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14 CFR 61.23(c) · Van Nuys Airport
Sport Pilot Medical Requirements: What A Driver License Does And Does Not Cover
A sport pilot exercises privileges on a valid US driver license instead of an FAA medical certificate, under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1), provided the four conditions in 14 CFR 61.303(b) are met. That covers day flying. Night under 14 CFR 61.329 requires a part 67 medical certificate or BasicMed.
Driver license · 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1)Four conditions · 61.303(b)Night needs a medical or BasicMed5.0 ★ · 85 Google reviews
$0cost of the medical for day sport pilot flying — a driver license
4conditions in 14 CFR 61.303(b) you must satisfy
2006BasicMed needs a medical held after 14 July 2006
5.0 ★85 Google reviews
The rule
Do you need an FAA medical certificate for a sport pilot license?
No, not for day flying. 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1)(ii) allows a person to exercise the privileges of a sport pilot certificate on a valid US driver license, in an aircraft meeting the performance limits and design requirements of 14 CFR 61.316 other than a glider or balloon. The same paragraph covers student pilot privileges while you are seeking the certificate.
MOSAIC did not change this. What MOSAIC changed was the aircraft the permission applies to — the paragraph now points at 14 CFR 61.316 rather than at the deleted light-sport definition in 14 CFR 1.1. The medical basis itself is exactly where it was.
That is why the phone rings here. The people who ask about sport pilot are mostly not twenty-two. They are in their fifties or sixties, on a blood-pressure medication, or they had a procedure some years ago and somebody at a barbecue told them flying was over. For a lot of those people it is not over, and 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) is the reason.
It is not unconditional, though, and the conditions are not a formality. They are in 14 CFR 61.303(b), and one of them catches people who have already started down the medical route and stopped.
The conditions
What 14 CFR 61.303(b) actually requires
Four conditions, all of which have to be true at the same time. If any one of them fails, the driver license route is closed until it is resolved.
| Condition | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Comply with every restriction on the licence | You must comply with each restriction and limitation imposed by your US driver license and any judicial or administrative order applying to the operation of a motor vehicle. If your licence says corrective lenses, you wear them in the aircraft too. |
| Have been found eligible for at least a third-class medical at your most recent application | This applies if you have ever applied. Somebody who applied, was working through a deferral, and walked away without an issuance does not satisfy this condition — and that is the situation that catches people most often. |
| No medical certificate suspended or revoked, and no Special Issuance withdrawn | Your most recently issued medical certificate must not have been suspended or revoked, and your most recent Authorization for a Special Issuance of a Medical Certificate must not have been withdrawn. |
| No known disqualifying condition | You must not know, or have reason to know, of any medical condition that would make you unable to operate an aircraft in a safe manner. This is a continuing obligation, not a one-off check, and it is the same standard a private pilot flying on BasicMed is held to. |
The second and third conditions are why we say, bluntly, that you should not apply for an FAA medical certificate on a whim if sport pilot is what you actually want. An application that stalls can close a door that was open. Talk to us, or to an Aviation Medical Examiner, before you file anything.
Night
Where the driver license stops working
MOSAIC created a night privilege for sport pilots and attached a medical condition to it. This is the one place where the certificate's headline advantage does not apply.
1
14 CFR 61.329(b) is explicit
To exercise night privileges you must either hold a medical certificate issued under part 67 or meet the conditions of 14 CFR 61.113(i), which is BasicMed. There is no driver-license route to night.
2
BasicMed needs a medical you already held
14 CFR 61.23(c)(3) requires a medical certificate issued at some point after 14 July 2006, a medical education course completed within the preceding 24 calendar months, and a comprehensive examination by a State-licensed physician under part 68 within the preceding 48 calendar months.
3
So the order of operations matters
If you have never held an FAA medical certificate, BasicMed is not available to you and night is closed until you obtain a part 67 medical. If you held one after July 2006 and it lapsed cleanly, BasicMed is usually the easier route.
4
Everything else stays on the driver license
Day flying, cross-country, solo, the checkride, carrying a passenger — all of it runs on 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1). Night is the exception, not the rule.
5
A student pilot is covered too
14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) covers exercising student pilot privileges while seeking a sport pilot certificate, so you do not need a medical certificate to solo on this track.
6
It is worth deciding this early
If night matters to you, the private pilot certificate at $10,900 includes it without a separate endorsement, and you were going to need the medical either way. See sport pilot vs private pilot.
The three routes
Driver license, BasicMed or a third-class medical: which applies to you
These are not competing options so much as a ladder. Each one covers everything the one below it covers, and costs more time to obtain.
| US driver license | BasicMed | Third-class medical | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule | 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) | 14 CFR 61.23(c)(3) and part 68 | 14 CFR 61.23(a)/(b), part 67 |
| Sport pilot day flying | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sport pilot night under 61.329 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Private pilot privileges | No | Yes, under 14 CFR 61.113(i) | Yes |
| Prerequisite | A valid US driver license and the four conditions in 61.303(b) | A medical certificate held at some point after 14 July 2006 | An examination by an Aviation Medical Examiner |
| Renewal | Whatever your state requires for the licence | Education course every 24 calendar months; physician examination every 48 | Duration depends on age and class under 14 CFR 61.23(d) |
Full detail on the other two routes is on our BasicMed vs third-class medical and third-class medical certificate pages.
Honest advice
What we tell people who are worried about the medical
Start with a discovery flight, not with a medical form. Nothing about the medical question gets easier by answering it before you know whether you enjoy flying, and a $229 hour in the aircraft answers the more important question first.
If you have a specific condition you are worried about, talk to an Aviation Medical Examiner before you file anything with the FAA. An AME consultation is not an application. Filing an application that then stalls is what closes the 14 CFR 61.303(b) door, and that is a much harder position to unwind than simply not having applied.
We are a flight school, not a medical practice, and we are not going to tell you whether your condition is issuable. What we will do is tell you which regulation applies to your situation, and be honest when the answer is that you need to speak to somebody else first.
One thing we will say plainly: a great many people who assume they are disqualified are not. The sport pilot route exists precisely so that the medical system is not the gate on recreational flying, and 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) has been doing that job since 2004.
The fleet
What you fly on a driver license
Sport training here is flown in the two-seat Cessna 162, and the aircraft you may fly is set by 14 CFR 61.316 rather than by any weight limit.
14 CFR 61.23(c)(1)(ii) ties the driver-license permission to aircraft meeting 14 CFR 61.316, so aircraft eligibility and medical eligibility are the same question in the end. See MOSAIC aircraft eligibility.
Redbird MCX
No medical needed to fly the simulator
FAA-approved, fully enclosed, and it moves. If you are waiting on a medical question, simulator time is the one part of training that carries on regardless.
Simulator hours are built into every programme we run. A standalone Redbird session is $189.
Your instructor
Instructors who have had this conversation many times
Every instructor here holds a commercial or ATP certificate plus a CFI and a current medical, and the instructor is legally pilot in command on every flight you take with them. Eleven of them.
A good proportion of our sport pilot students came to us after being told somewhere else that they could not fly. Nobody here will make the conversation awkward, and nobody will pretend to be an Aviation Medical Examiner either. You will get the regulation, the honest limits of what we know, and a name to call if the question is medical rather than regulatory.
What people say
5.0 ★ · 85 Google reviews
Three things come up again and again in what people write about training here, and none of them is the price.
★
The debrief, not the flight
The most repeated compliment in our reviews is not the aeroplane and it is not the ramp. It is that somebody sat down afterwards and explained what happened.
★
Lessons that actually happen
Eleven instructors and a fleet we own and maintain ourselves. Reviewers mention scheduling more than anything else, which tells you what most schools get wrong.
★
The number does not move
What you enrol at is what you finish at. On an $8,400 package that promise is the entire point, and people write about it because it is not universal.
Programmes and prices
What it costs, and both ways to start
Book it now if you are ready, or book a free consultation and talk to a human first. Financing runs from $2,500 down through Stratus Financial and our own in-house plans.
Start here
Sport Pilot Certificate
$8,400 / complete
The full FAA sport pilot certificate at $8,400, flown on a valid US driver license under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1). No Aviation Medical Examiner appointment required for day flying.
Standard Private Pilot
$10,900 / 40 hrs logged
Requires a third-class medical certificate before solo, and in exchange gives you three passengers, night flying inside the certificate and no 14 CFR 61.316 aircraft restriction.
Comprehensive Private Pilot
$15,900 / 60 hrs logged
Our most chosen private pilot programme. 55 hours single-engine, 5 hours in the Redbird and 10 hours of ground school, which is roughly the national average built into the price.
Solo Certificate
$5,500 / to first solo
For people whose whole ambition is the moment the instructor climbs out. Not a certificate to carry passengers, but every hour counts toward sport or private afterwards.
Discovery Flight For One
$229 / 60 min
A real lesson. You fly the aircraft, the time is loggable dual instruction, and the full $229 is credited against any programme if you enrol within 24 hours.
Redbird Simulator Session
$189 / session
An hour in the full-motion Redbird MCX with an instructor. A cheap way to find out whether you can handle radio work before you spend anything on an aeroplane.
$500 off any private pilot programme this summer. Standard $10,400 · Comprehensive $15,400 · Premium $22,000. Ask when you enroll. The sport pilot package stays at $8,400.
Next step
Bring the medical question to a free consultation
Half an hour, in person at Van Nuys, and you will leave knowing which of the three medical routes applies to you and what it would take. If you would rather just fly first, the $229 discovery flight needs no medical at all.
Discovery Flight For One
$229
60 minutes · you fly the aircraft · credited in full on enrolment within 24 hours
MOSAIC and the new rules
The MOSAIC rule and what it changedSport pilot night flying under 14 CFR 61.329Does my aircraft qualify under 14 CFR 61.316?Sport pilot endorsements explainedSport pilot license cost in Los AngelesLight sport aircraft rules after MOSAIC
FAQ
Sport Pilot Medical Requirements: The Questions We Get Asked
No, not for day flying. 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) lets you exercise sport pilot privileges on a valid US driver license in an aircraft meeting 14 CFR 61.316, subject to the four conditions in 14 CFR 61.303(b). Night flying under 14 CFR 61.329 does require a part 67 medical certificate or BasicMed.
Comply with every restriction on your US driver license and any judicial or administrative order about driving; have been found eligible for at least a third-class medical certificate at your most recent application, if you have applied; have no medical certificate suspended or revoked and no Special Issuance Authorization withdrawn; and know of no medical condition that would make you unable to operate an aircraft safely.
No. 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) and 14 CFR 61.303(b) were left intact. What changed is that the driver-license permission now refers to aircraft meeting 14 CFR 61.316 instead of the light-sport aircraft definition that MOSAIC deleted from 14 CFR 1.1.
No. 14 CFR 61.329(b) requires either a medical certificate issued under part 67 or BasicMed under 14 CFR 61.113(i). A driver license covers day flying only.
Yes, and it is what makes night flying available under 14 CFR 61.329. BasicMed under 14 CFR 61.23(c)(3) requires a medical certificate held at some point after 14 July 2006, a medical education course within 24 calendar months, and a physician examination under part 68 within 48 calendar months.
That is the condition most likely to close the driver-license route. 14 CFR 61.303(b) requires that you were found eligible for at least a third-class medical at your most recent application. An application that stalled without an issuance does not satisfy it.
Not on a whim. An application that stalls can close the 14 CFR 61.303(b) route that was already open to you. Speak to an Aviation Medical Examiner first if you have a specific concern; a consultation is not an application.
No. 14 CFR 61.23(c)(1) covers exercising student pilot privileges while seeking a sport pilot certificate, so you can solo on a valid US driver license subject to the 14 CFR 61.303(b) conditions.
Yes. 14 CFR 61.303(b) requires you to comply with each restriction and limitation imposed by your US driver license and any judicial or administrative order applying to motor vehicle operation. Corrective lenses on the licence means corrective lenses in the cockpit.
Nothing beyond the driver license you already hold, for day flying. The sport pilot package at LA Flight School is $8,400 and does not include an Aviation Medical Examiner fee, because day flying does not need one.
No Cost, No Obligation
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SAFETY FIRST
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
★★★★★
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
★★★★★
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
★★★★★
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
★★★★★
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
★★★★★
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
★★★★★
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
★★★★★
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
★★★★★
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
★★★★★
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
★★★★★
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
★★★★★
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
★★★★★
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
★★★★★
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
★★★★★
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
★★★★★
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
★★★★★
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
★★★★★
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
See Discovery Flight Details — $229
Reviews shown verbatim, exactly as each reviewer published them.