Website registrations?

av8tr1

"Never tell me the odds!"
I am building a website for CFI's to share info (not going to mention the name here to avoid violations of the terms of service).

I am trying to limit the registration to just CFI or CFI candidates. Basically anyone with a commercial or better. So I am asking members to provide their real name and state of residence. I get that someone can easily use someone else's identity to circumvent this. But it was the best idea I could come up with.

Is it even worthwhile to limit registrations? I want to avoid the usual student questions, and let the site be like a teachers lounge.

So how would you feel about giving your real name and state of residence to an aviation website for registration. There would of course be a limitation to only use that info to verify users, no spamming.

I am open of course to other suggestions.


Derg, I sent you a PM last week requesting permission for this and didn't hear back. If no bueno, I humbly submit to a public flogging and throw myself at your feet begging for mercy.
 
If you really want to verify people's identity then setup a system where they have to register by email, and send you a picture of their certificate to get a screenname. That seems like the easiest way to do it.
 
How are your tech chops vs. how much time do you have?

With OCR it should be possible to create an automated system on the backend where the registrant submits you a photo of their license and you use some OCR system to scan the certificate number from the image and verify it against the FAA database. I'd say if someone can produce the license that should be enough. Most non-aviation people wouldn't have a clue what a pilot's license looks like.

On the other hand how many users are you expecting to attract? I don't mean to put down your idea in any way shape or form but I don't imagine there are more than a few thousand active CFIs in this country so it might be easiest to just have them send a photo and every other day you process the registrations. It will consume time but it may be way less hassle and time than figuring out the above technical solution.

Good luck with your site! It sounds like a pretty interesting idea and somewhat similar to one a friend and I discussed a couple years ago.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. "Tech Chops" are very good. Used to be a developer.

My first response would be that the idea of having them submit a copy of their certificates seems to be more work for the participant and would entail me having to add functionality to the signup process to support submitting scans or pictures. And its still just as easy to get a copy of someone elses and use it to register. Plus the amount of work for the benefit doesn't seem to make sense. Its just as easy for me to do a search of the airmans database. I can download it every month and a simple script will pull up the persons certificates. I would probably automate it as part of the sign up process.

But I think I am still at square one. Is it even a worthwhile endeavor to limit access to post. Anyone will be able to read the forums, but I want to limit the ability to post and download files, etc. I plan to offer things like free lesson plans, few training ads, etc. But I don't think those are things I would want students having access to. I'd also like an area where instructors can share stories about their students and I definitely don't want that to be public to non-pilots. I can imagine some of the laughs some of my instructors had about my attempts early on. But its a useful tool for CFIs to share stories so other can learn from the experience and the added bonus of stress relief for the CFIs.

@bronco21016, You'd be surprised the number of active CFIs in the country. As of 2013 the FAA was reporting a total of 98,842 active flight instructor certificates. (source = http://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/civil_airmen_statistics/2013/ )

If you and your buddy are still interested I could use help with it. PM me and we can continue the conversation.
 
Why not just make folks' full names be part of the registration process, and cross check their names with the Airman database?
 
It already is. But there are lots of John Smiths' out there with pilot certs in many states. Trying to narrow that down based on just their name is an issue. Common names are going to be an issue.

The question is how much of an issue do I want to make this?
 
I agree that submitting ones cert is over the top. That's just about as far as you could go in verifying identity though.

I think simply having them submit their number and cross referencing the database should be more than adequate. If anyone starts misbehaving simply have moderators investigate if they even are CFIs. Maybe some moderators here can weigh in on how often you will actually encounter trolls.

The idea we had awhile back was more of a ratemyprofessor type of site. The idea was CFIs could write up gouges and have access to gouges written by CFIs. The gouges would be on FAA DPEs. Maybe that can be an aspect of what you're working on.
 
Oh great idea! I'll add it to the list.

If you have any other ideas please send them my way!
 
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