Conditions AMEs Can Issue (CACI) is a series of conditions which allow AMEs to regular issue if the applicant meets the parameters of the CACI Condition Worksheet. The worksheets provide detailed instructions to the examiner and outline condition-specific requirements for the applicant.
- Pilots should review these requirements in advance of the AME exam to maximize chances of success and minimize AME's bureaucratic hurdles.
- Your AME should review the AME Guide disposition table for the specific condition prior to the CACI worksheet to verify whether a CACI is even required.
- If all the CACI criteria are met and the applicant is otherwise qualified, the AME may issue on the first exam or the first time the condition is reported to the AME without contacting AMCD/RFS. The AME will document the appropriate notes in their portion (Block 60) and keep the supporting documents in their files; the medical documentation does not need to be submitted to the FAA contemporaneously, but the FAA reserves the right to request them in the future if questions arise.
- If the requirements are not met, the AME must defer the exam and send the supporting documents to the FAA. In this circumstance, you will be grounded while awaiting the FAA decision.
The introduction of the CACI program in 2013 was intended to increase the number of “airman that walk out of an aviation medical examiner’s office with a new medical certificate.”
The attempts to decentralize the decision-making process for FAA medical certification. Before it existed, Aviation Medical Examiners (AME) were not allowed to issue medical certificates to pilots with new disqualifying medical conditions. That rule applied equally to conditions like coronary heart disease and heart attacks as it did to common conditions like high blood pressure.
After AMEs deferred the application, pilots had to provide supporting documentation to the FAA, and doctors at the AeroMedical Certification Division (AMCD) in Oklahoma City decided whether to issue certificates.
The CACI program removed a layer of bureaucracy for pilots with certain conditions. Less red tape was a win for pilots and AMEs.
FAA AME Guide Dec 2025 version
Dec 28, 2025
Dec 29, 2025