Randy Petty Posted November 25, 2022 at 12:25 PM Posted November 25, 2022 at 12:25 PM I'm still looking for my actual private pilot's license, it's around the house somewhere. I tried a couple of lookup sites and one revealed the issue date, last medical certification date etc. but not the license number which I'd like to have so I can enter it on the VATSIM site. Any tips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair Thomson Posted November 25, 2022 at 01:30 PM Posted November 25, 2022 at 01:30 PM Contact the issuing authority with the details you have and they will help. Alistair Thomson === Definition: a gentleman is a flying instructor in a Piper Cherokee who can change tanks without getting his face slapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Petty Posted November 25, 2022 at 03:20 PM Author Posted November 25, 2022 at 03:20 PM Thanks I finally found the certificate and submitted a photo of it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Crowley Posted November 28, 2022 at 12:12 AM Posted November 28, 2022 at 12:12 AM Unsure why you'd want to make this information accessible to strangers online?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Petty Posted November 28, 2022 at 12:35 AM Author Posted November 28, 2022 at 12:35 AM 22 minutes ago, Andrew Crowley said: Unsure why you'd want to make this information accessible to strangers online?? Just to whoever handles the VATSIM pilot licensing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Crowley Posted November 28, 2022 at 03:03 AM Posted November 28, 2022 at 03:03 AM Are they actually collecting license numbers for something? For what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair Thomson Posted November 28, 2022 at 01:20 PM Posted November 28, 2022 at 01:20 PM Real world license holders can get the VATSIM equivalent by submitting license details to the Pilot Training Department. Alistair Thomson === Definition: a gentleman is a flying instructor in a Piper Cherokee who can change tanks without getting his face slapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Petty Posted November 28, 2022 at 01:38 PM Author Posted November 28, 2022 at 01:38 PM 13 hours ago, Andrew Crowley said: Unsure why you'd want to make this information accessible to strangers online?? Just to whoever handles the VATSIM pilot licensing. That's what I did and it was approved fairly quickly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Crowley Posted November 28, 2022 at 06:17 PM Posted November 28, 2022 at 06:17 PM Interesting, didn't know about this. Is there any benefit to doing so? I'm not inclined to share any personal info with vatsim, but just curious what they do with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alistair Thomson Posted November 28, 2022 at 07:20 PM Posted November 28, 2022 at 07:20 PM Nothing, really. The benefit to working within VATSIM for a rating is that folks learn stuff, and some folks like to be able to show that learning. For those with existing real world licenses, the learning has already happened, but some still like to show it. It makes no practical difference in VATSIM, as far as I know, except that some posts prefer applicants to have more advanced credentials. 2 Alistair Thomson === Definition: a gentleman is a flying instructor in a Piper Cherokee who can change tanks without getting his face slapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Board of Governors Simon Kelsey Posted November 29, 2022 at 10:14 AM Board of Governors Posted November 29, 2022 at 10:14 AM 15 hours ago, Andrew Crowley said: Interesting, didn't know about this. Is there any benefit to doing so? I'm not inclined to share any personal info with vatsim, but just curious what they do with this? To be clear about "what we do with it" -- Randy is referring to the Real World Licence Transfer scheme which allows RW pilots to have their VATSIM pilot rating updated in line with their real-world credentials. To do this, clearly, we need to see some form of proof that you hold said licence, so you can upload this (whether an image of your licence, a screen grab of you on the FAA database or equivalent, etc) via MyVATSIM: https://my.vatsim.net/pilots/train/upload All said image is used for is to verify that 1) the licence matches your name and 2) the licence shows the certification level you are applying for. As soon as we click the button to process the upgrade, any submitted files are automatically instantly and permanently deleted. We have a very small team (all of whom, I think apart from me! are licenced pilots themselves) processing this data. As to why would one wish to do this -- some simply wish to have their real-world ratings reflected in the VATSIM system (as obviously your pilot rating, like controller ratings, is shown on the datafeed etc). There are also practical benefits to those wishing to be involved in the pilot training side of things as obviously one is required to hold a rating in order to instruct/examine for it, so this allows real-world qualified pilots to do so without having to be taught to suck eggs themselves in the first place. It also obviously means that if you are interested in obtaining a higher pilot rating on VATSIM yourself, you can go directly to the next course rather than having to complete, say, the PPL rating first if you already hold a RW PPL. Obviously it is all entirely optional -- it is there for those who wish to use it (and feel comfortable doing so) -- and there is a surprisingly high demand for it -- but there is no obligation at all for those who do not wish to! Hope that clarifies things. 1 3 Vice President, Pilot Training Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Crowley Posted November 29, 2022 at 06:16 PM Posted November 29, 2022 at 06:16 PM (edited) Fair enough. Just a heads up: if you hold FAA airman certificates issued prior to 2007 and you've not applied for a new cert number, your certificate number is your social security number. This led to significant identity fraud when certificate numbers were publicly visible. I still occasionally fly with folks who don't realize this, so I'll mention it here: if you hold one of these certificates, you'll want to redact the cert number before sending it to anyone. Edited November 30, 2022 at 02:15 AM by Andrew Crowley 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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