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FAA Issues New Student Pilot Rules

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Under a new rule released today by the FAA, student pilots will no longer get their student pilot certificate from an aviation medical examiner. (www.avweb.com) More...

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haroldrutila
haroldrutila 6
In all fairness to the FAA, this is a Congressional mandate that they are obligated to follow.

A KEY POINT everyone here is missing is that the TSA is now involved in the student pilot issuance process. They will vet every student pilot before permitting the FAA to issue a student pilot certificate.

This will lead to the resurrection of classroom style ground schools, and/or a restructuring of syllabuses so that they will have solo flights at the end of the flight training process. These two options result in productive time spent while waiting on the certificate.

I'm not saying I agree with the change per se. I'm merely explaining the change.
jimmax23
Jim Maxwell 1
This is Public Law 112-95 Sec 321...

REQUIREMENTS.—Improved pilot licenses issued under this
section shall—
(1) be resistant to tampering, alteration, and counterfeiting;
(2) include a photograph of the individual to whom the
license is issued for identification purposes; and
(3) be smart cards that—
(A) accommodate iris and fingerprint biometric identifiers;
and
(B) are compliant with Federal Information Processing
Standards-201 (FIPS–201) or Personal Identity
Verification-Interoperability Standards (PIV–I) for processing
through security checkpoints into airport sterile
areas.
haroldrutila
haroldrutila 1
That is the original law that has now been superseded by a newer law, which eliminates the photograph requirement. This is explained in detail in the NPRM.
Ruger9X19
Ruger9X19 6
Shouldn't the headline read "The day the FAA destroyed the future of private aviation."
Really. Who is going to wait a month or two to get your certificate back before you can go flying? I have several friends who completed their entire flight training in less time than that.
jimmax23
Jim Maxwell 1
Only required to fly solo. You can train all you want without a SP/Medical. And it's required by Congress.
LoralThomas
Loral Thomas 2
I thought the FAA couldn't come up with anything dumber than their recent changes over the past couple of years. I was wrong!!!

You are right, Ruger, the FAA is going out of their way to destroy general aviation.
flyingj481
flyingj481 1
Yeah, pretty ridiculus that there will be new pilots waiting to solo because they don't have their plastic card... Seems a bit heavy handed when you don't even need to have the plastic certificate to exercise any other pilot rating after passing a check ride, the paper version is just as good (until you plastic one arrives)...

rtjorgenson
If you go up on a discovery flight with an instructor, like it, and want to continue learning to fly then you put your request in for a student certificate. The FAA will be expediting certificate requests to turn them around in 3 weeks or less. Most students take 3 weeks or more before they solo.
flyingj481
flyingj481 2
Some do and some don't. After 11 years of teaching flying I have had students who were ready in a week and others who were ready after 2 years. The issue won't affect every student pilot, but it will affect many. And honestly, how many people will go and apply right after the discovery flight/first lesson? And then how long before expiditing becomes more of a "we're working on it". I know it can depend on the FSDO you are working with, but I suspect that the 3 week turn around could get longer.
rtjorgenson
Ryan Jorgenson -1
In every license I ever got there was some kind of delay whether it was the flight school processing records, my instructor, weather, insufficient money, 9/11/2001 (yes, I couldn't take my multi-engine checkride because the NAS was shut down), maintenance, family obligations, etc. Patience and waiting are a reality to get through any pilot training.
flyingj481
flyingj481 4
So, cleary there are enough hurdles for all of us to get through to become a pilot, why add one more that has no real value or benefit to the overal process? My point is that the FAA shouldn't be delaying motivated pilots because they need to send a card. All of your examples of delays are things that you could either work around by changing who you were flying with or where you were flying. WX is something that we cannot change or avoid. 9/11, is something that delayed flying temporarily for all, but we have moved on and it is not really something that applies here. The FAA imposing rules that do nothing but cause a delay in an already challenging and expensive process is ridiculus. All it does is create one more easy reason for someone to decide not to move forward with flight training. And that means less pilots over all. You are working so hard to say it isn't a bad thing, but you have yet to bring up one benefit of this newly imposed process.
ray4445
Keep up the A.. Kissing and you will be a great FAA Employee!
THRUSTT
THRUSTT 0
You're missing his point, everything in life has a delay or hurdle. It won't change, accept it or stress over it...
LoralThomas
Loral Thomas 0
Ryan, I have some desert land I would like to sell you in south Florida! The FAA can't even open their mail in 3 weeks let alone process any paperwork. Unless they get more people in OKC (where these licenses will be issued and not your local FSDO) not only will 3 weeks be a pipe dream but every other function OKC does will suffer because of the increased work load. Think Congress will appropriate more funds??? I don't think so. This is going to get real messy real soon. I've been waiting for a response from OKC on a matter for 8 weeks now. Just an example!
bentwing60
bentwing60 0
If you recognize the aroma coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Av. you know it is not a good time to be dealing with Anybody in the federal govt.. In 5&1/2 months I have been unable to secure Social insecurity benefits. 1 efile, 4 mail correspondences, 10 phone calls and not a dime. I'm selling every stock I own tomorrow and have to say I feel sad and stupid about it. Sad because I hate to see where we are going, AGAIN, stupid because I didn't already do it! And no, I don't see a benefit for anyone in this, including the FAA. Just Sayin.
Bernie20910
Bernie20910 1
Gotta love how some folks seem to think that every single little thing the Federal government does is personally overseen and directed by the current occupant of the White House. Everything.

Tax return taking too long to process? Obama did it.
Application for SS delayed? Obama did it. Personally. Because (reasons).
Student pilot certificates taking longer? Yeah, Obama ordered it.

And it's been this way for decades. Before Obama it all was Bush's fault. And Clinton's, etc., etc.

It's like whoever is president suddenly gets all the powers of God and Santa Claus. Combined. They KNOW what you personally are doing, and will personally intervene and manipulate things to thwart YOU. Yes, YOU, personally!

Uh-huh... yeah, sure.

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