IACRA is the FAA's online application system, and applying for a student pilot certificate through it takes about twenty minutes of your time plus a short session with your flight instructor. You create an account, you get an FAA Tracking Number, you complete an electronic FAA Form 8710-1, and then a certificated flight instructor, a designated pilot examiner, an airman certification representative at a Part 141 school, or a Flight Standards District Office reviews your identification and signs the application. The FAA's own guidance says a temporary certificate appears in IACRA roughly seven days after TSA vetting completes, and the plastic certificate arrives by mail in about three weeks.
This page is the step-by-step version, written by instructors who sign these applications every week. It is part of our student pilot resources, which cover the whole path from first lesson to checkride.
One honest caveat before you start. IACRA is a live government system and the FAA changes its screens, wording and menu labels without notice. We describe the process at the level that stays true — what information is asked for, in what order, and who does what — rather than quoting button names that may have moved since this page was written. Where a screen detail is likely to have changed, we say so. If what you see does not match, trust IACRA, not us, and call your instructor.
Who Is Eligible For A Student Pilot Certificate
The requirements are set out in 14 CFR 61.83 and they are short. You must be at least 16 years of age for anything other than a glider or balloon, and at least 14 for a glider or balloon. You must be able to read, speak, write and understand the English language, with an allowance for the Administrator to place operating limitations on a certificate where a medical condition affects that ability.
That is the entire eligibility rule. There is no test, no minimum flight time, no citizenship requirement, and — importantly — no medical certificate requirement inside 61.83. A medical certificate is a separate document that you need before you fly solo, not before you apply for a student pilot certificate. People conflate these two constantly, and it costs them time.
You may start the IACRA application before you turn 14 in some circumstances; the FAA's guidance notes that a student pilot application can be begun at 13 but cannot be completed until you are within 90 days of your 14th birthday. For airplane students the age that matters is 16, because that is the earliest you can solo an airplane.
What You Need In Front Of You Before You Start
- A government-issued photo identification document showing your date of birth and signature.
- Your permanent residential address. A post office box is not a residential address, and using one is one of the most common reasons an application is returned.
- An email address you will keep. Certificate correspondence goes there.
- Your height, weight, hair and eye colour. Yes, really — the 8710-1 asks.
- If you are not a US citizen, your immigration and TSA training-provider paperwork. Read our page on flight training for international students first, because the TSA Alien Flight Student Program sits alongside this process and has its own timeline.
Step One: Create Your IACRA Account And Get Your FTN
Go to the FAA's IACRA site and register as a new user. Registration asks for your name exactly as it appears on your identification, your date of birth, your address, and security questions. Use your legal name. If your logbook, your identification and your IACRA profile disagree about whether you are Michael or Mike, the FAA will notice at your checkride, not before.
When registration completes, the system issues you an FAA Tracking Number (FTN). This is the single most useful thing on the whole page, so it is worth being clear about what it is.
The Difference Between Your Applicant Account And Your FTN
Your account is a username and password for logging in to IACRA. It is a website credential and nothing more; you can reset it, and it means nothing to anyone but IACRA.
Your FTN is a permanent identifier the FAA assigns to you as an airman. It follows you for your entire flying career, across every certificate, rating and endorsement you ever earn. It is how your instructor finds you in IACRA to sign an application. It is how PSI links your knowledge test result to your record. It is what you write on forms for the rest of your life. Write it down somewhere that is not your IACRA account.
Practical consequence: create your IACRA profile early, even if you are not applying for anything yet, because you need an FTN before you sit an FAA knowledge test. The FAA's testing guidance states that applicants who do not already have an FTN should establish one by creating an IACRA profile before taking a knowledge test.
Applicant, Recommending Instructor And The Other Roles
IACRA has separate roles. You register as an Applicant. Your instructor holds a Recommending Instructor role, which is what lets them attach to your application and sign it. Designated pilot examiners, airman certification representatives and FAA inspectors hold their own roles. If you accidentally register in the wrong role you will find yourself unable to start an application; the fix is a support call to the FAA, not a second account. Never create a second account — duplicate FTNs are genuinely painful to unwind.
Step Two: Start The Application — Choosing The Right Certificate
Inside IACRA you start a new application and are asked a short series of choices that determine which version of the 8710-1 you get. For a student pilot certificate the answers are:
| Question | Answer For A Student Pilot |
|---|---|
| Application type | Pilot |
| Certificate sought | Student Pilot |
| Certification basis / how you qualify | 14 CFR Part 61 (or Part 141 if you are enrolled in an approved course) |
| Aircraft category | Airplane |
| Aircraft class | Single-Engine Land (for almost every student) |
Note the distinction the FAA draws between category and class. Category is the broad grouping — airplane, rotorcraft, glider, lighter-than-air, powered-lift, powered parachute, weight-shift-control. Class is the subdivision within it — single-engine land, single-engine sea, multi-engine land, multi-engine sea. If you are learning in a Piper Warrior, a Diamond DA20 or a Cessna at Van Nuys, you want airplane, single-engine land. Choosing a category or class that does not match the aircraft you train in is a common error, and it produces a certificate that does not cover your solo flights.
One nuance worth knowing: a student pilot certificate is issued without category and class limitations in the usual sense; the limits on what you may solo come from your instructor's logbook endorsements, which are aircraft-make-and-model specific under 14 CFR 61.87. The category and class you enter still matter for the FAA's records, so get them right.
Step Three: Filling In The 8710-1
The electronic 8710-1 is presented as a sequence of sections. For a student pilot application most of them are short or empty.
- Personal information. Prepopulated from your registration. Check it character by character. Your name here must match your identification.
- Certificate held. For most applicants, none. You answer the English language question and a question about drug or alcohol convictions here.
- Basis of issuance. For a student pilot certificate there is nothing to enter.
- Pilot time. Also nothing. A student pilot certificate requires no logged flight time, so leave this alone. Students who try to enter their discovery flight hours here create an error.
- Review and submit. You read the Privacy Act statement, review the completed application, and submit it. Submitting does not issue anything — it makes the application available for your instructor to sign.
Once you submit, note the application ID that IACRA gives you, and keep your FTN handy. Your instructor needs one or both to find you.
Common Errors That Get Applications Kicked Back
These are the ones we actually see, roughly in order of frequency.
- A name mismatch. The name on the application must match the name on the identification your instructor inspects. Middle names, hyphens, accents and suffixes all count. Recent legal name changes need documentation.
- A PO box as the residential address. The FAA requires a physical residential address. You may give a separate mailing address, and the plastic certificate goes to the mailing address you provide — but the residential field must be a real address.
- An address you are about to leave. The certificate is mailed. Students who apply two weeks before moving house often never receive theirs.
- Wrong category or class. Covered above.
- Submitting before meeting your instructor. Not fatal, but the instructor cannot sign until they have physically inspected your identification and verified your identity. This has to happen in person.
- A second IACRA account. Creating a duplicate profile because you forgot a password generates a second FTN and a records problem that takes the FAA weeks to resolve. Use the password reset.
- Answering the drug and alcohol conviction question carelessly. Read it, answer it accurately, and tell your instructor in advance if the answer is yes. A conviction is not automatically disqualifying; concealing one is a much bigger problem.
- An unmonitored email address. If the FAA or the TSA needs something from you, that is where it goes.
Step Four: What Your Instructor Or The FSDO Does Next
This is the part you cannot do yourself. A person authorised by the FAA must verify your identity in person and sign the application. That person can be:
- a certificated flight instructor — the usual route, and how it happens at our school;
- a designated pilot examiner (DPE);
- an airman certification representative (ACR) associated with a Part 141 pilot school;
- an FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) inspector.
They log in to IACRA in their own role, look you up by FTN, review your submitted application, and complete a certifying checklist: that they inspected acceptable photo identification, that you meet the age requirement, and that you can read, speak, write and understand English. Then they sign it electronically. Bring your identification to that meeting. It takes about ten minutes.
At our school this happens during a normal lesson. You do not need a separate appointment, and there is no fee for it.
Step Five: TSA Vetting, The Temporary Certificate, And The Plastic One
Once the application is signed, it goes to the FAA's Airmen Certification Branch and, in parallel, through Transportation Security Administration vetting. According to the FAA's IACRA guidance, a temporary certificate becomes available in IACRA about seven days after you meet the age requirement and have been successfully vetted by the TSA. The FAA's student pilot certificate guidance says the process takes approximately three weeks, and that using IACRA rather than paper minimises that time.
| Temporary Certificate | Permanent (Plastic) Certificate | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it comes from | Downloaded from your IACRA account | Mailed by the FAA |
| Typical timing | About 7 days after TSA vetting completes | About 3 weeks from application |
| Is it valid? | Yes — it is a real certificate | Yes |
| Can you solo on it? | Yes, with the required instructor endorsements and a medical | Yes |
Print the temporary certificate and put it in your flight bag the day it appears. You are required to have your student pilot certificate in your personal possession or readily accessible in the aircraft when exercising its privileges, and "it is in the post" is not a defence at a ramp check.
If the plastic certificate has not arrived after about six weeks, contact the FAA's Airmen Certification Branch rather than reapplying. A replacement can be requested through the FAA's airmen services once your record exists.
The Certificate Does Not Expire — The Medical Does
Student pilot certificates issued since April 2016 have no expiry date. The FAA states plainly that the certificate does not expire and is surrendered and superseded when you complete a higher certification. Certificates issued before April 2016 did expire, at 24 or 60 months, which is why older advice online says otherwise.
Your medical certificate is a different story. Under 14 CFR 61.23(d), a third-class medical certificate used for student, recreational or private pilot privileges is valid through the 60th month after the month of the examination if you were under 40 at the time, and through the 24th month if you were 40 or over. That is the clock that runs out mid-training and grounds people. Diary it.
What The Student Pilot Certificate Lets You Do
On its own, not much — and that is the point. It is a permission to be trained toward solo flight, not a licence to fly passengers. To actually solo you also need, under 14 CFR 61.87, ground training and a pre-solo knowledge test administered by your instructor, flight training in the specific make and model, and a logbook endorsement from that instructor for that make and model, renewed every 90 days. You need a medical certificate. And under 14 CFR 61.89 you may not carry passengers or property for compensation, fly in furtherance of a business, or fly with a passenger at all.
Related Reading
- Student pilot resources — the whole path from first lesson to checkride, in order.
- The private pilot written exam — you need your FTN before you can sit it.
- The FAA medical certificate — the document that actually gates your first solo.
- Sport pilot license — the route that does not require an FAA medical.
- Flight training for international students — the TSA process that runs alongside IACRA.
- Learn to fly in Los Angeles — where this fits in the local training path.
IACRA And Student Pilot Certificate FAQ
How Long Does A Student Pilot Certificate Take To Arrive?
The FAA says approximately three weeks, and that applying through IACRA rather than on paper minimises the time. A temporary certificate is usually available in your IACRA account about seven days after TSA vetting completes.
What Is An FAA Tracking Number?
The FTN is a permanent identifier the FAA assigns when you create an IACRA profile. It follows you across every certificate and rating for your whole career, your instructor uses it to find your application, and you need it before sitting a knowledge test.
Do I Need A Medical Certificate To Apply In IACRA?
No. 14 CFR 61.83 does not require a medical certificate to hold a student pilot certificate. You need at least a third-class medical before you fly solo, so apply for both early and in parallel.
Can I Complete The IACRA Application Without An Instructor?
You can complete and submit your half, but it cannot be issued until a CFI, DPE, ACR or FSDO inspector inspects your photo identification in person and signs the application in IACRA. That meeting takes about ten minutes.
Does A Student Pilot Certificate Expire?
No. Certificates issued since April 2016 do not expire and are surrendered when you earn a higher certificate. Certificates issued before that date expired at 24 or 60 months, which is why older guidance disagrees.
What Category And Class Should I Choose?
Airplane, single-engine land, for almost every student training in a typical trainer. Category is the broad grouping and class is the subdivision. Choosing wrongly is one of the most common causes of a returned application.
Why Was My IACRA Application Rejected?
Most often a name that does not match your identification, a PO box entered as a residential address, the wrong aircraft category or class, or a duplicate account that created a second FTN. Fix the field and resubmit rather than starting a new application.
Can I Solo As Soon As My Certificate Arrives?
Only if you also hold a medical certificate and your instructor has given you the endorsements required by 14 CFR 61.87 for the specific make and model, which must be renewed every 90 days.
We Will Do This With You On Your Second Or Third Lesson
Every student we train goes through IACRA with an instructor sitting next to them, because it is faster than doing it alone and wrong. If you have not started training yet, the sensible first step is one hour in the airplane: a discovery flight is $229 for 60 minutes over Los Angeles, flown from the left seat and logged as dual instruction. To talk through the paperwork, the medical and the timeline before you book, book a free consultation or call (818) 330-1318, any day from 9 AM to 9 PM. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406, at Van Nuys Airport.