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View Full Version : How long to wait - FAA, new rating, filed by pen&paper...


MAW CPH
8th Dec 2011, 16:20
Does anybody know the average waiting time before I can see my new FAA rating on the FAA-homepage when the examiner has is using handwritten papers and not IACRA?

I did one rating on the 30th of October with an examiner who used the online IACRA registration and I received the license by mail in Europe on the 20th of November.

My second rating - which I did on the 2nd of November - and which the examiner filed by old school pen and paper (#$€%"... I'm not gonna use him again) has not shown up yet. And the FAA says they haven't even noted it as received in the house?? When I ask the examiner he says its already mailed...

Does anybody have any suggestions or experiences on what to do, how to speed up things etc etc (I have called the FAA every day for the last two weeks but it docent seem to help).

Gomrath
8th Dec 2011, 19:37
Does anybody have any suggestions or experiences on what to do, how to speed up things etc etc (I have called the FAA every day for the last two weeks but it docent seem to help).

Your option is to pursue it with the DPE - not the FAA at this point in time. If the FAA state they have not received it, there is not much they can do, so you need to get onto the DPE - remind him that you paid him for his services and it is his responsibility to do this chasing up for you and that he needs to resubmit at this point.

MAW CPH
25th Dec 2011, 23:46
Just a little update:

I have just received my new rating - but I have now learned that I will never again use a FAA examiner who does not use IACRA but pen&paper... a pen&paper-rating can be more than two-three months underway in the FAA-system and there is nothing one can do.

Therefore - my advice is to use only FAA-examiners who use IACRA, the electronic online filing-system that the FAA uses.

It took me 3 weeks from exam to receiving my new licenses-card in Europe when I a rating via IACRA!

It took almost 2 months when I did another rating that was filed via pen&paper.

B2N2
27th Dec 2011, 02:45
Couple of things I'm not understanding here;
The examiner hands you a temporary certificate good for 120 days and you can exercise the privileges of the new certificate or rating immediately.
So I'm not sure as to why you are upset about the wait.

I also think the difference in wait time between the two ratings was more the luck of the draw then anything else.
IACRA applications are printed out in Oklahoma and then manually processed.
Your DPE may have saved up a couple of week's worth of check ride paperwork before mailing it in, perfectly normal since your temp is good for 120 days and you get the privilege or exercising your earned license right away so what's the rush for them to mail it in?

VJW
27th Dec 2011, 07:15
B2N2 took the words out of my mouth.

Unlike in Europe the FAA examiners have the ability to sign you a temporary certificate that allows you to operate on the aircraft you've just that minute passed a checkride with. In the UK, while you can have it added to your licence on the same day, this requires a trip to the CAA office to do so. Otherwise posting it off, means at least a 2 week wait before you are able to exercise the new rating etc. As said above, the temporary certificate is valid for 120 days now (use to be 90 I believe until the FAA had trouble keeping up with the licence issues within that time) - so I too am struggling to see the problem here.

The fact you don't have the original licence, and that your details haven't been updated on the FAA website is totally irrelevant. Your temporary certificate is legal, and allows you to fly immediately and it's a great system they have in the US. Not to mention it's FREE. So go fly and stop moaning on here for no reason! :ok:

MAW CPH
27th Dec 2011, 08:16
Guys - you don't get it:)

The temporary license is not accepted by many companies (in/outside the US) or for that matter other countries CAA. It might give you the right to fly privately but in 99% of all cases no commercial operator will 'give' you a job before you have the real deal, the plastic license and it can be verified on the FAA-website. I had a job offer, therefore I couldn't wait 3 months!

I added two ratings in the US but I couldn't get my working permit and start in my new job in country X before the ratings showed up on the FAA-website. Temporary licenses is not good enough as proof, the immigration and CAA of country X need to verify the info on the faa.gov-official page.

As I did the two ratings within one week with two different examiners I can verify that the one via IACRA showed up on the FAA-website after 8 days and the plastic licenses was received in around 17 days later (in Europe). The pen&paper rating would properly not have been processed before mid-january 2012 acc. to the FAA-Oklahoma office. But I called them and explained the situation and they tracked down my rating application. It turned out it was still at the local FSDO. It was mailed express to Oklahoma and then fast tracked:D

I tell this story so that anyone else in a hurry that goes FAA can learn and ask the examiner when booking her/him if they use IACRA. For me IACRA is to prefer over pen&paper. You see your new rating being filed as you have to sign in with your personal password to acknowledge the checkride you just performed and passed - and then the examiner can print out a temporary license from the IACRA-website.

Cheers,

B2N2
27th Dec 2011, 13:26
Well we didn't get because you didn't tell us.:ugh:
Combo of ME and Seaplane, you flying in the Maldives?
On a side note, some FSDO's will no longer accept paper applications and force their DPE's (even the very old and grumpy ones) to use IACRA exclusively.
The one down side to IACRA is that you cannot take the practical exam within 48 hrs of taking the written exam as it takes this long for the results to show up in the database.

MAW CPH
27th Dec 2011, 15:47
B2N2, thx for your reply right from the start, it's appreciated:)

VJW
27th Dec 2011, 22:00
Sorry if you thought my reply was childish, it's funny that's what I thought your thread was initially. :O

I could stop reading, but I've been thanked personally and privately by moderators on this forum for my continuos input into the 'wannabes forums' - I use to work at the UK CAA licensing department, so had/have a good understanding of what goes on there. I have also been to the US a number of times for flight training (and I'm now married to an American so am in the country all the time, hoping to one day get a job there), so when I saw your post I replied as honest as I could to the information you provided initially.

Now I see your problem by your most recent post, and you're right it is a problem. The other problem you have is there isn't much you personally can do to speed up their process. Obviously you've seen that the examiners that update your records electronically seem to be faster, so for sure try to use them in the future.

Your initial post didn't mention you needed the licence for any other reason other then to simply exercise the ratings you obtained. Had you said that you needed them asap for conversion purposes etc then I would have understood. At the end of the day though, you pay nothing for the FAA licensing processes, so really, it's hard to get that pissed off I think, for something you don't pay for. I still believe the FAA system is a very good system, and when I found out it was free, I realised it is probably the best.

I'm sorry you felt my reply was childish, but as you said if you don't like my reply, you too can stop reading! What I do know is to be 'wanted' for a job before the ratings are on your plastic licence is actually a good thing for you. I hope the employer understands that it may take a while before you have it, and gives you the opportunity once you have the plastic licence to work for them.

All the best
:ok: