GACA medical certificate: Class 1 requirements, validity, and how to apply

A GACA Class 1 medical certificate is the fitness standard for airline-level flying in Saudi Arabia: required for operations that need an ATP certificate, examined against GACAR Part 67 Subpart B, and valid to the end of the 12th month after the month of your examination, dropping to 6 months for single-pilot commercial passenger operations from age 40 and for all ATP commercial air transport operations from age 60. You apply through GACA’s Aviation Medicine Portal and sit the exam with a GACA-designated aviation medical examiner (AME). Saudi Arabia follows the FAA-style class system, so unlike India or the UAE, a commercial pilot certificate can legally be exercised on a Class 2, though airlines ask for Class 1.

Every number in this guide was re-verified against the current published editions of the regulations: GACAR Part 67 (Version 5.0) for the medical standards and GACAR Part 61 (Version 7.0) for validity periods.

GACA Class 1 medical at a glance

Item	Rule
Regulation	GACAR Part 67, Subpart B (GACAR 67.15 to 67.29)
Required for	Operations requiring an ATP certificate (GACAR 61.9)
Standard validity	End of the 12th month after the month of examination
Reduced validity	6 months: single-pilot commercial air transport passenger ops from age 40; all ATP commercial air transport ops from age 60
ECG	At the initial examination, then annually after the 40th birthday; must be dated within 60 days of the application
Chest X-ray	Once, at the initial examination
Where to apply	avmed.gaca.gov.sa, GACA’s Aviation Medicine Portal
Examiner	GACA-designated AME (designated under GACAR Part 183); current list on the portal
Extension	GACA’s medical assessor may extend a certificate’s validity by up to 45 days (GACAR 67.7)

Which class do you actually need

GACA’s class structure follows the FAA model, not the ICAO Class 1/Class 2 split used by many other regulators. The duration table in GACAR 61.9 maps classes to operations like this:

Certificate you exercise	Minimum medical class	Validity
ATP (airline operations)	Class 1	12 months; 6 months in the age cases above
Commercial pilot	Class 1 or Class 2	12 months, any age
Private pilot	Class 3	60 months under age 40; 24 months from age 40

Two practical notes. First, Saudi airline recruitment asks pilot applicants for a Class 1 regardless of the regulatory minimum, so treat Class 1 as the working standard for any professional flying career in the Kingdom. Second, holding the medical is what keeps your licence privileges alive: without a current certificate of the right class, your ratings may be valid but you cannot exercise them.

How to apply: the Aviation Medicine Portal

GACA moved medical certification onto a dedicated e-service, the Aviation Medicine Portal, linked from the main GACA e-services platform. GACA describes it as the portal for aviation physicians to request GACA designation and for aviation personnel to request an airman medical certificate. The official applicant guide published on the portal sets out the flow:

1. Register as Aviation Personnel. Two sign-in routes: a username and password account activated by email with a 4-digit code at each login, or Nafath with your national ID or iqama number, verified in the Nafath app.
2. Submit a Medical Certificate Request. The form runs through application information, a medical history section, and other medical information, then a disclaimer. On submission you get a tracking number.
3. See the AME list. The portal’s GACA AMEs page lists the doctors currently designated to evaluate applicants, which is the authoritative place to find an examiner rather than word of mouth.
4. Sit the examination. The AME examines you against the Part 67 standards for the class you applied for and reports to GACA’s medical assessor where judgment is needed.
5. Track the outcome. The portal’s Medical Certificate page shows the status and issue date of your certificate, and the request menu also covers cancellation requests and appeals against a denial.

GACA does not publish a medical certificate fee in its regulatory framework for service charges; the examination itself is paid to the clinic, so confirm the cost when you book. The same framework does list GACA’s licence fees, for example SAR 300 annually for a pilot licence.

What the Class 1 exam checks

These are the published standards from GACAR Part 67 Subpart B, not a clinic’s marketing list.

Vision (GACAR 67.17)

• Distant acuity of 6/6 (20/20) or better in each eye separately, with or without correction. If you need lenses to reach 6/6, the certificate is conditional on wearing them while flying.
• Near vision of 6/12 (20/40) or better at 41 cm in each eye separately; from age 50, at both 41 cm and 81 cm. If you need near correction, a second pair of corrective lenses must be kept available in flight.
• Ability to perceive the colours necessary for safe airman duties, normal fields of vision, no disqualifying eye disease, and adequate binocular function.

Hearing and ENT (GACAR 67.19)

You can meet the hearing standard by any one of several routes: hearing an average conversational voice at 2 m with your back turned, a speech discrimination score of at least 70 percent, pure-tone audiometry within the thresholds tabulated in the rule, demonstrated hearing performance against simulated flight deck noise, or a practical hearing test in flight. There must also be no ENT condition causing vertigo, equilibrium disturbance, or interference with clear speech communication.

Cardiovascular (GACAR 67.25)

No established history or diagnosis of myocardial infarction, angina, treated or symptomatic coronary heart disease, cardiac valve replacement, permanent pacemaker, or heart replacement. An ECG is required at the first application and annually after the 40th birthday, dated no earlier than 60 days before the application it accompanies.

Mental and neurological (GACAR 67.21 and 67.23)

No established history or diagnosis of psychosis, bipolar disorder, a mood disorder including clinical depression, epilepsy, or an unexplained disturbance of consciousness. Psychoactive substance dependence is disqualifying unless there is clinical evidence of recovery with at least 2 years of sustained total abstinence.

General condition (GACAR 67.27)

No diabetes mellitus requiring insulin or any other hypoglycemic drug, no other disqualifying disease or treatment in the judgment of GACA’s medical assessor, and chest radiography at the initial examination.

The renewal standard is the same as the initial standard except where the rule says otherwise (GACAR 67.5), so the practical difference at renewal is the shorter test set: no repeat chest X-ray, and the ECG only on its age schedule.

Validity: the age bands that actually apply

The durations sit in GACAR 61.9, not Part 67, and they are measured to the end of a month, so a Class 1 issued on 10 March for airline flying runs to 31 March the following year.

Your situation	Class 1 validity
Under 40, ATP operations	12 months
40 to 60, ATP operations (multi-pilot)	12 months
40 or older, single-pilot commercial air transport passenger operations	6 months
60 or older, commercial air transport ATP operations	6 months
Any age, commercial pilot certificate operations	12 months

One provision worth knowing before a renewal clash with a roster: at the discretion of the GACA medical assessor, a certificate’s validity can be extended by up to 45 days (GACAR 67.7). That is a discretionary bridge, not an entitlement, so plan renewals against the printed expiry.

Failing a standard: special issuance and SODA

A condition outside the Part 67 standards does not automatically end a flying career. GACAR 67.87 provides two routes:

• Authorization for Special Issuance. Granted for a specified period where you show GACA’s medical assessor that your duties can be performed without endangering public safety, sometimes after a special medical flight test or evaluation. The resulting certificate expires with the Authorization, and renewing it means demonstrating fitness again. Operational limitations can be attached.
• Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA). For a disqualifying condition that is static and non-progressive, such as a stable vision defect. A SODA does not expire, and it lets a designated AME keep issuing certificates as long as the condition has not changed.

Both routes lean on specialist evidence and take longer than a routine renewal, so if you know a review is coming, start well before your current certificate lapses. Denials can be appealed through the portal’s Appeal for Denial request.

Cabin crew medicals: what GACA requires

The query comes up constantly in Saudi crew rooms, so here is the honest regulatory picture. The cabin crew member certificate is issued under GACAR Part 65 Subpart D, and its eligibility list is age 18, a knowledge test, an approved training course, a practical test, and English proficiency. Part 65 does not attach a medical certificate class to the cabin crew certificate itself.

In practice, medical fitness still gates the job. Saudi operators send cabin crew candidates for a medical examination with a GACA-designated examiner as part of recruitment, operators must keep records of required medical examinations for crew members under GACAR Part 121, and GACA’s Aviation Medicine Portal serves aviation personnel generally, not only pilots. GACA’s fee framework also lists a flight attendant licence among the licences it charges for. So the working answer for cabin crew is: expect a GACA medical as part of joining and recurrent fitness checks, book it with a designated examiner through the same portal flow described above, and follow your airline’s joining instructions on which class of certificate to request, since that is set by the operator’s requirements rather than by Part 65.

How GACA compares with DGCA and GCAA

If you are converting a licence into or out of Saudi Arabia, the medical is usually the first thing that does not map one-to-one:

• DGCA (India) uses the ICAO-style split: every commercial pilot needs a Class 1, the initial runs 17 investigations at approved centres, and validity is 1 year up to age 60 and 6 months after. Our DGCA Class 1 medical guide has the full test list and process.
• GCAA (UAE) follows a Part-MED style framework where all commercial flying requires a Class 1 issued through GCAA-approved aeromedical centres; see our GCAA Class 1 preparation guide.
• GACA (Saudi Arabia) follows the FAA model: three classes, Class 1 tied to ATP operations, Class 2 legally sufficient for CPL operations, and month-end validity arithmetic.

A GACA medical does not substitute for a GCAA or DGCA one, or vice versa: each authority requires its own certificate before issuing or validating a licence. If a Gulf move is on your radar, our guide to converting your pilot licence to GCAA or GACA covers the licensing side, and the GCAA vs GACA logbook differences matter as soon as you start flying under the new authority.

What to bring to the examination

• Government-issued ID matching your portal registration (iqama or passport; national ID if you registered via Nafath)
• Your previous medical certificate, if you hold one
• Both pairs of corrective lenses if you need near correction, since the rule requires a second pair
• Specialist reports for any condition under treatment
• Details of any existing Authorization or SODA

Keep the expiry from creeping up on you

The exam is rarely the hard part. The hard part is that a Class 1 on month-end validity, a licence, ratings, and recency all expire on different dates while you fly a full roster, and from age 40 some of those clocks halve. A missed medical grounds you even when everything else is current.

Wingman is used by 30,000+ pilots across 400+ airlines to keep flight time, currency, and document expiry in one place on iOS, Android, and Web. It imports rosters automatically from systems including AIMS eCrew, NavBlue RAIDO, CAE Crew Access, and Sabre, tracks expiry dates for your medical and licence with reminders before they lapse, and produces exports that line up with GACA and GCAA requirements alongside the FAA, EASA, UK CAA, and others. There is a free tier up to 250 logged hours.

If your renewal involves more than the medical, our Saudi GACA licence renewal checklist walks through the licence side.

Official references

• GACAR Part 67 - Medical Standards and Certification
• GACAR Part 61 - certification of pilots, including medical validity (61.9)
• GACAR Part 65 - aircraft dispatchers and cabin crew members
• GACA Aviation Medicine Portal
• GACA e-services platform

Frequently asked questions

How long is a GACA Class 1 medical valid?

For ATP operations, to the end of the 12th month after the month of examination. It shortens to 6 months for single-pilot commercial air transport passenger operations from age 40, and for all commercial air transport ATP operations from age 60. Used for commercial pilot certificate operations it is 12 months at any age (GACAR 61.9).

How do I apply for a GACA medical certificate?

Register as Aviation Personnel on avmed.gaca.gov.sa using Nafath or an email account, submit a Medical Certificate Request, note the tracking number, and complete the examination with a GACA-designated AME from the portal’s list. The portal shows your certificate status and issue date once processed.

When is an ECG required?

At the initial Class 1 examination and annually after your 40th birthday, dated within 60 days of the application it accompanies. For comparison, Class 2 requires it at the first application after 40 and annually after 50. A chest X-ray is required once, at the initial Class 1 exam.

Do cabin crew need a GACA medical certificate?

GACAR Part 65 does not list a medical class among cabin crew certificate requirements, but Saudi operators require a medical with a GACA-designated examiner at recruitment and keep crew medical records under Part 121. Book whichever class your airline’s joining instructions specify, through the same Aviation Medicine Portal flow.

What if I have a disqualifying condition?

GACAR 67.87 allows an Authorization for Special Issuance for a specified period, or a non-expiring SODA for static, non-progressive conditions, both at the discretion of GACA’s medical assessor and sometimes with operational limitations. Start early: these reviews rely on specialist evidence and take longer than a routine renewal.

Can my medical be extended if I cannot renew in time?

GACAR 67.7 lets the GACA medical assessor extend a certificate’s validity by up to 45 days at their discretion. Treat it as a contingency, not a planning tool.

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