There are three medical certificate classes that have to be obtained in order to fly. The lowest class certificate available is the third class medical. The certificate allows its holder to obtain a private pilot’s license. This is only useful in small, single propeller aircraft, like a Piper …show more content…
By mentally stable, the FAA has some mildly lenient rules. A prospective pilot must not be diagnosed with any form of psychosis (defined by Dictionary.com as “A mental disorder characterized by symptoms, such as delusions or hallucinations, that indicate impaired contact with reality.”) or bipolar disorder. These are mainly due to the fact that pilots are under constant stress, and any minor slip up may cost the lives of many. There must also be no severe personality disorders (severe depression, severe schizophrenia, psychopathic* or sadistic** attitudes) and in this case it is the same as the last. At any point the person could easily have a severe emotional or mental breakdown. and they could just crash the plane into a school, hospital or any other important …show more content…
The heart is what keeps a person alive and running, and if that should fail the aircraft will be out of control and hurtle towards the earth. If a person has suffered from a myocardial infarction (heart attack) then they are not eligible to be a pilot, mainly due to the fact that their heart could fail without warning at any point after that. People with replaced hearts/heart valves or heart pacemakers also may not become aircraft captains because, like in the case of the heart attack rule, the heart could fail again at any time. The FAA is rather strict on this topic and for good reason. A pilot whose heart could give out at any given moment should not be in command of an aircraft at