I was trawling around the FAA website for statistics and came across the Airman certificate database. I was initially perplexed because a search with my name didn’t come up with a listing for me. However when I added my middle name and/or date of birth, my record did show up. Information provided includes my EASA pilot licence number and ratings, the fact this is a 61.75 certificate rather than a standalone one, but my home address is hidden.
I also found a separate non-government website called AviationDB.com
It claims to have all FAA airman information including that for Drone pilots and maintenance engineers. It is certainly large and unlike the FAA site, does provide home addresses. There are quite a few student pilots included (you now need a student pilot licence to be issued by the FAA before you can fly solo), and it does also list 61.75 certificates.
However my record does not appear to be listed there. Is this a useful and/or up to date database? I was wondering if this might help to assess how many FAA licensed pilots are based in Europe, but this wouldn’t be able to track how many use it to fly in the US rather than in Europe, are current and/or have current medicals (or possibly are even still alive).
For example, I can’t quite believe there are 178 FAA CFI’s (Single Engine Land) in the UK or 54 in Spain.
Does anybody know about this database?
I presume the AviationDB.com database is based on the downloadable and publicly-available information at https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/releasable_airmen_download/.
It is quite amazing how much information is made available publicly, I have used it to track down CFI’s near Frankfurt in Germany and also in Singapore and the UK, some of which were surprised when I told them that I found them via the publicly-available database and information.
I have generally found AviationDB.com to be useful and assumed that it would match the information on the FAA website as it shouldn’t be too hard to set up an automated job that downloads the CSV files once a month.
In fact, I just found this page:
http://www.aviationdb.com/Aviation/Database.shtm
which lists out the database sources, and for airmen it does refer to the link I posted in the earlier post.
I can’t quite believe there are 178 FAA CFI’s (Single Engine Land) in the UK or 54 in Spain.
This looks entirely plausible.
Historically, loads of people who went to the US to collect a load of qualifications did a CPL/IR (not just a PPL/IR) because it was accessible, and then a CFI or even a CFII (the CFII was described to me by the DPE at KCHD as much harder than the ATP) in a few more weeks.
However many will be lapsed. A CFI needs a BFR and it can be hard to find a CFI to do that for you. And a CFII will expire if the 6/6 IR rolling currency is lost and then you have to find a CFII to fly with (who is current) which is a lot harder. Also you don’t know their medical status… a lot of the aeromedical scene is daylight robbery (my CFI paid £300 for a Class 3 medical!).
The N-reg scene is a lot smaller, especially in terms of newcomers, than say 10 years ago. I reckon the inability to do the written exams in Europe is a real killer because it means you have to buy the airline tickets and the hotel speculatively. So I am sure many FAA-qualified people in Europe have given up keeping their stuff current.
It is quite amazing how much information is made available publicly
Yes, and there have been comical scenes on some UK aviation chat sites where somebody boasted about having this and that, and got exposed 
When I started my PPL, the main FI claimed to hold an ATPL. This turned out to be false… he actually held only a BCPL, which was awarded to every PPL/FI when JAA came in.
So yes there is the privacy issue, but it does prevent a lot of bullsh1t
Point of order. Initial BCPLs were first awarded around 1987, and long pre-dated JAA
Peter wrote:
However many will be lapsed. A CFI needs a BFR and it can be hard to find a CFI to do that for you. And a CFII will expire if the 6/6 IR rolling currency is lost and then you have to find a CFII to fly with (who is current) which is a lot harder. Also you don’t know their medical status… a lot of the aeromedical scene is daylight robbery (my CFI paid £300 for a Class 3 medical!).
Peter,
A CFI/CFII needs to be renewed every two years. Although they must be rated in the aircraft they are providing instruction and must carry their pilot certificate with them, a Flight Review is only required if the CFI is to act as PIC for the flight. For active instructors to renew their CFI every two years, they just need to have recommended a minimum of 5 pilots for ratings, with an 80% pass rate or better. They bring their records to the local FSDO for re-issue. For less active instructors, the instructor needs to either attend a two day seminar called a Flight Instructor Refresher Clinic (FIRC) or they can do the same via an online course offered by one of the FIRC providers. For someone who lived in Europe, the easiest way to maintain the CFI would be to take the online course. If the pilot allows the CFI to expire, then the pilot must retake the practical exam.
To be an instructor, one does not need a medical or be current to carry passengers. A CFI may provide instruction for a Flight Review as long as they don’t act as PIC for the flight. The CFI does not need to be current to carry passengers if they are not acting as PIC and the only other person on board is acting as PIC and receiving dual instruction, as they are not considered a passenger. If the CFII/CFI is acting as PIC, then they need a current Flight Review and if operating under IFR, they need to be IFR current.
A CFII can perform an IPC, but must have a medical to be the safety pilot. In the US, there is an exception, the CFII may act a safety pilot without a medical under Basic Med as long as they can act as PIC for the flight. I have Basic Med and to give an IPC or be a safety pilot, I must act as PIC for the flight. I am limited to acting as PIC under Basic Med to aircraft I am rated in and that has a maximum gross weight of 6000 pounds and 6 seats. The aircraft may not be operated at an IAS above 250 Knots or above 18000 MSL. I gave a flight review to a pilot in a TBM910, but he acted as PIC for the flight. I did not give him an IPC, because I could not act as PIC and be the safety pilot without a third class medical.
On the FAA search, my address is hidden, but the date of issue correctly reflects when I updated my 61.75 to reflect the new EASA licence number, and also that number is correctly listed.
On the AviationDB website, it has a very old address (3.5yrs)
Interesting… I wonder what the motivation might be behind grabbing the FAA database and putting the data up on another one. Better searching, perhaps?
If there were adverts, the explanation might be “click bait”, but I can’t see any.
Better searching may be the case. AFAIK the FAA db needs the exact full name and doesn’t resolve shortened forenames (e.g. John for Johnathan), whereas this one does, I tried with a friend’s name. Why someone would go through the trouble of setting this up, however, I don’t quite understand either.
