Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

6 Answers

Duration of pilot certificates

Asked by: 2317 views FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

Many paper pilot certificates have already expired, or will expire no later than April 30, 2021. 14 CFR 61.19(g) throws in a date of March 31, 2010. What's the 2010 date all about???

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

6 Answers



  1. KDS on Nov 02, 2019

    That is the date when PILOTS had to have plastic certificates to exercise the privileges of their certificate. There are many other types of FAA issued airman certificate and they had other run out dates.

    It was all part of the never-ending effort by Congress to solve problems that do not exist instead of ones that do. If we live long enough, we will see the day when our pilot certificates have our picture on it and the current one is no longer valid.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Kris Kortokrax on Nov 02, 2019

    From where did you get the April 20, 2021 date?

    61.19(g) does not mention expiration. It only says that you may not exercise the privileges of the paper certificate. You need to get a plastic replacement.

    The only paper certificates that expire are temporary certificates which expire 120 days after issue and paper student pilot certificates that expire when the medical certificate issued concurrently expires.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Gary S. on Nov 03, 2019

    KDS: I didn’t know the plastic ones replaced the old permanent paper ones on March 31, 2010. Thanks for clearing that up.

    Please bear with me. I’m trying to catch up

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. Mark Kolber on Nov 03, 2019

    Kris,

    I don’t know where he saw that specific date written out, but the April 30, 2021 date looks like a (mis?) calculation based on 61.19(b):

    (b) Paper student pilot certificate. A student pilot certificate issued under this part prior to April 1, 2016 expires:
    (1) For student pilots who have not reached their 40th birthday, 60 calendar months after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.

    A 39 year old student pilot who got his combined certificate/medical in would have a paper expiration date of March 31, 2021 (I guess that’s “no later than” April 30 f the same year ;))

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  5. Mark Kolber on Nov 03, 2019

    Yes, it’s a miscalculation. FSIMS 5-344 talks about all paper student certificates expiring by April 1, 2021, which makes sense.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  6. KDS on Nov 03, 2019

    Under the heading of trivia, there were plastic pilot certificates that expired. The FAA ran a test program for a while that put pictures on pilot certificates. FAA personnel who passed through Oklahoma City were allowed to get one if they desired. I had a friend who took up the offer and got a pilot certificate with his picture on it. Unknown to him until he received it in the mail, it also had an expiration date on it.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.