Pilot Medical Certificate Expiration
Find the selected-operation privilege boundary from certificate class, age at examination and 14 CFR 61.23, with special-issuance and medical-condition gates. Inputs stay in your browser.
FAA duration depends on the medical class held, age on the examination date and the operation being conducted. Higher-class certificates can continue for lower-class operations after higher privileges end.
Context matters.
- The result is a selected-operation privilege boundary, not a statement that the paper certificate itself disappears or that all lower privileges end on the same date.
- A special issuance may contain a shorter authorization date or conditions that override the ordinary table.
- Under 14 CFR 61.53, a known medical condition or medication concern can prohibit operation even before the calendar boundary.
Sources & scope
The calculation guide and this source trail show what the result means, where the rule came from and when it was last reviewed. This is source-and-calculation QA, not a claim of medical, legal, tax or other professional review; time-sensitive decisions still belong with the linked authority.
A visible path from input to answer.
Find the selected-operation privilege boundary from certificate class, age at examination and 14 CFR 61.23, with special-issuance and medical-condition gates. The page keeps the calculation scope and its limits beside the result so the output can be checked, copied or revisited.
- Read the record. The calculator uses Date of FAA medical examination, Age on the examination date, Medical certificate held, Operation / privilege being checked and Special issuance / authorization and 2 additional fields supplied in the form.
- Apply the scope. It applies the United States FAA medical-privilege planning — 14 CFR 61.23 operation/class table, age at exam, special issuance and §61.53 condition gate control reference and the explicit date, unit and counting conventions shown in the result.
- Expose the checkpoints. Intermediate rows, warnings and timeline events stay visible; the emphasized row identifies the primary checkpoint when one exists.
FAA duration depends on the medical class held, age on the examination date and the operation being conducted. Higher-class certificates can continue for lower-class operations after higher privileges end.
- Authority to operateNot determined by this date alone
Calculation purpose: Find the selected-operation privilege boundary from certificate class, age at examination and 14 CFR 61.23, with special-issuance and medical-condition gates. This is a high-sensitivity reference output; the linked authority or qualified professional controls the final decision.
Calendar inputs use plain year-month-day semantics. Leap days, month ends, date-pair order and unsupported dates are checked before the result is shown.
Rule set 1.1.0 · Last reviewed 2026-08-20 · Next review due 2027-02-20. The source panel below contains the linked evidence.
What to know before using the result.
Does a first-class medical become completely invalid after six or twelve months?
Not necessarily. First-class privileges can end while the certificate still supports a lower-class operation for the applicable second- or third-class period.
Is age measured now or on the medical examination date?
14 CFR 61.23 uses age on the date of the examination for the under-40 versus 40-or-older duration branches.
Can I fly until the calendar date if I develop a medical issue?
Not automatically. 14 CFR 61.53 and special-issuance conditions can prohibit operation before the ordinary date boundary.