Ouch! $50 for a pilot certificate?

[Ken Ibold]

The FAA has published its new rule proposal to require pix on your pilot certificate. Expect to pay $22 to get your smiling face plastered to the plastic, and the FAA expects that price to go up to $50 soon. As an added plus, you will get to pay each time you add a rating etc., and if you don't add a rating you can STILL pay every 8 years when your photo "expires."

See the NPRM here: http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/

Edit: Plus, since someone has to verify your picture is actually of YOU, a third party will be involved who, the FAA "anticipates" will charge an additional fee.

 

[Jim Logajan]

May I suggest that we start thinking of reasons people can use in their comments to the NPRM on why this proposal is baloney? Here are a couple possibilities:

We're already required to carry government photo ID. It is trivial to cross-check the name and other info on the photo ID with the name and info on the pilot certificate, so the requirement is a redundant expense.

Photo IDs provide no extra security for aviation. Proponents of the regulations should be required to state some specific scenarios (in detail) in which the photo IDs would improve security over existing aviation precautions.

The "abundance of caution" is never valid per se because it is so easily abused.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Remember, it is a privilege to fly, not a right.

"A citizen of the United States has a public right of transit through the navigable airspace."

Federal code:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/49/usc_sec_49_00040103----000-.html