Expired pilot certificate???

[av8tr1]

A friend of mine hasn't flown in years. Was a commercial pilot with SEL, MEL, CFI MEI. Supposedly it's been about 20 years since she last had a valid medical. I can confirm she had the ratings by looking her up in the airmans data base. Recently I've been helping her get current and prepare for a BFR.

So she went to order new copies of her certificates and the FAA contacted her via email and told her the certificates were no longer valid.

WTH? Anyone know what is going on here? I know a pilot certificate does not expire (excluding the CFI). I can't imagine any reason her commercial certificate would no longer be valid.

 

[gotWXdagain]

If she had the old paper certs they would need to be replaced with plastic, but as for completely invalidating them, that doesn't make sense.

 

[USMCmech]

A friend of mine hasn't flown in years. Was a commercial pilot with SEL, MEL, CFI MEI. Supposedly it's been about 20 years since she last had a valid medical. I can confirm she had the ratings by looking her up in the airmans data base. Recently I've been helping her get current and prepare for a BFR.

So she went to order new copies of her certificates and the FAA contacted her via email and told her the certificates were no longer valid.

WTH? Anyone know what is going on here? I know a pilot certificate does not expire (excluding the CFI). I can't imagine any reason her commercial certificate would no longer be valid.

The paper certificate that you were issued up until about 10 years ago has been replaced by the plastic card with Orville and Wilbur on the front. The actual "certification" doesn't go away, but the physical paperwork can become out of date.

Oh yeah, she will have to prove she is "English Proficient" as well.

 

[skypilot6]

A trip to the FSDO might be in order.

 

[ahw01]

None of these? https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/61.7

 

[av8tr1]

None of these? https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/61.7

No but it shouldn't matter. She held a commercial SEL and MEL. Those are not on the list and should still be valid ratings.

 

[CFI A&P]

The word valid is the issue. Her certificates still exist, but being the paper kind without plastic replacement there are no longer valid. The Feds just take pleasure in saying "no longer valid".

Have her follow this link: https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/airmen_services/

Get a medical, flight review and she will be airworthy again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MidlifeFlyer]

As others said, Probably just a FAR 61.19(g) paper certificate expiration. Being more than 20 years she might also be looking at the need to convert from a social security number based certificate.

No need to figure it's something worse yer. Fill in the online form for a duplicate and see what happens.