New Pilot Records Database requirements go into effect December 7

Records that had been required under the Pilot Records Improvement Act of 1996 and were submitted and reviewed using FAA Form 8060-10 must now be provided through the Pilot Records Database. The agency will no longer accept FAA Form 8060-10 starting December 7.

Pilots who have a commercial, airline transport, or remote pilot certificate and a valid medical certificate, and are in the hiring process or are being considered for hiring can access their applicable records—name and current address; airman certificate information; medical certificate information; any enforcement, incident, or accident history; previous aviation employers (if the pilot entered the information in the Pilot Records Database already); and date of last NDR request, again if the pilot previously entered this information in the database—through the Pilot Records Database as well as grant access to others to view the records. Thanks to AOPA’s advocacy, pilots who discover inaccurate information in their records will be able to provide corrections. Pilots who have trouble using the database can submit their information via FAA Form 8060-14 to the FAA via email.

Air carriers and operators specified in FAR Part 111, as well as third-party proxies, will need to review pilots’ records via the database starting December 7 because FAA Form 8060-10 will not be available for them to review.

The Pilot Records Database came as a result of the February 2009 Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash in Buffalo, New York, in which the captain had failed three checkrides before being hired by the airline. The FAA’s final rule for the electronic database took effect in August, but the transition to the system will occur over multiple years.