New Student Pilot certificates

[N97MT]

Has anyone read up on the upcoming change to US Student Pilot certificates on April 1?

(1) Paper certificates being done away with. Current ones still valid until they expire. The new plastic certificates will have no expiration date.

(2) AMEs will no longer issue Student Pilot certificates. Neither will FSDOs or DPEs. However, FSDOs, DPEs and (now) CFIs, among others, will be able to accept Student Pilot applications. CFIs will have to learn how to properly identify the applicant from official documents.

(3) Applications are then processed at the FAA Airman Registry and vetted first. A new plastic Student Pilot certificate is then mailed (after vetting) to the student pilot via the Post Office like everyone else. This process can take 3 to 8 weeks.

(4) Student Pilot applicants must be age-eligible before they apply. They must also have their certificate in their possession before they can solo.

With this rule soloing on your 14th birthday, a special rite of passage for our young glider pilots, will no longer be possible. You will have to get in line behind the FAA, TSA, and USPS processes.

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/01/12/2016-00199/student-pilot-application-requirements

[Casey[_2_]]

You are not reading from FAA but Fed Registry. I think its wording is a little different.



On Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 2:05:22 PM UTC-5, N97MT wrote:
> Has anyone read up on the upcoming change to US Student Pilot certificates on April 1?
>
> (1) Paper certificates being done away with. Current ones still valid until they expire. The new plastic certificates will have no expiration date.
>
> (2) AMEs will no longer issue Student Pilot certificates. Neither will FSDOs or DPEs. However, FSDOs, DPEs and (now) CFIs, among others, will be able to accept Student Pilot applications. CFIs will have to learn how to properly identify the applicant from official documents.
>
> (3) Applications are then processed at the FAA Airman Registry and vetted first. A new plastic Student Pilot certificate is then mailed (after vetting) to the student pilot via the Post Office like everyone else. This process can take 3 to 8 weeks.
>
> (4) Student Pilot applicants must be age-eligible before they apply. They must also have their certificate in their possession before they can solo.
>
> With this rule soloing on your 14th birthday, a special rite of passage for our young glider pilots, will no longer be possible. You will have to get in line behind the FAA, TSA, and USPS processes.
>
> https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2016/01/12/2016-00199/student-pilot-application-requirements

[Christopher Giacomo]

Is there a minimum age for a student pilot's license? Obviously there is a minimum solo age, but could a 12 year old not obtain a student license, as they are able to now, prior to their 14th birthday? Shouldn't they already have a student pilot's license when they start training, not when they are ready for solo? Perhaps i just haven't read deep enough into it, but it seems to me that this process is actually becoming easier for our students to get into flying, not harder. At least now i can walk them through the process at the field, and not have to send them to go pay a flight doc or to the FSDO...

[N97MT]

Yes, my experience has been that there IS a minimum age for application. I tried to help register my daughter in the IACRA online registration tool one day before her 14th birthday two years ago and it would no accept her application because she was one day shy of being 14 years old.

I had to register her early on the morning of the Big Day, then drive her to the DPE 30 miles away to get her paper Student Pilot certificate so that she could then solo that afternoon.

You do not need any license to start training. You do need a license to fly solo.

It would appear things are getting harder, not easier, especially for our young people. And according to this Federal Register wording FAA is still considering measures to make things even more difficult for all pilots in the future as photos and other new biometric measures are still on the table as far as they are concerned.

The one hand giveth, and the other hand taketh... and the giveth getteth shorter.

[[email protected]]

On Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 5:02:40 PM UTC-5, N97MT wrote:
> Yes, my experience has been that there IS a minimum age for application. I tried to help register my daughter in the IACRA online registration tool one day before her 14th birthday two years ago and it would no accept her application because she was one day shy of being 14 years old.
>
> I had to register her early on the morning of the Big Day, then drive her to the DPE 30 miles away to get her paper Student Pilot certificate so that she could then solo that afternoon.
>
> You do not need any license to start training. You do need a license to fly solo.
>
> It would appear things are getting harder, not easier, especially for our young people. And according to this Federal Register wording FAA is still considering measures to make things even more difficult for all pilots in the future as photos and other new biometric measures are still on the table as far as they are concerned.
>
> The one hand giveth, and the other hand taketh... and the giveth getteth shorter.

Interesting how the size and financial resources of the lobby matter. Imagine if a person wanting to get a license to own a gun had to go through this..
I have a 13 year old in my club that is literally counting the days till his birthday. He is basically taking us for rides until he gets old enough. Now he will count the days until he can just sit and wait.
Who knows what the wait will be with licensing all the model flyers and small UAV owners.
Sad.
UH

[N97MT]

Update:

AOPA has sent a letter to FAA requesting a change to allow the Student Pilot application request to be accepted up to 30 days before a student's 16th birthday:

http://www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/News/All-News/2016/0324-SPAR-letter.pdf

AOPA says a workaround for 15 year old Airplane pilots would be to apply for the Student Pilot certificate be checking the Glider category on the application form. The Student Pilot certificate is issued without any aircraft category.

Of course, this workaround will not work for Glider Student Pilots ready to solo on their 14th birthday.

[Giaco]

On Friday, March 25, 2016 at 8:40:34 AM UTC-4, N97MT wrote:
> Update:
>
> AOPA has sent a letter to FAA requesting a change to allow the Student Pilot application request to be accepted up to 30 days before a student's 16th birthday:
>
> http://www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/News/All-News/2016/0324-SPAR-letter.pdf
>
> AOPA says a workaround for 15 year old Airplane pilots would be to apply for the Student Pilot certificate be checking the Glider category on the application form. The Student Pilot certificate is issued without any aircraft category.
>
> Of course, this workaround will not work for Glider Student Pilots ready to solo on their 14th birthday.

This was discussed in the FAAST Glider Instructor Forum this past Tuesday, and the FAA is aware of the impact to the glider community, and is looking at a way to mitigate this, as they realized that it is impacting the most dedicated aviation community members (FBO and Airport owner families and kids that grew up waiting for their 14th birthday to solo). It should be a non-issue for powered students, but is impacting glider and balloon solos.

[N97MT]

We had an FAA Inspector present at our glider group safety seminar this weekend and he also mentioned the FAA is well aware of the problem and working through it.

We also had a new 14 year old glider pilot at the meeting and he was kind enough to process her Student Pilot application on the spot, print it, and hand it to her right there. Excellent service on that one.

[Bill T]

Got her in under the wire. After 1 April, even he would have to send the paper 8710-1 off to OKC.
BillT

[N97MT]

On Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 1:05:22 PM UTC-6, N97MT wrote:
>
> (4) Student Pilot applicants must be age-eligible before they apply. They must also have their certificate in their possession before they can solo.
>
> With this rule soloing on your 14th birthday, a special rite of passage for our young glider pilots, will no longer be possible. You will have to get in line behind the FAA, TSA, and USPS processes.
>

So, closing the loop here. FAA responded to AOPA and changed the process. A paper application can now be sent in up to 90 days before your 14th birthday and after approval a temporary authorization can be printed out to solo gliders on your 14th birthday. Eventually IACRA will be fixed to allow the application to happen online.

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016/july/26/faa-restores-birthday-solos

AC 61-65F describes the paper application process in "18. APPLICATION PROCESS UTILIZING TRADITIONAL FAA FORM 8710-1". The application is sent by the authorized individual (ie the CFI-G) to the local FSDO, which in turn processes it and then mails by USPS to the FAA Airmen Certification Branch in Oklahoma City.

This should be initiated at least 30 days before date of solo to allow time for all the mailing and application processing.