CASA created a new class of medical last year – the Class 5. It’s a new self-declared medical that is the simplest and easiest CASA medical to get. Why does this matter to an RAAus pilot? Well, it’s one of the points of debate being worked on to grant RAAus pilots access to controlled airspace. Here’s the process and the limitations on it as compared to other licenses.
Up until now, a pilot required a Class 2 or a Class 2 basic medical. The Class 2 was issued by a DAME – a medical practitioner certified by CASA – and is what you needed for the full range of GA flight including night, IFR, heavy etc. The Class 2 Basic was limited to 10,000 feet, and day operations had other limitations but could be issued by any doctor.
As far as I can see, the new Class 5 self-declared medical gives you most of the benefits of a Class 2 basic medical without the doctor’s involvement. The major limitation is on passengers. You’re limited to one, just like in RAAus, so that’s hardly going to be an issue. The Class 5 has two target audiences: RAAus pilots and RPL pilots. There was also a category of medical certificate for an RPL holder called a RAMPC that had the same limitations as an RAAus certificate. I suspect the Class 2 and RAMPC pilots will mostly transfer to Class 5.
So, what’s the process? It’s actually quite easy. You first do an online module that gives you an understanding of how to do a Class 5 medical. Once completed, you make an application. Provided the application doesn’t uncover any issues, you’re instantly issued with a Class 5 medical. The reason you might want to do a Class 5 medical is because it gives you access to doing an RPL conversion and controlled airspace. Right now, Class 5 isn’t recognised officially by RAAus, but that will surely be the case soon. So right now you will still need to do an RAAus medical declaration. Time will tell, but I think it’s a good idea – especially for pilots over 40 who are required to renew their medical every two years (its every four years for the juniors out there). Hopefully it will also relieve some of the burnout from CASA’s medical evaluation team who now have a lead time of several months for all the classes that require their review.
