Wed, Sep 17, 2014
If You’ve Been Grounded For A Few Years Or A Few Decades And Need To Scratch The Itch To Get Back In The Air, It’s Not Hard To Do
Life sometimes gets in the way. If you’re one of those that have a pilot license but haven’t used it for years, the regulations actually make it pretty easy to get started again. Your pilot license never expires and there are lots of new options out there for using it.
There are 3 main issues to deal with, and the first is making sure that you actually have your pilot certificate. The second consideration deals with medical certification, and the third is what type of checkout or training is needed to become legal.
Your pilot certificate has no expiration date but you must find it or get a new one. If you still have your paper certificate it must be converted to the new plastic certificate. If you can’t find your certificate at all, it just takes a little time on the FAA website to have a new plastic certificate issued. It can also be reissued by mail or by visiting an FAA Flight Standards District Office. It will cost you a whopping two dollars.
You may have heard of something called sport pilot that allows you to fly using a valid state driver’s license as medical certification. If that’s the way you’re going to go, you need to get together with someone that can explain how the sport pilot system works. Otherwise, simply contact an FAA Medical Examiner and take the physical. You don’t need to have your pilot certificate on hand for the physical but you will need your pilot certificate number.
Becoming current is easily done by complying with the FAR 61.56 flight review requirement. In short, the requirement specifies one hour of ground training and one hour of flight training. In case you’re concerned about not “passing” a flight review, it’s not a test and there is no pass or fail. In all probability, you’ll want to spend more than just a few hours in ground and flight training to feel comfortable in today’s regulatory environment and to assure your pilot skills are up to snuff.
There is also the issue of meeting the recent experience requirements in FAR 61.57, but the instructor who performs the flight review will probably make sure you comply with this regulation in the process. If you are returning to exercise sport pilot privileges, you can perform the flight review in any aircraft category for which you are rated on your original pilot certificate because you already hold a pilot certificate of a higher rating than sport pilot.
It’s easy to get back into the game and the aviation community will welcome you with open arms.
(Image from File)
More News
Airbus Racer Demonstrator Makes Inaugural Flight Airbus Helicopters' ambitious Racer demonstrator has achieved its inaugural flight as part of the Clean Sky 2 initiative, a corners>[...]
A little Bit Quieter, Said Testers, But in the End it's Still a DA40 Diamond Aircraft recently completed a little pilot project with Lufthansa Aviation Training, putting a pair of >[...]
Line Up And Wait (LUAW) Used by ATC to inform a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway to line up and wait. It is not authorization for takeoff. It is used when takeoff clearance >[...]
Contributing To The Accident Was The Pilot’s Use Of Methamphetamine... Analysis: The pilot departed on a local flight to perform low-altitude maneuvers in a nearby desert val>[...]
From 2015 (YouTube Version): Overcoming Obstacles To Achieve Their Dreams… At EAA AirVenture 2015, FedEx arrived with one of their Airbus freight-hauling aircraft and placed>[...]
Airbus Racer Helicopter Demonstrator First Flight Part of Clean Sky 2 Initiative
See All