Can I carry a "copy" of my medical cert?

jbrinker

jbrinker

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Jbrinker
I just finally got my medical after many months of work. (30+ hours, student pilot)

Question is - can I store the original in my lock box, and carry a copy? It's just a printed paper, so I figured this would be OK.

I also wondered if I could maybe laminate it/make it a bit better so I can carry it in my wallet?

I assume if you ever need to produce it, they can look it all up by the numbers anyway - as long as I have it on me?
 
You're supposed to carry the original.

You are free to laminate it, just make sure that you do so such that all the information (including the boiler plate on the back stays visisble).
 
Just fold it up and keep it in your wallet, I wouldn't do the copy thing, it's really not 100% kosher, and it's 100% not needed.

I've have mine folded up behind my airmens cert for years, never had a problem, and that's hiking, snow, desert, etc etc
 
Legally, it does have to be the original.

Make a copy of the original and keep that in a safe place. If you ever lose it you can simply request a new one.
 
I'm not sure, but are you concerned about losing it? I just went through losing mine and its pretty painless replacement process. You can get an instant faxed 60 day temp medical by calling them while you wait for an official replacement(you send them $2 and wait a couple weeks).
 
If issued by an FAA flight surgeon it can be a copy. If issued by an AME it must have an original signature.
 
It has to be the original but if the doctor signs it in black, you run a copy of it on a high quality copy machine, laminate both, then you absolutely can't tell the difference between the two.

Which one I have in my flight bag I really can't say. Why?

Because I absolutely can't tell the difference between the two.
 
Whether OKC or RFS they email mine to me and I print it. The FAA is who told me about the original signature requirement for AME certificates. SI guys are used to getting copies.
 
Ahh, OK - this makes sense. I had to go through OKC, so mine is a printed copy (with a really horrible looking "Scanned" signature). So, I can probably copy that if I want (you could never tell). I will store a copy and carry the original.

Yes, Im concerned that the quality is "just a piece of paper" and I don't want to have it get ruined after all I've been through...
 
jbrinker said:
Ahh, OK - this makes sense. I had to go through OKC, so mine is a printed copy (with a really horrible looking "Scanned" signature). So, I can probably copy that if I want (you could never tell). I will store a copy and carry the original.

Yes, Im concerned that the quality is "just a piece of paper" and I don't want to have it get ruined after all I've been through...
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Next time ask them to email a scanned image. No worries about losing or damaging it. Just print another one.

Hopefully you never need another med cert!
 
timwinters said:
It has to be the original but if the doctor signs it in black, you run a copy of it on a high quality copy machine, laminate both, then you absolutely can't tell the difference between the two.

Which one I have in my flight bag I really can't say. Why?

Because I absolutely can't tell the difference between the two.
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yup
 
Do people loose their wallets enough for this to actually be a problem?

Even if you do loose your wallet, the FAA can send you a immediate replacement via fax. I keep a scan of my medical with my digital logbook incase I need to send a copy for a random aircraft rental or insurance or whatever, but aside from that, the original is just sitting folded in my wallet.
 
James331 said:
Do people loose their wallets enough for this to actually be a problem?

Even if you do loose your wallet, the FAA can send you a immediate replacement via fax. I keep a scan of my medical with my digital logbook incase I need to send a copy for a random aircraft rental or insurance or whatever, but aside from that, the original is just sitting folded in my wallet.
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I loose my wallet every time I go flying. I have yet to lose it.
 
timwinters said:
It has to be the original but if the doctor signs it in black, you run a copy of it on a high quality copy machine, laminate both, then you absolutely can't tell the difference between the two.

Which one I have in my flight bag I really can't say. Why?

Because I absolutely can't tell the difference between the two.
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Same here. Although I don't laminate it, If I didn't mark the original with a slight pen mark, I would not be able to tell the difference.

And my former AME always told me to make a copy and keep it in a safe place.
 
jbrinker said:
I just finally got my medical after many months of work. (30+ hours, student pilot)

Question is - can I store the original in my lock box, and carry a copy? It's just a printed paper, so I figured this would be OK.

I also wondered if I could maybe laminate it/make it a bit better so I can carry it in my wallet?

I assume if you ever need to produce it, they can look it all up by the numbers anyway - as long as I have it on me?
Click to expand...
Yes you can laminate it. But, aside of the legalities of handing a state trooper a photocopy when asked to see your drivers license, given that "it's just a printed paper that the can look up" and the ease of getting a duplicate if you lose it, why the lockbox?

I carry my original in my wallet, along with credit cards, mine, health insurance car and a other things much more valuable than my medical certificate.
 
flyingron said:
You're supposed to carry the original.

You are free to laminate it, just make sure that you do so such that all the information (including the boiler plate on the back stays visisble).
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Tain't nothin' on the back of the wonderful form I printed out for the doc to sign. In typical gov't efficiency style, the little form has dotted lines around what is supposed to be the front and the back, complete with a little dotted line that says "fold here" on it. The while thing fits on the top half of the sheet of paper, complete with a nice wide margin on the left, right and top, but it comes pretty close to where I folded the paper in half at the middle and stuffed it into my logbook.

Guess it would be too hard to change anything to actually fit the paper we all print on. Better to mark places to cut and fold, so we can all have sticky goo from degraded tape all over our wallets, logbooks, hands, etc. The onus is on us, not the can't-be-fired bureaucrats in OKC (or DC for that matter!).
 
If requesting a new copy doesn't invalidate the old one, then you could request the copy and that would be a backup, both legal.
 
camel said:
If requesting a new copy doesn't invalidate the old one, then you could request the copy and that would be a backup, both legal.
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The new one says it supersedes previous one. Not sure how anyone would know that by looking at the old one but your suggestion doesn't seem to be a valid legal way of getting 2. Its easy enough to get the replacement, I'd say just carry the original and stop worrying so much.
 
When I received my SI's last year my medical card was sent to me by Oklahoma as a pdf that I had to print and sign. That is hardly an original. Later in the month they mailed me one, but it was also a printed copy of the pdf they sent to me. Still a printed copy, so my take is that they are not as concerned about the document being original as everyone thinks.
 
My AME uses a stamp for his signature. I have no idea if I have the original, a copy, or a copy of a copy.
 
I ran mine through my high resolution Canon color copier. The only way I can tell which is which is that I keep a heavier weight paper in my copier.
 
I carry a copy. If I ever run into an official who complains about that, I will simply apologize, feign ignorance, and offer to get the original stored at home. Life is too short to obsess over such trivial things.
 
airdale said:
I carry a copy. If I ever run into an official who complains about that, I will simply apologize, feign ignorance, and offer to get the original stored at home. Life is too short to obsess over such trivial things.
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But this is the Internet! ;)
 
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