Inspection...not Surrender
In response to my above post on certificate inspection. Please see the June 2002 issue for the complete text.
The regulatory requirements are contained in FAR 61.3(l) and 61.51(i). These regulations require a pilot to "present" for "inspection" certain pilot documents upon the reasonable request of certain officials. Yes, in answer to one of the frequently asked questions, the request must be "reasonable." While the word reasonable appears in only one of the two provisions — FAR 61.51(i) — it has been interpreted to apply to both. The concept of reasonableness is narrower than one might expect.
…Assuming an FAA request would be considered reasonable in this context, what about that intriguing question: "Can I physically hold on to my certificate while the inspector looks at it?" I don't know that a pilot needs to go that far, as long as the inspector is made to understand that "present" for "inspection" does not mean "surrender." Most inspectors are conscientious in doing their jobs and well understand the difference, but there have been some isolated misunderstandings. A pilot may be merely presenting his certificates for inspection, as the regulations require, but the FAA inspector may view it as a voluntary surrender of the certificates. The pilots asking the intriguing question are quite right in assuming that the FAA inspector has no authority to take the certificates (except by way of a very formal and legalistic procedure in which a pilot has rights of appeal to the NTSB). Holding on to the certificates may be an effective way of ensuring that the inspector understands that the pilot is not surrendering the certificates. There may be other, less confrontational ways of making this clear.
I faced this situation once years ago. A well-dressed gentleman, purporting to be an FAA inspector, was meeting all aircraft as they arrived at the Frederick airport, and asking the pilots to see their certificates. The inspector was acting very professionally in doing his job, and I wouldn't fault him for that, but I didn't get the feeling that he appreciated the uncomfortable position he was putting the pilots in. Since I didn't know him, I politely asked to see his FAA credentials before I would produce mine. He was obviously taken aback. Apparently no other pilot had asked him to identify himself. To his credit he quickly realized the propriety of my request and showed me his credentials, which he carefully guarded (held on to!). I then showed him my certificates. I believe that after our exchange, he had a better appreciation of the intimidation pilots naturally feel when faced with such a request. There was no question that I was surrendering my certificates to him any more than he was surrendering his credentials to me. As long as the inspector understands that there is no voluntary surrender, a pilot may hand them over for the brief period necessary for the inspector to "inspect" them.
With regard to the possibility of confusion between surrender and presentation for inspection, pilots should be aware that there is an FAR right on point. FAR 61.27, which relates to pilot and flight instructor certificates, first states the obvious, that a certificate holder may voluntarily surrender a certificate for cancellation. Then it goes on to provide that any such request by a certificate holder must include the following signed statement or its equivalent: "This request is made for my own reasons, with full knowledge that my (insert name of certificate or rating, as appropriate) may not be reissued to me unless I again pass the tests prescribed for its issuance." If an FAA inspector ever argues that you made a voluntary surrender of your pilot or instructor certificate, you should remind him or her that you never signed such a statement as required by the rule. That should settle the argument. There is no similar provision in the regulations for medical certificates.
.
