FAA ATC Medical Requirements: The Full Standards

The medical exam is the step that ends the most applications after the ATSA. Unlike the test, though, the standards are published in full, so you can check yourself against them today rather than finding out months into the process.

This page quotes the FAA's own Air Traffic Controller Qualifications page, which lists the requirements "for initial employment to Air Traffic Control Specialist positions". The detailed rules behind it live in FAA Order 3930.3C.

When the medical happens

Not at the start. The FAA's hiring page puts "Medical & Security Clearance" at phase three of five, after you have passed the ATSA. Its summary of that phase is "fingerprinting, federal background checks, and medical exams", with drug testing, a psychological evaluation and a medical exam listed underneath.

In practice the medical is triggered by the Clearance Instruction Letter that follows a tentative offer, and it runs against a deadline: the 2025 trainee announcement states that "if you do not complete all of the pre-employment requirements within 60 days from the date of the Clearance Instruction Letter (CIL), you will be removed from the hiring process under this announcement." Our guide to the tentative offer covers that clock in detail.

The general standard

The FAA frames all of it around one idea: "Air Traffic Controller candidates must have the capacity to perform the essential functions of these positions without risk to themselves or others. Candidates must be physically and mentally fit and meet standards for vision, hearing, cardiovascular, neurological and psychiatric health."

Vision

• "Applicants must demonstrate distant and near vision of 20/20 or better in each eye separately."
• "The use of bifocal contact lenses for the correction of near vision is unacceptable."
• "Applicants must demonstrate normal color vision."
• "Free of glaucoma, cataracts, chronic eye disease, or history of eye surgeries."

Two points people miss. The 20/20 standard is corrected vision, measured in each eye separately rather than together — glasses and standard contact lenses are fine, bifocal contacts are not. And normal colour vision is a hard requirement, not a preference; this is the standard that most often surprises applicants who have never been formally tested.

Ear, nose, throat and speech

• "No outer, middle, or inner ear disease, either acute or chronic."
• "No active disease of either mastoid (sinuses, ear canal, etc.)."
• "No unhealed perforation of either eardrum."
• "No deformity of either outer ear that might interfere with the use of headphones of the applied or semi-inserted type."
• "No disease or deformity of the hard palate, soft palate, or tongue that interferes with speaking. The applicant must demonstrate clearly understandable speech, and an absence of stuttering or stammering."
• "No hearing loss in either ear of more than 25 decibels in the 500, 1000, or 2000 Hz ranges."

Speech is also a separate statutory requirement, not only a medical one. Every recent announcement repeats that "successful candidates must be able to speak English clearly enough to be understood over radios, intercoms, and similar communications equipment."

Cardiovascular

• "No medical history of any form of heart disease. Must demonstrate absence of heart disease through clinical examination and electrocardiogram."
• "No high or low blood pressure levels no greater than the appropriate values."
• "Must demonstrate to X-ray no evidence of increase in heart size beyond normal limits."
• "An applicant under any form of treatment for any disease of the cardiovascular system is disqualified."

Neurological

• "No medical history or clinical diagnosis of a convulsive disorder."
• "No other disease of the nervous system that would constitute a hazard to safety in the air traffic control system."
• "An applicant under any form of treatment, including preventive treatment, of any disease of the nervous system, is disqualified."

Read that last line carefully. It disqualifies applicants on preventive treatment, which is broader than it first appears — it is not limited to people who are currently symptomatic.

Musculoskeletal

• "No deformity of spine or limbs of sufficient degree to interfere with satisfactory and safe performance of duty."
• "No absence of any extremity or digit or any portion thereof sufficient to interfere with the requirements for locomotion and manual dexterity of the position being sought."
• "No condition that predisposes to fatigue or discomfort induced by long periods of standing or sitting."

The FAA adds that "certain limitations of range of motion may be acceptable for certain specific options or positions, in which case acceptance of limitations will be noted specifically for that position or option only." This is the one area where the standards explicitly allow for a position-by-position judgment rather than a flat bar.

General medical

• "No medical history or clinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus."
• "Must have no other organic, functional, or structural disease, defect, or limitation found to indicate clinically a potential hazard to safety in the air traffic control system."

That second clause is a catch-all. The FAA notes that "a pertinent history and clinical evaluation, including laboratory evaluations, will be obtained, and when clinically indicated, special consultations or examinations will be accomplished" — so a condition not named above can still be examined on its merits.

Psychiatric

The published standard bars "no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of any of the following: a psychosis; a neurosis; or any personality or mental disorder that clearly demonstrates a potential hazard to safety in the air traffic control system."

How that is judged matters as much as the wording: "determinations will be based on medical case history (including past, social, and occupational adjustment) supported by clinical psychologists and board-certified psychiatrists, including such psychological tests as may be required as part of medical evaluation."

This is the basis of the psychological screening the announcements list alongside the medical exam. It is a clinical assessment by specialists, and it is separate from the ATSA's Work Style questionnaire, which is a personality inventory scored as part of the aptitude test rather than a medical instrument. Our Work Style guide explains that distinction, and you can see the format in the Work Style demo.

Substance dependency

"A history, review of all available records, and clinical and laboratory examination will be utilized to determine the presence or absence of substance dependency, including alcohol, narcotic, and non-narcotic drugs."

Separately, the position sits inside the Department of Transportation's drug and alcohol testing programme. The announcement states that "any applicant tentatively selected for this position will be subject to pre-employment or pre-appointment drug screening" and that people in a testing-designated position "will be subject to random drug and/or alcohol testing" thereafter.

Why the standards are written this way

The FAA explains the logic directly: "the physical impairments/medical conditions listed are disqualifying because there are medical and/or management reasons to conclude that an individual with such impairment/condition cannot perform the duties of the position without unacceptable risk to his or her own health, or to the health or safety of others (employees or the public)."

It does not stop once you are hired

"Air Traffic Controllers must requalify in an annual medical examination. Controllers incurring illness, injury, or incapacitation at any time between the annual examinations must be medically cleared before returning to air traffic control duty."

That annual requalification is one reason the entry standards are strict: the medical is a recurring condition of the job, not a one-off gate.

What to do with this before you apply

• Get your colour vision checked properly. It is the standard most people have never been tested against, and an informal check is not the same as a clinical one.
• Know your own history. Several standards turn on history or diagnosis, not current symptoms, so old records matter.
• Do not self-disqualify on a guess. The catch-all clause cuts both ways: the exam is a clinical judgment, and the FAA's examiners make it, not a web page.
• Do not wait on the medical to start preparing for the test. The ATSA comes first and is the gate most applicants actually fail. Our preparation guide is the place to start, and the free demos show you each section.

Full practice access is on the pricing page. This site is independent familiarization material and has no role in FAA medical determinations.

Frequently asked questions

Can you be an air traffic controller with glasses?

Yes. The standard is distant and near vision of 20/20 or better in each eye separately, which may be corrected. Bifocal contact lenses used to correct near vision are specifically unacceptable.

Does colour blindness disqualify you from air traffic control?

The FAA's published standard is that "applicants must demonstrate normal color vision." Whether a particular result meets that standard is a determination for the FAA's medical examiners.

Can you be an air traffic controller with diabetes?

The published standard lists "no medical history or clinical diagnosis of diabetes mellitus" among the general medical requirements for initial employment.

What hearing level is required for FAA controllers?

No hearing loss in either ear of more than 25 decibels in the 500, 1000 or 2000 Hz ranges.

Is there a psychological test as part of the FAA medical?

Yes. Medical clearance includes psychological screening, and psychiatric determinations are supported by clinical psychologists and board-certified psychiatrists, "including such psychological tests as may be required as part of medical evaluation." This is separate from the ATSA's Work Style section.

Do controllers have to pass a medical every year?

Yes. The FAA requires annual requalification, plus medical clearance before returning to duty after any illness, injury or incapacitation.