It would be interesting to know how long public figures held pilot licenses. What they were rated to fly. (Nothing private like addresses or disciplinary actions)
For example, did either George Bush continue flying after military service?
Kris Kristofferson flew in the military and afterwards. He said in interviews that he had a job flying oil workers back and forth to the platforms in the gulf. He wrote Bobbie McGee during one of those trips.
How long did he fly afterwards?
A lot of politicians are pilots. It’s a convenient way to meet their travel obligations.
Thought it was only current pilots, but I can find both George Bushes on there. However it doesn’t say anything about how long they kept flying, just date of issue and ratings like:
Certificate: COMMERCIAL PILOT Date of Issue: 10/9/1945
Ratings:
COMMERCIAL PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
(for Bush the Elder). Pilot licenses don’t expire, so they are still licensed even if not current. (recent flight review, etc go into the pilot’s logbook the FAA wouldn’t have a record of it)
Pilots have the option to opt out of their address being publicly searchable. Substantially all professional pilots do so. To prevent reporters or vigilantes from finding us (or our family) after we make the news somehow.
I just looked me up using just my first and last name. As expected, my address was hidden. It shows my current medical certificate status, which is expired since I’m retired and no longer actively practicing aviation. And it shows all my licenses and ratings which are forever unless revoked.
It shows nothing about my flying experience since none of that is ever reported to FAA.
[aside]
In searching only for my rather unusual last name there were over 50 hits, which surprised me. I’m amazed there are >50 people with that name who are pilots. My brother is one, but the other 49 (or 1,049) are a mystery to me.
So the search engine wanted more fields filled in to reduce the match count to less than 50. When I added my first name it found 3 people matching my names. One of whom has the same middle name I do, net of a weird spelling variation in his case. What are the odds of that?
Anyhow, the other two folks are private pilots and the search returns their current residential address as well.
Except on paperwork for pilot medical exams, if one chooses to do so. Some do, in order to have an official record of logged hours somewhere other than a hardbound book.
I used to write articles for one of the aviation magazines in which I tracked down well known people who were also pilots and interviewed them. Met some interesting folks that way.
The FAA medical exam application form asks for total lifetime flying time and total flying time in the last 6 months. With no further details or breakdown. Interestingly, medicals can be require
d every 6 months, annually, or every 2 years depending on the medical class, with hobbyists towards the longer intervals and professionals towards the shorter. Which has the effect that for someone getting medicals less often than every 6 months, which is the vast bulk of pilots, the lifetime total cannot be derived or cross-checked from the 6-month interval numbers.
I was never under the impression that supplying the info was voluntary. In my case I always supplied rounded numbers just out of laziness. Nobody ever fussed. I always wondered what would have happened if this application’s lifetime total was less than my last application’s total. But I was never brave enough to run the experiment.
Military aviators are entitled to a commercial certificate in the category and class of aircraft they flew, so airplanes or rotorcraft. Or in Ye Olden Dayes, blimps = LTA’s . Plus multi- or single- engine and land or sea. They have to pass an abbreviated written test on civil regulations, but all the aeronautical knowledge portions of the commercial written test or flight test are waived.
To obtain a license in a different category / class your relevant flying time counts, but the licensing process is the same as a somebody who’s not ex-military obtaining the same license with the same background. e.g. When I got my ATP after I separated from USAF my military time counted for the experience requirements but I needed to take the complete ATP written exam and the standard ATP practical flight test just like a civil-only pilot would have.
Thanks @LSLGuy and others that answered my question.
I looked up a distant relative. He was a geologist that did oil surveys for drilling in Montana. He had a small plane for work.
He only flew in rural areas. We used to ask him to fly to Arkansas for vacations. He never felt confident for long trips and didn’t want to land at busy Airfields. Smart Guy. He knew his limitations.
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT Date of Issue: 6/8/1962
Ratings:
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
Now you mention it, I’m not sure. Might depend on class of medical, or maybe it is mandatory. But I do recall reading that unless one’s hours are tracked for professional purposes, what’s reported on the medical is considered official in the absence of a logbook.
Damn, my dad and I are still on that list! He passed on in 1995 and I haven’t handled the controls of a plane since I sold mine back around 1997 or so.
I found my late uncle on the directory; he was heavily involved in general aviation for most of his life. It’s interesting that his certification date is listed as 2008; he was born in 1927, and started flying sometime in the late '40s (and pretty much flew continually until he was well into his 80s) – I wonder if he had to recertify when he turned 80?
And, yes, he was certified for piloting hot air balloons.
Certificate: COMMERCIAL PILOT Date of Issue: 5/14/2008
Ratings:
COMMERCIAL PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE SEA
INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE
LIGHTER-THAN-AIR BALLOON
I didn’t look up my Dad until reading your surprising comment above. But he’s still in there. Despite having died in 1997.
The FAA has a long memory. Too long IMO. You’d expect they’d purge the deceased folks. I checked and neither Charles Lindbergh nor Charles Yeager appear. So evidently eventually they purge the dead. For large values of “eventually”.
My grandfather is in there, and he died in 1994. Some of the details are a little surprising. He was a C-47 pilot in WWII and an instructor before he finally left for the European theater.
His record says “FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR (VALID PRIOR TO 4-1-59).” which makes sense, but then says “Date of Issue: 5/4/1968” which does not if I am reading things correctly.
My dad’s cousin is in there too and he died in 1984. He apparently should never have gotten his medical at the time, being what my father described as a ‘brittle diabetic.’ Apparently he worked some local influences to make the medical happen and would only wink when asked how. His record says “ISSUED ON BASIS OF MEDICAL FLIGHT TEST.”
Also surprising, I’m in there and apparently never asked for my address to be hidden.
The date of issue is the date of the most recent re-issuance of your certificate after any change. Mine has an issue date in 2024 when I moved and gave the FAA my new address. Despite me being retired by then. My first certificate dates from 1972, but that info is nowhere in the FAA’s search results and may not even be in their database.
Flight instructor ratings are a weird beast. They’re kind of an aftermarket bolt-on accessory to a pilot license. As such they have their own issue dates.
Bob Hoover (Yeager’s backup pilot for the X-1 and the guy who gave me a ride in his P-51 Mustang one time) is still listed too, despite having died 8 years ago. Interesting.
Gotcha, thanks! I’m pretty sure he moved that year, but I also remember he moved twice more in the following years when he still owned his 182. Lots about the his last years as an active pilot that I wish I knew more about, but that ship sailed a good long time ago. But he was not one of those guys that would talk about something he didn’t feel like talking about.
Let’s not forget Limits: If he has this in his Limits section - LIMITED TO HOT AIR BALLOONS WITH AIRBORNE HEATER. then he is a hot air balloon pilot. If that limit was removed, then he is also a gas balloon pilot, which is much rarer & cooler!
I didn’t see that limit listed. As far as I knew, he only flew hot air balloons (and I rode with him in such a balloon once), but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he sought out and got certified for gas balloons, too.
. Plus multi- or single- engine and land or sea. They have to pass an abbreviated written test on civil regulations, but all the aeronautical knowledge portions of the commercial written test or flight test are waived.