September 24, 2011 – EAA and AOPA jointly announced on Saturday, September 24, at AOPA Summit that the associations would petition the FAA for an exemption allowing pilots who have completed required aeromedical awareness training to fly recreationally with a driver’s license medical standard in place of the FAA Third Class medical certificate.
The request for exemption would allow pilots to fly airplanes of up to 180 hp during daylight VFR carrying no more than one passenger even though the airplane may have up to four seats.
Though a number of requests for exemption from the Third Class medical requirement have been made in the past this proposal differs markedly because pilots would be trained to understand medical issues that can affect safety of flight.
