The FAA Third Class Medical Certificate is
required for the student pilot to solo.
The FAA flight physical is administered by an Aviation Medical Examiner
(AME). Typically, the AME is not your family physician. The AME will charge
somewhere between $50 and $100 for your flight physical.
The easiest way to find an AME is to contact one of the pilots in your
squadron. As an alternative you can contact the Fixed Base Operation (FBO)
of the airport nearest you. Ask the FBO if they provide primary flight
instruction. If they do, ask where they send their student pilots for their
third class medical exam. You can also click on the link to search by city
or zip code for an AME.
Once issued, your third class medical certificate will be valid until the
end of the 36th calendar month following issuance if you are under 40 years
of age. For example, if you are 17 years old and you got your initial FAA
Third Class Medical Certificate on 8 DEC 2006, it will be valid until 31 DEC
2009.
