Prepare for the Category 3 medical examination by booking with a Civil Aviation Medical Examiner, assembling every item on Transport Canada's document list before your appointment, and reading the handbook guidance for any condition in your history so you know how it will be weighed.
What a Category 3 certificate is — and is not
The Category 3 medical certificate is a medical fitness category under the Canadian Aviation Regulations. It is a physician-performed fitness assessment, not a knowledge test, and it is not the licence itself.
Canadian aviation medical requirements are set out in Part 404 and Standard 424 of the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs). A medical category describes the degree of medical fitness needed for a given aviation activity, and the certificate is issued by the Minister of Transport once a medical examination report is assessed as fit, or fit with restrictions.
The certificate validates your licence; it is a prerequisite for every licence subject to the Personnel Licensing Standards. Category 1 is the standard for flying for hire and reward, while Category 4 works through a signed medical declaration for certain permits, such as the recreational pilot permit. Category 3 applies to licences with medical requirements below the Category 1 professional standard.
Before you book anything, confirm which category your specific permit or licence requires. Preparing against the wrong category wastes effort, and the licensing pages on the Transport Canada website identify the category attached to each licence type.
Official sources: Standard 424 - Medical Requirements - Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) — Transport Canada, content last revised 2008/06/30; page dated 2026-01-08; How to apply - Apply for or manage an aviation medical certificate — Transport Canada, page dated 2026-06-26
How the examination process works
A Civil Aviation Medical Examiner (CAME) performs the examination and sends a report to Transport Canada, which reviews it and mails you your certificate as a label.
Start by finding a CAME through Transport Canada's list of approved examiners and booking an appointment. Only a physician designated by Transport Canada as a CAME may perform the examination, unless you are outside Canada. Standard 424 requires every applicant for a medical certificate, or its revalidation, to undergo this examination.
At the appointment, the CAME assesses your medical fitness on the Civil Aviation Medical Examination Report (Form 26-0010), which requires both your signature and the CAME's. The CAME must tell Transport Canada if they consider you medically unfit or if the examination is incomplete.
Transport Canada then reviews and assesses the report. If more tests are needed, you will be contacted with the required next steps, and the results must go back through a CAME. Once you are assessed as fit, your certificate is issued as a label and mailed to you; place it in your aviation document booklet. Aviation students receive a standalone certificate instead.
- Photo identification
- Your medications, with dosage and frequency
- A copy of your lens prescription
- Your family doctor's name and phone number
- Your current pilot permit or licence number, if you have one
- For pilots, your total flight time over the last 12 months
- Your past medical history, including past tests, diagnoses and treatments, and dates of any earlier examination reports, audiograms or electrocardiograms submitted for licensing
- Information about your family medical history
Official sources: Standard 424 - Medical Requirements - Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) — Transport Canada, content last revised 2008/06/30; page dated 2026-01-08; How to apply - Apply for or manage an aviation medical certificate — Transport Canada, page dated 2026-06-26
What the standards cover
Standard 424 defines physical and mental requirements for each medical category, and the examiner must examine you thoroughly enough to determine whether you meet the category you are applying for.
The Canadian standards honour Canada's international commitments through the International Civil Aviation Organization, so the framework broadly mirrors agreed international practice. The examination must be sufficiently thorough to determine whether you meet the requirements for the category sought, and the standards for initial issuance and renewal are basically the same.
Two rules shape your outcome. First, you are granted the highest assessment your findings support. Second, if you want a category higher than your licence requires, tell the CAME; with your agreement, the CAME can arrange the specialist examinations or laboratory tests needed for that higher assessment.
If the CAME cannot reach a conclusion about your fitness, they omit the category allocation and refer the report to Civil Aviation Medicine staff for assessment or further advice. That referral is a normal part of the system, not a rejection.
Official sources: Standard 424 - Medical Requirements - Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) — Transport Canada, content last revised 2008/06/30; page dated 2026-01-08
How common conditions and medications are handled
Transport Canada publishes detailed aeromedical guidance for the conditions that most often raise questions. A diagnosed condition is assessed individually against the standards; it does not end your application automatically.
The Handbook for Civil Aviation Medical Examiners contains condition-specific guidance in the areas that cause most certification questions: neurology, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, asthma, and psychiatry including SSRI treatment. Reading the sections that match your history before your appointment tells you what evidence the assessment will weigh.
One concrete example of how Category 3 fits in: under current policy, applicants with insulin-treated diabetes who already hold a professional licence (ATPL or CPL) may be considered for a Category 1 certificate restricted to flying with an accompanying pilot, as well as for Category 3 or 4. All other pilots with insulin-treated diabetes are considered only for Category 3 or 4. The handbook's diabetes framework then weighs blood sugar control, hypoglycemia history and end-organ effects to set any restrictions.
The same logic runs through the neurological and asthma guidance: stability, a documented history, and the risk of sudden incapacitation drive the decision, not the diagnosis label alone. Bring your medication list, including anything over the counter, and let the CAME assess it rather than adjusting treatment on your own.
Official sources: Handbook for Civil Aviation Medical Examiners - TP 13312 — Transport Canada, page dated 2015-02-20
If you do not meet a standard
Standard 424 includes a flexibility process, additional-information requests, reconsideration and appeal, so failing a numerical requirement is the start of an assessment pathway, not the end.
Under Standard 424's flexibility provisions, special circumstances such as monocular or paraplegic applicants can still be certified. The key test is an accredited medical conclusion that your failure to meet a requirement is not likely to affect air safety when exercising the licence's privileges. Any licence issued this way is endorsed with the limitations your safe performance depends on, and you must comply with any required conditions.
Sometimes a practical flight test is part of the evaluation. It is requested by the Regional Aviation Medical Officer and approved by the Regional Director Aviation Licensing, and it is conducted only when needed to evaluate your capabilities accurately.
The monocular pathway shows how this works for Category 3-level licences. A monocular applicant can be granted permits or licences requiring a Category 3 or lower medical, provided an ophthalmologist examines the better eye against the stated vision requirements, the applicant completes an adequate adaptation period, and a practical test confirms competent flying while maintaining an adequate look-out. An eye specialist's report is then required at each renewal.
If you are assessed unfit at the regional level, you can submit additional reports from CAMEs, specialists and laboratories for reconsideration, and you can ask for your file to go to the Aviation Medical Review Board. Where a holder is assessed unfit or a renewal is refused, appeal lies to the Civil Aviation Tribunal.
Official sources: Standard 424 - Medical Requirements - Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) — Transport Canada, content last revised 2008/06/30; page dated 2026-01-08
Fees, renewals and telemedicine
The CAME sets and charges the examination fee; Transport Canada does not set it. Renewal intervals run from every 6 months to every 5 years depending on your age and licence, and telemedicine renewals are now limited.
Budget for two possible costs. The CAME charges a fee for the medical exam and tells you the cost in advance; Transport Canada does not set these fees. Separately, Transport Canada may invoice an administrative fee, which you pay through the online invoice payment form once invoiced.
Renewal frequency depends on your age and the type of licence or permit you hold. Medical exams are required as often as every 6 months, for professional pilots aged 40 and over, or as seldom as every 5 years, for private or balloon pilots under 40. The full validity table lives in Standard 424 Appendix II.
Telemedicine renewals have tighter rules. As of March 4, 2025, you are eligible only if your previous examination was in person, and any certificate renewed by telemedicine has a maximum validity of 12 months. You must renew in person if you are a new applicant, your certificate's validity ended before March 17, 2020, your last examination was by telemedicine, or a CAME or Transport Canada has asked you to attend in person.
If you cannot complete an exam before expiry, you can apply to extend your certificate's validity by up to 60 days, but only if you request the extension at least 10 days before expiry and prove that an exam within the 90 days before expiry was not possible.
Official sources: How to apply - Apply for or manage an aviation medical certificate — Transport Canada, page dated 2026-06-26
Practice: match your history to the required documents
Run your own history against Transport Canada's list of required items before booking. The exercise below shows how the list applies in practice.
Transport Canada tells you exactly what to bring to your exam or be ready to discuss. Turning that list into a personal checklist is the most reliable preparation step available to you: anything you cannot tick becomes a document to request from your family doctor or specialist before the appointment.
Practice exercise
Maya holds a licence that requires a Category 3 medical certificate and is booking a renewal. She takes one daily prescription medication, wears corrective lenses, sees a family physician, has logged flight time in the past year, and submitted an electrocardiogram for licensing two years ago. Using Transport Canada's requirements, which items must she bring to the appointment or be prepared to discuss?
Show answer
All of the following: photo ID; her medication with dosage and frequency; a copy of her lens prescription; her family doctor's name and phone number; her current pilot permit or licence number; her total flight time over the last 12 months; her past medical history, including the date and results of the ECG she previously submitted for licensing; and information about her family medical history.
Transport Canada's list applies at every medical exam, so each item in Maya's profile maps to a required entry. The two details candidates most often miss are the flight-time total, which applies to pilots, and previously submitted reports: the earlier ECG belongs in her medical history because the form asks for the dates of any examination reports, audiograms and ECGs previously submitted for licensing. Compiling these before the appointment lets the CAME complete the Form 26-0010 report without follow-up requests.
Official sources: How to apply - Apply for or manage an aviation medical certificate — Transport Canada, page dated 2026-06-26
Your preparation checklist
Confirm your category, book with a CAME, assemble your documents, read the guidance relevant to your history, and plan your renewal timing.
None of these steps guarantees an outcome, and paper preparation cannot establish medical fitness; the assessment belongs to your CAME and Transport Canada. What the checklist does is remove avoidable delays and make your appointment a review of complete information.
- Confirm which medical category your permit or licence requires before booking
- Find a CAME in Transport Canada's approved list and book an appointment
- Collect every item on the required-documents list, including medication details and past reports
- Read the handbook sections covering any condition in your history, and ask your treating physician for letters or recent results where your situation is not stable or well documented
- Check whether you qualify for telemedicine renewal or must attend in person
- Note your renewal interval and, if expiry is close, whether the 60-day extension route could apply
Official sources: Standard 424 - Medical Requirements - Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) — Transport Canada, content last revised 2008/06/30; page dated 2026-01-08; How to apply - Apply for or manage an aviation medical certificate — Transport Canada, page dated 2026-06-26; Handbook for Civil Aviation Medical Examiners - TP 13312 — Transport Canada, page dated 2015-02-20
Official sources
Facts checked: