Medical Education Course Requirements

14 CFR § 68.3 requires that the BasicMed medical education course cover seven specific topics, and that five specific items be electronically generated and transmitted to the FAA when you finish. The regulation splits cleanly into two halves: paragraph (a) is what the course must teach; paragraph (b) is what the course must produce and send on successful completion.

(a) The medical education course required to act as pilot in command or serve as a required flightcrew member in an operation under § 61.113(i) of this chapter must— (1) Educate pilots on conducting medical self-assessments; (2) Advise pilots on identifying warning signs of potential serious medical conditions; (3) Identify risk mitigation strategies for medical conditions; (4) Increase awareness of the impacts of potentially impairing over-the-counter and prescription drug medications; (5) Encourage regular medical examinations and consultations with primary care physicians; (6) Inform pilots of the regulations pertaining to the prohibition on operations during medical deficiency and medically disqualifying conditions; and (7) Provide the checklist developed by the FAA in accordance with § 68.7.

— 14 CFR § 68.3(a)

Notice what § 68.3 is and isn't. 14 CFR § 68.3 does not write the course — it sets the floor a course provider must hit before the FAA will accept it. That's why you can only take a BasicMed medical education course from an FAA-accepted provider. As of this writing, the two FAA-accepted providers are AOPA and the Mayo Clinic, both free, both online (per AC 68-1A and the FAA's published list of accepted courses).

What seven topics must the BasicMed medical education course cover?

The BasicMed medical education course must cover all seven topics in 14 CFR § 68.3(a). A course that drops any one of them isn't an accepted course.

14 CFR § 68.3 applies to you only if you intend to fly under BasicMed — that is, as pilot in command or as a required flightcrew member in an operation conducted under 14 CFR § 61.113(i). If you hold and fly on a current FAA medical certificate issued under Part 67 (first, second, or third class), § 68.3 does not apply to you. BasicMed is an alternative to the Part 67 medical, not a replacement for it.

To use BasicMed, the FAA also requires that at some point after July 14, 2006, you held a regular or special issuance medical certificate (any class). The medical education course in 14 CFR § 68.3 is one of two recurring requirements that keep BasicMed valid. The other is the comprehensive medical examination in 14 CFR § 68.5. Miss either window and you lose BasicMed privileges until you're current again.

How often do I retake the BasicMed course — what are the exact currency windows?

The BasicMed medical education course must be completed every 24 calendar months; the comprehensive medical examination must be completed every 48 calendar months. These are two separate clocks — don't confuse them. The course is the § 68.3 piece; the physical exam is the § 68.5 / § 68.7 piece.

The single most common BasicMed mistake is treating these as one clock. The course (every 24 months) comes up twice as often as the physical (every 48 months). Pilots renew the doctor's exam, fly happily for a couple of years, and don't realize the 24-month course already lapsed.

14 CFR § 68.3(b) requires five items to be electronically provided to you and transmitted to the FAA on successful completion of the BasicMed medical education course. The FAA-accepted course provider handles the transmission — but you're responsible for the accuracy of what you certify, and for keeping the completion certificate in your logbook.

(b) Upon successful completion of the medical education course, the following items must be electronically provided to the individual seeking to act as pilot in command or serve as a required flightcrew member under the conditions and limitations of § 61.113(i) of this chapter and transmitted to the FAA— (1) A certification of completion of the medical education course, which shall be retained in the individual's logbook and made available upon request, and shall contain the individual's name, address, and airman certificate number…

— 14 CFR § 68.3(b)

What is the exact medical-deficiency statement I have to sign?

14 CFR § 68.3(b)(5) requires you to sign a verbatim statement acknowledging the prohibition on operations during medical deficiency. The FAA wrote the words; you sign them as written.

"I understand that I cannot act as pilot in command, or any other capacity as a required flight crew member, if I know or have reason to know of any medical condition that would make me unable to operate the aircraft in a safe manner."

— 14 CFR § 68.3(b)(5)

This statement is not boilerplate — it ties 14 CFR § 68.3 directly to 14 CFR § 61.53, the standing prohibition on operations during medical deficiency. BasicMed doesn't get you out of § 61.53. If anything, you've now signed your name to it.

You are prohibited from acting as pilot in command or as a required flightcrew member under 14 CFR § 61.113(i) without a current BasicMed medical education course completed within the previous 24 calendar months. Flying BasicMed with a lapsed course is flying without the medical qualification the operation requires — the same exposure as flying on an expired medical certificate.

Here's the enforcement detail most summaries skip. The National Driver Register release in 14 CFR § 68.3(b)(2) isn't a formality. It hands the FAA a live channel into your state driving record. Pair that with 14 CFR § 68.11 — which lets the Administrator demand additional information when "credible or urgent" information surfaces (including from the National Driver Register or the FAA Safety Hotline) — and you can see the design: a DUI or a license action can put a BasicMed pilot's fitness back under FAA review. BasicMed traded the AME's gatekeeping for self-certification plus a data feedback loop.

14 CFR § 68.3 is one gear in the BasicMed machine — it sets the course content, while sister sections set the exam, the checklist, special issuances, and the standing medical-deficiency rule. Reading § 68.3 alone gives you a third of the picture. Here's the whole drivetrain.

What can I actually do once 14 CFR § 68.3 is satisfied — the operating limits?

Once your BasicMed course and exam are current, 14 CFR § 61.113(i) lets you fly with up to 6 passengers, in an aircraft up to 12,500 pounds maximum certificated takeoff weight, at or below 18,000 feet MSL, and at or below 250 knots indicated airspeed. These figures reflect the BasicMed expansion the FAA made effective November 18, 2024 (it raised the old limits of 5 passengers / 6,000 pounds). § 68.3 is the course; § 61.113(i) is the leash length.