"You should return a deceased airman's certificate to the FAA"??

RussR

RussR

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Russ
I just got a new airman certificate and decided to read the paper it comes with.

At the very bottom of the front side it says "A deceased airman's certificate should be returned to the Airman Certification Branch within 30 days of death."

I assume this is an attempt to track living airmen. But does this actually ever happen? Since the Airman is probably the only one who even has a slight chance of reading this document, how would the surviving spouse/children/etc even know they "should" do this? And of those, how many are actually going to bother to put it in an envelope, address and stamp it?

I'm guessing the compliance rate on this is pretty exactly zero. Seems like pretty wishful thinking to bother including this statement.
 
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If I die, I'll keep it.
 
I wonder how much funding the FAA's enforcement division gets to go after all these people who fail to return their cert.
 
Bob Noel said:
I wonder how much funding the FAA's enforcement division gets to go after all these people who fail to return their cert.
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Unless its regulatory somewhere like for aircraft registrations probably never. One of the reasons they changed registrations to a renewal system was they were not being returned after death of the holder within 60 days.
 
When my dad passed, I dropped an email to the FAA. They returned my message asking me to jump thru hoops.

I decided it was too much for my at-the-moment level of motivation.

To further my lack-of-motivation, he and I share a name, and I don’t want an error to happen, canceling MY certificate. So I’m gonna let it ride. No harm I can see.
 
Not sure how one notifies the FAA after their death.
 
I'm not sure my heirs would appreciate me coming back for this.
 
Somehow I doubt I would notify my estate of this requirement. And how would the FAA know?
 
I assume my kids will keep mine or my wife. I want my dad's.
 
Zeldman said:
I will either be buried with my certificates or have them put on display at the zeldman museum, which I am sure will be built shortly after my demise...
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You'll finally be popular. It'll be a good reason to exit I-40 and explore Gallup.

:rofl:
 
if you have an idea by what age you wont be alive you could post it back now with a do not open until year x written on the front


oh wait
 
mandm said:
Going in my casket
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I'm thinking about those WW2 pilot safety films with "Joe" . . . maybe a scene where a pilot can't use his wings in Heaven because he foolishly notified the FAA of his own demise and is an "uncertificated" angel.
 
Rgbeard said:
I decided it was too much for my at-the-moment level of motivation.

To further my lack-of-motivation, he and I share a name, and I don’t want an error to happen, canceling MY certificate. So I’m gonna let it ride. No harm I can see.
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For the same two reasons, I am not looking for my Dad's certificate to send it in.
 
I sent the FAA airmen certification branch a copy of my father’s death certificate as I never found his pilot certificate (ATP). Twenty-five years after his death, he’s still listed in the FAA registry.
 
AquaLand said:
I sent the FAA airmen certification branch a copy of my father’s death certificate as I never found his pilot certificate (ATP). Twenty-five years after his death, he’s still listed in the FAA registry.
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I'm actually quite surprised, as I'll bet they were too. You're probably the first person to send something in!
 
AquaLand said:
I sent the FAA airmen certification branch a copy of my father’s death certificate as I never found his pilot certificate (ATP). Twenty-five years after his death, he’s still listed in the FAA registry.
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That's because you didn't send them the original certificate. :rolleyes:
 
Sounds like a grave situation to me. I'm sure if the FAA digs around enough they might find mine ...
 
Morbid humor aside, the number of deceased pilots still on the FAA's roster probably significantly inflates the numbers - along with all the no-longer active pilots (e.g. I've a 90+ year old commercial pilot neighbor just down the street from me - he's not flown for many years).
[At least the FCC isn't quite that fussy to cancel the license of a deceased ham operator.]
 
I say it should be buried with the pilot if they so stated that desire.
 
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