How stringent are pilot's medical?
Introduction
Pilots below the age of 40 years are checked annually whereas those above are checked six monthly. Medical standards and certification are stringent. Their eyes, ear, nose, throat, equilibrium, mental, neurological, cardiovascular and general medical conditions are checked by Federal Air Surgeon or aviation trained doctors.
As long as a pilot is certified to be medically fit, he can continue to fly internationally up to the age of 65 years in the US, Australia and other ICAO member countries. This limit is not fixed worldwide for the retirement age for Captains can vary from country to country. In Germany and UK, pilots by law retires at 55 years.
A brief summary (see FAA for the full details) of the details are as follows:-
Eye
Distant visual acuity of 20/20 or better in each eye separately with or without glasses
Near vision of 20/40 or better, with or without glasses
Not color blind
General condition of the eyes meets the standard for issuance of the certificate.
Ear, Nose, Throat and Equilibrium
Able to hear a conversational voice in a quiet room using both ears at a distance of 6 feet.
Score at least 70 % in the audiometric speech discrimination test
Middle or internal ear, nose, oral cavity does not interfere with the clear and effective speech communication.
No decease or condition that may affect vertigo and disturbance of equilibrium.
Mental
No personality or mental disorder
No substance (such as alcohol, sedatives or psychoactive drugs) dependence
Neurological
No epilepsy
Cardiovascular
Generally, no history of heart attack
A pilot can fly again after bypass surgery but only if a heart attack has not already occurred.
A pilot must retire after he or she has a heart attack.
General Medical Condition
No medical history of diabetes
No medical defect or limitation that the Federal Air Surgeon finds him unable to safely perform the duties of a pilot.
