Back in the days of yore*, a Student Pilot’s medical also served as the Student Pilot Certificate. It’s been long enough that all those have expired. A Student Pilot Certificate is now a permanent, plastic, credit card-sized document with no expiration date. (Pilots who require a medical will do that separately.)

You and your instructor will both use the FAA’s Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application (IACRA) website. There you will:

• Create an account (be sure to safely note your FTN, you will need this later)
• Initiate a request for a Student Pilot Certificate
• Coordinate with your instructor to validate his/her portion (Will need your ID & FTN)
• Go back in and sign

TSA will review and give the FAA the go ahead to issue the Certificate. At that point you can print a Temporary Certificate from the website while patiently waiting for the permanent one to arrive in the mail.

The website is not super intuitive. Here’s a good set of instructions, but you can ignore the university-specific guidance if flying with me!

You and your instructor will visit IACRA again just before your checkride to initiate an application for your first “license to learn” as a Sport Pilot or Private Pilot.

*Long ago Pilot Certificates were printed on cardboard and used your Social Security Number as your pilot number. Yikes!

I instruct Light Sport, ASEL, AMEL, and IFR at Spirit Aviation in Thomson, GA (KHQU) and gliders with the Mid-Georgia Soaring Association in Monroe, GA (D73).