Far Less Disqualifies You Than You Think
What disqualifies you from being a pilot is a much shorter list than the internet suggests. Glasses do not. Contacts do not. Being tall, short or heavy does not — the FAA sets no height or weight limit at all. A history of depression does not. Even most of the conditions the FAA names in the regulation as disqualifying can be certified through a special issuance, and pilots fly with all of them today.
The distinction almost nobody explains is between permanently disqualifying and requires a special issuance. The first category is genuinely short. The second is large, well-trodden, and mostly a matter of paperwork and patience.
First: You Do Not Need A Medical To Take A Discovery Flight
No FAA medical certificate is required to take a discovery flight with an instructor. Your certified flight instructor is the pilot in command and holds the medical. You are receiving instruction, not exercising pilot privileges. Bring a government-issued photo ID and nothing else.
If you have spent years assuming a condition rules you out, this is the fact that should change your week. Fly out of Van Nuys for $229 for 60 minutes — no tax, no booking fee, $229 is the total — hands on the controls, before you research a single regulation. See what a discovery flight is and the discovery flight requirements for age, weight, ID and health.
Permanently Disqualifying Versus Special Issuance
14 CFR Part 67 names a specific list of disqualifying conditions — among them epilepsy, unexplained loss of consciousness, psychosis, bipolar disorder, substance dependence and abuse, myocardial infarction, angina, clinically significant coronary heart disease, valve replacement, a permanent pacemaker, heart transplant, and diabetes requiring insulin or other hypoglycemic medication.
That list looks terrifying until you read the next part. Under 14 CFR 67.401, the Federal Air Surgeon may grant an Authorization for Special Issuance to an applicant who does not meet the standard, provided the condition can be shown not to compromise safety. Pilots fly today after heart attacks, with stents and pacemakers, on insulin, and after treated depression. A special issuance is time-limited and carries follow-up requirements, but it is routine aviation medicine, not a favor.
The set of conditions with no pathway at all is short, and usually involves an active, unstable condition rather than a historical one. If yours is treated, stable and documented, your real question is how long and how much paperwork — not whether you are allowed.
Vision: Glasses, Contacts And LASIK Are Fine
This is the most common false belief about pilot medicals. The standard is correctable acuity: 20/40 or better in each eye separately for a third-class medical, 20/20 or better for first and second class, with or without correction. If your glasses get you there, you meet the standard — the certificate simply carries a corrective-lens limitation. Contacts are equally acceptable.
LASIK and PRK are generally acceptable once the eye has healed and vision is stable with no significant side effects such as disabling glare or halos. Report the surgery on your application and expect the AME to want a report from your eye doctor. The one common correction the FAA does not accept is monovision — one eye set for distance, one for near — so raise that with your AME before your exam.
Color vision has its own answer, and it is usually yes: see can you be a pilot if you're colorblind.
Hearing
The default check is whether you can hear an average conversational voice in a quiet room at six feet with your back turned. If that does not work, audiometry and speech discrimination testing are accepted alternatives.
Hearing aids are permitted, with a limitation requiring their use. Deaf pilots hold FAA medical certificates and fly, with a limitation restricting operations that require the use of radio. Hearing loss narrows where you can fly; it does not end flying.
Height And Weight: There Is No FAA Limit
The FAA does not publish a maximum or minimum height or weight for pilots. Your AME records both on the exam form; neither is a pass/fail item. What constrains you is the airplane: whether you can reach the controls and see over the panel, and weight and balance.
Our limits are published, not negotiated at the door:
| Aircraft | Per Person | Combined |
|---|---|---|
| Piper Warrior PA-28-161 | 180 lb | 360 lb |
| Cirrus SR22 | 200 lb | 400 lb |
If you are over those figures, call (818) 330-1318 before booking rather than assuming — the answer depends on the aircraft, the fuel load and who else is on board. Very tall pilots sometimes find one cockpit uncomfortable; that is a question of which airplane you train in, not whether you can be a pilot.
ADHD And Stimulant Medication
This is the genuinely complicated one, and anyone who tells you it is simple is not being straight.
The FAA scrutinizes ADHD carefully, for two reasons: the diagnosis and the medication. Current stimulant use is not compatible with flying, so the conventional pathway involves being off the medication for a defined period and then undergoing neuropsychological testing — a formal battery administered by a qualified psychologist and reviewed by the FAA — to show that cognitive performance meets the standard. That takes months and real money, and the outcome is a special issuance rather than a routine certificate.
The better news is that the FAA has introduced a faster route for applicants whose diagnosis is remote and who have been off medication for an extended period with no functional impairment, no other mental-health diagnoses, and a solid academic and work record — under which an AME may be able to issue in the office. Those criteria are specific and have been revised more than once, so confirm the current version with an AME.
Two practical points. A childhood diagnosis you were medicated for briefly and moved past is a very different file from ongoing adult treatment. And never conceal it — the diagnosis is usually recoverable from records, and a falsified application is far worse than a slow one.
Depression, SSRIs And Anxiety
This surprises people: the FAA has an approved protocol for pilots taking antidepressants. Since 2010 the agency has certified pilots using a short, specific list of approved SSRIs — historically fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram and escitalopram; confirm the current list with a HIMS AME — under a special issuance requiring stability on a stable dose, absence of significant side effects, cognitive testing, and ongoing oversight.
Oversight comes through a HIMS AME, an examiner with additional training in mental-health and substance-related certification. It is not quick — plan on months and on assembling a complete treatment history — but it works, and pilots on approved SSRIs fly.
Anxiety is often less of an obstacle than people fear. Having seen a therapist is not disqualifying; what the FAA assesses is diagnosis, medication and functional impact. Situational anxiety that resolved — after a bereavement, a divorce, a hard year — with no ongoing medication is frequently handled with a records review rather than a long deferral. An ongoing anxiety disorder on medication follows the same framework as depression.
Diabetes, Cardiac History And Substance History
Diabetes. Type 2 managed by diet or oral medication is often issued in the office under the FAA's CACI framework with the right documentation. Insulin-treated diabetes is named in Part 67 as disqualifying — yet since 2019 the FAA has run a protocol, built around continuous glucose monitoring, that certifies insulin-treated pilots at all classes including first. Expect substantial documentation and annual follow-up.
Cardiac. Heart attack, stents, bypass surgery, valve replacement and pacemakers are all named as disqualifying and all routinely special-issued. The FAA wants a complete workup — catheterization reports, stress testing, echocardiography, current medications — showing a stable result. Gathering those records is the slow part; the FAA decision usually is not.
Substance history and DUI. Be scrupulous here, because this is where people damage otherwise recoverable situations. Under 14 CFR 61.15(e), any motor vehicle action involving alcohol or drugs — a conviction, or an administrative suspension or revocation of your driver's license — must be reported in writing to the FAA's Civil Aviation Security Division within 60 days of the action, separately from and in addition to disclosing it on your medical application. The FAA cross-checks the National Driver Register, so it will be found. A single remote event with a clean record since is often certifiable. More than one, or one with a high blood alcohol level, triggers a substance-abuse evaluation and typically routes you into HIMS — the established path back to flying, not a dead end.
Cannabis deserves its own sentence: it remains federally illegal, and the FAA does not accept state-legal use in California or anywhere else.
Criminal History
General criminal history is not usually a medical certification question. The specific aviation rule is 14 CFR 61.15(a): a conviction for violating a federal or state statute relating to narcotic drugs, marijuana, or depressant or stimulant drugs is grounds for denial of an application for a certificate or rating for up to one year after the date of final conviction, and for suspension or revocation of certificates you already hold. Otherwise criminal history matters mostly for employment and security vetting. Non-US citizens training here go through a separate TSA process — see international student pilots.
Conditions And Likely Pathway
| Condition | Likely Pathway | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Glasses or contact lenses | Issued in office | Certificate carries a corrective-lens limitation |
| LASIK or PRK, healed and stable | Issued, usually with an eye report | Declare it on the application |
| Monovision correction | Not accepted for flying | Discuss alternatives with your AME |
| Color vision deficiency | Issued, possibly with a night limitation | Limitation is often removable |
| Hearing loss or hearing aids | Issued with a limitation | Alternative tests available |
| Height or weight | No FAA limit | Aircraft-specific: 180 lb Warrior, 200 lb Cirrus |
| Controlled high blood pressure | Usually issued in office | Bring medication list and home readings |
| Asthma, hypothyroidism, migraine | Often issued in office under CACI | Criteria published in the AME Guide |
| Type 2 diabetes, diet or oral medication | Often issued in office | Records and recent labs required |
| Insulin-treated diabetes | Special issuance | Protocol available for all classes |
| Past depression, resolved, off medication | Often issued after records review | Depends on the history |
| Depression on an approved SSRI | Special issuance via a HIMS AME | Short approved medication list; months, not weeks |
| Situational anxiety, resolved | Often issued | Therapy alone is not disqualifying |
| ADHD, currently medicated | Deferral; testing required | Medication period off plus neuropsychological evaluation |
| ADHD, remote and long unmedicated | Possible streamlined in-office pathway | Confirm current criteria with an AME |
| Bipolar disorder or psychosis | Named as disqualifying | Among the hardest categories; individual FAA review |
| Epilepsy or unexplained loss of consciousness | Named as disqualifying | Possible in limited cases after long seizure-free periods |
| Heart attack, stent, bypass, valve, pacemaker | Special issuance, routinely granted | Full cardiac workup and annual follow-up |
| Single remote DUI, clean since | Often issued | Must be reported under 14 CFR 61.15(e) within 60 days |
| Multiple alcohol events or high BAC | Substance-abuse evaluation, HIMS | Established route back, but a long one |
| Cannabis use, including state-legal | Not accepted | Federal law governs |
Treat this table as a map, not a verdict. Where a case turns on the details — and ADHD, mental health, cardiac and substance histories almost always do — an AME's judgment on your actual records is worth more than any article, including this one.
What To Do If Something Here Is You
Fly first, ask second, apply third. Take a discovery flight or a $189 session in the full-motion simulator and find out whether you want this. Then ask an AME informally what documentation your history will need — before you submit MedXPress, because a denial closes doors a deferral does not, including Sport Pilot flying on a driver's license. Only then commit to a Private Pilot course at $10,400 or the $84,000 airline career program. Our FAA medical certificate guide covers the classes, the exam and deferrals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you be a pilot with glasses?
Yes. The FAA standard is corrected vision — 20/40 or better in each eye for a third-class medical, 20/20 or better for first and second class. If glasses or contacts get you there, you meet the standard and your certificate simply carries a corrective-lens limitation.
Can you be a pilot with ADHD?
Often, but it is the most complicated common case. Current stimulant medication is not compatible with flying, and the usual path involves a period off medication plus neuropsychological testing reviewed by the FAA. A faster in-office pathway exists for applicants whose diagnosis is remote and who have been unmedicated for an extended period. Confirm the current criteria with an AME.
Can you be a pilot with anxiety or depression?
Yes in many cases. Having seen a therapist is not disqualifying. The FAA has an approved protocol allowing certification on a short list of approved SSRIs under a special issuance managed by a HIMS AME, and resolved situational anxiety is often handled with a records review.
Is there a height or weight limit for pilots?
The FAA sets none. Height and weight are recorded at the medical exam but are not pass/fail. The real limits are aircraft-specific — at You Fly LA, 180 lb per person and 360 lb combined in the Piper Warrior, and 200 lb per person and 400 lb combined in the Cirrus.
Can you be a pilot with diabetes?
Yes. Type 2 diabetes controlled by diet or oral medication is often issued in the office. Insulin-treated diabetes is named as disqualifying in Part 67, but since 2019 the FAA has operated a special issuance protocol based on continuous glucose monitoring that allows certification at all classes, including first.
Does a DUI disqualify you from being a pilot?
Not automatically, but it must be reported. Under 14 CFR 61.15(e) a motor vehicle action involving alcohol or drugs must be reported in writing to the FAA's Civil Aviation Security Division within 60 days, in addition to disclosing it on your medical application. A single remote event with a clean record since is often certifiable; multiple events route you into the HIMS program.
Do I need a medical certificate to take a discovery flight?
No. A discovery flight requires no medical certificate and no pilot certificate of any kind, because your instructor is the pilot in command. Bring a government-issued photo ID. It is $229 for 60 minutes at Van Nuys, with no tax and no booking fee.
Find Out Before You Rule Yourself Out
Most people who assume they are disqualified are wrong, and the cheapest way to test that is to go flying. 7900 Balboa Blvd, Main Terminal Unit 108, Van Nuys Airport, 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days. Bring a photo ID.
Book A Discovery Flight — $229 Book A Free Consultation Call (818) 330-1318
