Extension of medical certificate

Primary Legislation:	Civil Aviation Act s27E
Secondary Legislation:	CAR Part 67.61(d)(2)
Form:	Not applicable
Conducted by:	Medical Examiner conducting the assessment

Option to extend the medical certificate

Section 27E of the Act states, 'The Director may, on receiving an application for a medical certificate from a licence holder before the expiry of his or her existing medical certificate, grant an extension of no more than 60 days from the expiry date of the licence holder’s existing medical certificate with any additional conditions, restrictions, or endorsements as the Director considers necessary.'

This is a useful option for a Medical Examiner (ME) who is not yet able to issue a medical certificate for some valid reason. To legitimately exercise the extension provision an ME must consider the potential for abuse and must be satisfied that there is no risk to flight safety in exercising this option.

To consider an extension the following conditions will need to be met:

• An application (completed, signed and witnessed, on CAA form 24067-001) must have been received;
• The existing Medical Certificate for the Class applied for has not expired;
• The ME is satisfied that there is no aviation safety risk in extending the medical certificate;
• The ME has delegation to extend a medical certificate under s27E of the Act (generally MEs who have delegation to issue certificates also have delegation to extend).

Extension process

Any extension issued is to be in one of the formats shown in the following examples. A suitable electronic certificate template can also be obtained from the CAA Aviation Medicine Team.

The important point is that the medical certificate must clearly indicate which certificate class was extended, until when, by whom and the date when extended.

A copy of the certificate extension must be sent to the CAA Aviation Medicine Team office within 5 working days for data entry into the CAA register.

Note: Care must be taken to only extend the non-expired dates on the certificate.

An extended certificate cannot be further extended.

Example: Reprint the existing medical certificate and endorse as below in red.

Alternatively, the medical certificate can be modified to show on the front the extended expiry date, the date signed, and the usual stamp and signature, with the back endorsed:

Key points

The ME:

• Must be satisfied that he or she is working with a valid application and medical certificate;
• Must be satisfied of the absence of any safety issue(s) arising from the extension;
• Must ensure that the reason for extending is reasonable;
• May extend the existing medical certificate for up to 60 days from its expiry date. The extension must be clearly recorded and readily apparent on the certificate;
• Must send a copy of the extension certificate and the MAR in progress to CAA within 5 working days.