korben88
Line Up and Wait
do I still have to do the online IACRA thingy?
Does your medical actually say it is a student pilot certificate? Something like "third class medical and student pilot certificate"? If it was issued in May I would doubt that it does. If it doesn't say that, I don't think you actually have a student pilot certificate and you would need to go through IACRA.
Do you have a spot on the back of the medical to sign off for solo endorsements?
Note that it says issued prior to April 1. If the only date on yours is October of last year, I think you're good to go as is.(b) Paper student pilot certificate. A student pilot certificate issued under this part prior to April 1, 2016 expires:
(1) For student pilots who have not reached their 40th birthday, 60 calendar months after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(2) For student pilots who have reached their 40th birthday, 24 calendar months after the month of the date of examination shown on the medical certificate.
(3) For student pilots seeking a glider rating, balloon rating, or a sport pilot certificate, 60 calendar months after the month of the date issued, regardless of the person's age.
Well that's a surprise to me for something issued in May of this year.
The regulation that governs the duration of the old paper certificates is 61.19(b):
Note that it says issued prior to April 1. If the only date on yours is October of last year, I think you're good to go as is.
Apparently yours was issued in May? If it actually say May XX 2016 somewhere you may not be technically in compliance. In that case, were I your CFI, I'd likely encourage you to just apply for a plastic one. As I recall from the last one I did, it takes ~15 minutes of your time and maybe 5 minutes of you CFI's time. If there was a reason that isn't a good option (which happened for one of my students) I'd call the FSDO to ask if it was good.
Hope that helps. Good luck.
The only date on it is October of '15 but I didn't actually get it till May.