DGCA Class 1 and Class 2 Medical: What Each Licence Needs

Read against Civil Aviation Requirement, Section 7 — Flight Crew Standards, Training and Licensing, Series 'C', Part I, Issue II dated 12 October 2017, Revision 7 dated 01 October 2025, effective 15 November 2025, on 17 September 2026; the centres list is DGCA’s own, as it stood on 27 August 2026. Every figure is sourced below.

Which class your licence needs

This is the question the page exists for, and the answer is set by Civil Aviation Requirement, Section 7 — Flight Crew Standards, Training and Licensing, Series 'C', Part I, Issue II dated 12 October 2017, Revision 7 dated 01 October 2025 — Medical Requirements and Examination for Flight Crew / Air Traffic Controller Licences and Ratings. It is issued under Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. It is not a matter of opinion, and it does not vary between flying schools.

How long each medical lasts

One detail worth checking against anything else you read: Rule 39C lays down the validity of the medical for pilots. It was amended on 27 December 2019 to raise the age limit for the validity of the Class 1 medical examination from forty years to sixty. A page still saying the six-monthly band starts at forty is quoting the rule as it stood before 2020.

What the CAR actually says about eyesight

That is worth stating plainly, because “pilot eyesight requirements” is one of the most searched questions in Indian aviation and most of the answers in circulation quote a specific number and credit it to DGCA. The standards are those of ICAO Annex 1, Chapter 6. Paragraphs 6.2.2 to 6.2.5 apply to every class, and each class then has its own physical, visual and hearing paragraphs. The requirements in the AICs (Medical) published on the DGCA website apply in addition.

What follows from that: your vision and colour perception are assessed against the ICAO Annex 1 standard by a DGCA-empanelled examiner, not against a figure published in the Indian CAR. Corrective lenses and refractive surgery are handled inside that standard and the AICs rather than by a blanket bar, which is why the CAR’s list of common recommendations includes eye investigations such as optical coherence tomography and Humphrey visual field testing at the next renewal rather than an automatic unfit. If you have a known eye condition, the useful step is a consultation with a DGCA-empanelled Class 1 examiner before you spend anything on training — not a search result.

What the examination covers

The CAR groups the assessment into three heads.

The applicant is also required to be free from:

• –Any abnormality, congenital or acquired
• –Any active, latent, acute or chronic disability
• –Any wound, injury or sequela from an operation
• –Any effect or side-effect of medication taken

The CAR qualifies that list: what disqualifies is a degree of functional incapacity likely to interfere with the safe operation of an aircraft or the safe performance of duties. It is not a list of conditions that automatically end a career. The CAR sets out what is assessed. It does not publish a pass rate, and no honest page can tell you in advance whether you will clear it.

The Class 2 investigations, by age

The Class 2 panel is published, which means you can walk into the examination knowing exactly what will be done. This is CAR Section 7, Series 'C', Part IV, Issue I dated 25 January 2019, Rev. 1 dated 07 October 2025, Appendix 'A'.

Additional tests may be requested on what the clinical examination finds. Tests are done at NABL or NABH accredited laboratories, or at the DGCA-approved Air Force Class 1 centres. Every laboratory report must carry an ID-verified endorsement — a driving licence, voter ID or passport number. The examiner checks this before validating.

What DGCA charges

Payable before the examination at the Indian Air Force centres, on the Bharatkosh portal.

Investigation charges at the IAF boarding centres are separate, and follow FCL Circular 03 of 2025. The fee above is the IAF-centre fee. A DGCA-empanelled Class 2 medical examiner in private practice may collect reasonable charges of their own, and the laboratory is paid separately by the applicant. Ask the examiner what the total comes to before booking.

How to book, and the forms

The applicant books the appointment on the eGCA module, for the intended DGCA-empanelled examination centre or examiner.

Where the examination is filled online instead, the checks and the medical declaration are completed on the eGCA portal and the investigation reports are uploaded there by the applicant, then validated by the examiner.

You sign and furnish a declaration covering:

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

Medical confidentiality is to be respected at all times, with records held securely and access restricted to authorised personnel.

Class 2 first, or straight to Class 1

A Class 2 Medical Assessment is not a prerequisite for sitting the Class 1 initial examination. The CAR states the Class 2 assessment is issued for licensing purposes, Class 2 renewals, re-initials and temporary or permanent unfit cases.

Where a Class 2 is done first, the Class 1 initial may be conducted on the basis of a fit CA-35 from it, and a minimum of one month should separate the initial Class 2 from the Class 1. Investigations are repeated in full at the Class 1 examination whatever was done at Class 2. Only radiological investigations from the Class 2 may be accepted, at the centre’s discretion, if they were carried out within the last two months.

The licence ladder those classes attach to runs SPL from age 16, PPL from age 17, CPL from age 18, ATPL from age 21. The computer number and the written papers are a separate track and need no medical certificate at all — a point worth knowing, because waiting for a medical before registering for examinations costs students a session every year.

Where DGCA says you can get it done

DGCA publishes the list of approved aeromedical evaluation centres and empanelled examiners. This is that list as it stood on 27 August 2026. DGCA updates the aeromedical evaluation centre and examiner lists on its website and they are no longer printed in the CAR. Check the current version before travelling to a centre. We have no role in it and no view on which centre to choose.

Appendix 'B' of the CAR lists twenty Air Force medical examination centres. The first three are the boarding centres; the rest are Senior Medical Officer stations used for renewals. The renewal stations are: Air Force Station Palam, New Delhi; No. 1 Aeromedical Training Centre, Air Force Station Hindan, Ghaziabad; Air Force Station Rajokri, New Delhi; 54 ASP, Air Force Station, Gurugram; Air Force Station Agra; Air Force Station Chakeri, Kanpur; Air Force Station Cotton Green, Mumbai; Air Force Station Lohegaon, Pune; Air Force Station Thane, Mumbai; Air Force Station Tambaram, Chennai; Air Force Station Yelahanka, Bengaluru; Air Force Station Begumpet, Secunderabad; Air Force Station Hakimpet, Secunderabad; Air Force Station Chandigarh; Air Force Station Barrackpore, Kolkata; HQ SAC (U) IAF, Akkulam, Thiruvananthapuram; SMC, HQ SWAC (U) IAF, Chiloda, Gandhinagar.

If you are training from Delhi, 4 of the 13 centres above are within reach without travel: Air Force Central Medical Establishment (AFCME), Subroto Park, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Max Multi Specialty Centre, Medanta — The Medicity.

Closer still, if you are in south-west Delhi: DGCA’s Class 1 examiner list carries 4 empanelled Class 1 medical examiners with addresses in Dwarka itself — sectors 6, 9, 14 and 19 — and one more is listed at Delhi International Airport Ltd, New Udaan Bhawan. Named, with contact details and empanelment validity, in the DGCA list linked in the sources. We have no association with any of them.

Fit, fit with limitations, unfit

The assessment has four possible dispositions.

“Fit with limitations” is the one most people have never heard of, and it is the reason a medical finding is not automatically the end of a career. The limitations the CAR names are:

• –Fit to fly as co-pilot only — not applicable to a student pilot licence holder
• –Fit to fly as pilot-in-command along with a qualified experienced pilot

Where the second applies, a qualified experienced pilot is one who:

• ✓Has no restrictions of their own due to medical conditions
• ✓Holds a P2 type endorsement
• ✓Has a minimum of 100 hours of experience on the type and is currently flying it

The date of the Medical Assessment issued by DGCA is reckoned from the date of the medical examination on the CA-35. A pilot or controller declared unfit on a CA-35 carries out no duties until a satisfactory final assessment is issued by the office of the DGCA.

The 45-day window, and when you need an NOC

An NOC is required only for a delayed, early, post-temporary-unfit or special examination that has a medical cause. It is applied for at least one week before the intended date, with the previous assessment and supporting documents attached.

No NOC is needed for unfitness from minor illness of up to 30 days. Up to 15 days is reviewed by Class 1 examiners, airline aerospace medicine specialists or an airline doctor with Class 1 or Class 2 certification; 15 to 30 days needs formal written sanction from DMS (CA); beyond 30 days a special medical examination is applied for through NOC services on eGCA.

A temporary unfit case that has recovered may apply for an early medical through NOC once at least half the recommended period has elapsed. Sanction is case by case.

Ordinary yearly renewals are to be avoided at IAF boarding centres unless the last assessment recommended one. They are conducted at IAF renewal centres, DGCA-empanelled Class 1 medical examiners and aeromedical evaluation centres.

If you are declared unfit

Permanent unfitness is recommended only by the medical board at an IAF boarding centre, after evaluation by specialists and specialised investigations, and is approved either by a board of officers at DGCA with DMS (CA) as president or by DGMS (Air).

The appeal. Available to a licence holder declared temporarily unfit for more than three months, at a stretch or in aggregate, or permanently unfit. Within 90 days of the date of being declared permanently or temporarily unfit. Processed on the eGCA module, or sent by registered email, post, speed post, courier, or delivered in person to the Receipt and Dispatch Section at DGCA.

The appeal has to carry:

• –Original documents from reputed medical institutions or specialists certifying fitness status and the cause of the unfitness stated in the assessment, with sound reasons for the opinion
• –Original reports of the examination and investigations conducted by that practitioner or specialist

If the review is accepted it is carried out at the centre specified. For permanently unfit cases it is not done at the centre where the applicant was first declared unfit. The decision of DMS (CA) or DGMS (Air) on behalf of DGCA is final. DGCA may also reject an appeal it does not find justified.

Who counts as a DGCA medical examiner

Worth knowing, because the title gets used loosely. Empanelment is a DGCA process with a published qualification bar, an interview before a board, and an inspection of the facility.

The Class 2 list is organised by region — Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern — and prints each examiner’s name, address, contact details and the date their empanelment runs to.

The rules behind all of this

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Read on 17 September 2026 from the DGCA-issued documents. Where two of these disagree, the later one governs and this page says so.

• –Aircraft Rules, 1937, rule 39B — medical standards (DGCA)
• –Amendment to rule 39C of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, 27 December 2019 (Ministry of Civil Aviation)
• –CAR Section 7, Series 'C', Part I, Issue II 12 October 2017, Rev. 7 dated 01 October 2025, effective 15 November 2025 — Medical Requirements and Examination for Flight Crew / Air Traffic Controller Licences and Ratings
• –CAR Section 7, Series 'C', Part III, Issue I 23 June 2017, Rev. 1 dated 08 October 2025 — Empanelment of Medical Examiner for Conduct of Class 1 Medical Examination
• –CAR Section 7, Series 'C', Part IV, Issue I 25 January 2019, Rev. 1 dated 07 October 2025 — Empanelment of Medical Examiner for Conduct of Class 2 Medical Examination
• –List of DGCA approved aeromedical evaluation centres, Class 1 Air Force medical examination centres, IAF boarding centres and DGCA empanelled Class 1 examiners, updated 27 August 2026 (DGCA)
• –List of DGCA empanelled Class 2 medical examiners, by region, with empanelment validity (DGCA)
• –List of DGCA empanelled civil Class 1 initial hospitals and Class 1 examiners, updated 02 March 2023 (DGCA)