded by either registered Post/ Speed Post or courier services or may be delivered in person to the Receipt & Dispatch Section in the office of DGCA and receipt for the same can be obtained.

The appeal must be accompanied by the following documents:

All documents in original obtained by the applicant from reputed medical institutions/ specialists clearly certifying the fitness status and cause of unfitness as stated in the medical assessment issued by the office of DGCA.
The medical practitioner/ specialist certifying the fitness in such a case should give sound reasons justifying his/ her opinion.
Reports of the medical examination and results of investigations, in original, conducted by the medical practitioner/ specialist giving the aforesaid certificate.
The appeal shall be considered by DGCA, and if found justified, it shall be referred to the DGMS (Air). If adequate medical evidence is provided for medical review, DGMS (Air) may grant an appeal/review medical examination at Air Force Appellate Centres and may also ask for any such investigation/report or opinion of any specialist to determine the fitness of the applicant.
In case the appeal for medical review is not found justified, DGMS (Air) has the right to reject it.
If the medical review is accepted, it shall be carried out at the centre specified for the purpose. However for Permanently Unfit cases, it shall not be done at the centre where the first examination was conducted and where the applicant was declared unfit. Fresh medical examination reports shall be considered to assess the medical fitness of the candidate.
The decision of DGMS (Air) on behalf of DGCA shall be final. The result thereof shall be intimated by the Medical Board to the office of DGCA and final assessment shall be issued accordingly by Medical Directorate at DGCA.

APPOINTMENT & PREVIOUS MEDICAL RECORD (PMR) FORWARDING

IAF CENTRES

After ascertaining type of medical, kindly seek appointment well in advance keeping in view the time required for grant of appointments and PMR forwarding from DGCA.

The procedure for seeking appointment can be accesses in the DGCA website.

CIVIL CENTRES & CLASS 1 EXAMINERS

For Civil Hospitals (Initial Medicals) and Class 1 Examiners (Renewal Medicals), contact the centres/ examiners directly at the addresses mentioned in DGCA website.

PMR forwarding is not required for Class 1 initial medicals which are to be conducted at Nanavati Hospital (Mumbai)/ Apollo Hospital (Chennai)/ by Class 1 Medical Examiners/ at Air Force Medical Examination Centres {except IAM/AFCME/ MEC(E) / 11 AFH/ CHAF’B’/ 7AFH}.

PMR STATUS QUERY

PMR files are forwarded to IAF Centers 2-3 weeks prior to date of appointment (even if applications are received early).

For any queries regarding PMR file no., its status and its assessment, any correction or updating any address/details/name – You can visit OR can authorize any of your rep. to collect your Medical Assessment on Public Days from Med Date at DGCA i.e. Wednesday & Thursday between 1400 hrs to 1730 hrs.

Further, for obtaining Medical Assessments, you can liaise with your concerned airline representatives., as they are visiting Med Date on daily basis. Further, for any queries regarding taking of appointment and status of your medical appointment,

Contact on

dgcamedicalappointment@gmail.com

01124622500 Extn 526

and after confirmation of the same you can apply for NOC, which is to be sent with DGCA issued Last Valid Medical Assessment on mednoc.dgca@gov.in

NO OBJECTION CERTIFICATE (NOC)

For undergoing any Re-initial /Delayed/ Early/ Post TU or Special Medicals, the aircrew has to obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC)’ from Medical Date (DGCA, New Delhi).

The NOC form available in Procedure & training Manual, which is readily available on DGCA websites as Annexure ‘D’, which is to be filled up completely.

Applications for NOC are only to be made after obtaining confirmed appointment from DGCA HQs (Med Date) and to be sent with DGCA issued Last Valid Medical Assessment on mednoc.dgca@gov.in

FORMS TO BE USED

Form CA 34 shall be used in case of medical examination for initial issue of medical assessment and Form 34A for renewal of medical assessment.

Examiners shall use only DGCA approved Medical Examination Forms(CA-34/ CA-34A/ CA-35), available on DGCA website for conduct of Medical Examination. The Medical Examination forms are to be downloaded and printed by the Medical Examiners and filled by hand.

The Medical Board/ Examiners shall also fill up Form CA-35, a copy of which shall be given to the Flight Crew/ ATCO/ Candidate.

The Medical Examiner/ Centre undertaking a Class 1, 2 and 3 medical examination shall submit a written report of medical examination in Form CA34/ CA-34A as applicable under his/ her signature with a seal indicating his/ her qualifications and registration number with name of State Medical Council in bracket.

The medical records along with copies of CA-34/ CA-34A and CA-35 shall be forwarded to DGCA Headquarters by Speed/ Registered post for issue of medical assessment at the following address.