1. Go to an FSDO in person during work hours and get one for free. This is not an option for me, since I have to get a work-week day off and drive a couple of hours to another city and back.
2. An AME (Aviation Medical Examiner) can issue you one. But since we don't need 3rd degree medical for the sport pilot certificate, this would be unnecessary and too expensive ($150 from my local AME, and his earliest available appointment is at least a month away).
3. Get one from a sport pilot DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner). This is convenient, as there are many more DPEs than FSDOs. I even found one in my city, and he'll get me a student certificate for $20. Here's a full list, just in case:
https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificat ... aminer.pdf
Given the choices, I will have to pick the third option.
Now here are my confusions, it would be great if anyone can shed some insight here:
1. Do I need to register on the FAA IACRA website (https://iacra.faa.gov/) before going to the examiner, and take a printout or my login information to him? If so, when I click on "register" in the FAA IACRA page, the first thing it asks me is an "Airman Certificate Number" and its date of issuance. Obviously I don't have this, since this is my first step in my piloting journey. Am I missing something? Where should I get this number?
2. Or maybe I should fill a paper form manually? If so, which of these two forms do I need to fill and take to the DPE? A) 8710-11, or B) 8710-1?
http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/medi ... 710-11.pdf
http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/medi ... 2-2014.pdf
3. Or does the DPE fill the proper paper form himself? Or does IACRA fill the appropriate form and give me a printout to take to the DPE?
As you can see, I'm quite a bit confused here!
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)