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Airmen Certification Branch

Airman Directory Releasable File

Fixed Length

January 2020__
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 Overview

On April 5, 2000, the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century became Public 

Law 106-181. Section 715 of that law requires the Federal Aviation Administration to release names, addresses, and

ratings information for all airmen after the 120th day following the date of enactment.

The law also requires that the airmen be given an opportunity to elect that their address information be withheld 

from release under this law. Accordingly, the FAA sent letters to all active airmen informing them of the 

provisions of the law, and giving them the option to withhold their address information. The FAA will be 

continuing this procedure for airmen who become active. Responses from the letters have been processed 

This file contains the names, addresses, and certificate information of those airmen who did not respond to indicate that 

they wished to withhold their address information. It is the intent of the Airmen Certification Branch to produce this 

file, in its entirety, on a monthly basis. The file may be downloaded from the Civil Aviation Registry web site at 

http://registry.faa.gov.
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RELEASABLE PILOT INFORMATION FILE LAYOUT - FIXED LENGTH FORMAT 

File: PILOT.txt 

This file contains Basic and Certificate data for Pilot related Certificate Types. The Unique ID is the key to each record. 

The Record Type indicates whether the record contains Basic or Certificate data. Each Basic record (Record Type 00) is followed by 1 

or more active Certificate records (Record Type 01-08). Certificate Types in this file include: P, F, A, U, E, H, and X. 

The non-Pilot file may contain additional certificate records for the Airman. 

FIELD NAME FORMAT LENGTH REMARKS

Pilot Basic record (Record Type ‘00’) 

UNIQUE ID A 8 1

st position = 'A' or ‘C’ followed by a 7-digit number 

RECORD TYPE A 2 00 = Airman Basic record 

FIRST & MIDDLE NAME A 30 

LAST NAME & SUFFIX A 30 

STREET 1 A 33 

STREET 2 A 33 

CITY A 17 

STATE A 2 Blank if foreign address 

ZIP CODE A 10 

COUNTRY-NAME A 18 

REGION A 2 

MEDICAL CLASS A 1 1=First 2=Second 3=Third (Certificate Type “P” only) 

MEDICAL DATE A 6 MMYYYY (Certificate Type “P” only) 

MEDICAL EXPIRE DATE A 6 MMYYYY (Certificate Type “P” only) 

BASIC MED COURSE DATE A 8 YYYYMMDD

BASIC MED CMEC DATE A 8 YYYYMMDD

FILLER A 906

------

TOTAL RECORD LENGTH 1120 

Pilot Certificate record (Record Type ‘01’ thru ’08’) 

UNIQUE ID A 8 1

st position = 'A' or ‘C’ followed by a 7-digit number 

RECORD TYPE A 2 01-08 = Airman Certificate record

CERTIFICATE TYPE A 1 

CERTIFICATE LEVEL A 1 

CERTIFICATE EXPIRE DATE A 8 MMDDYYYY (Certificate Type “F” only) 

RATINGS A 110 Format is 10 positions per Rating (maximum of 11): 

 1

st position = Rating Certificate Level 

 2

nd position = ‘/’ 

 3

rd thru 10th positions = Rating 

TYPE RATINGS A 990 Format is 10 positions per Type Rating (maximum of 99): 

 1

st position = Rating Certificate Level 

------ 2

nd position = ‘/’ 

TOTAL RECORD LENGTH 1120 3

rd thru 10th positions = Type Rating 

Notes: File is in Unique ID order. 

Only active Certificates are processed; At least 1 Certificate must be active for Airman to be in file. 
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RELEASABLE NON-PILOT INFORMATION FILE LAYOUT - FIXED LENGTH FORMAT 

File: NONPILOT.txt 

This file contains Basic and Certificate data for non-Pilot related Certificate Types. The Unique ID is the key to each record. 

The Record Type indicates whether the record contains Basic or Certificate data. Each Basic record (Record Type 00) is 

followed by 1 or more active Certificate records (Record Type 01-10). Certificate Types in this file include: G, M, T, R, I, L, 

W, D, N, and J.The Pilot file may contain additional certificate records for the Airman. 

FIELD NAME FORMAT LENGTH REMARKS

Non-Pilot Basic record (Record Type ‘00’) 

UNIQUE ID A 8 1

st position = 'A' or ‘C’ followed by a 7-digit number 

RECORD TYPE A 2 00 = Airman Basic record 

FIRST & MIDDLE NAME A 30 

LAST NAME & SUFFIX A 30 

STREET 1 A 33 

STREET 2 A 33 

CITY A 17 

STATE A 2 Blank if foreign address 

ZIP CODE A 10 

COUNTRY-NAME A 18 

REGION A 2 

MEDICAL CLASS A 1 1=First 2=Second 3=Third (If has active Certificate 

Type “P”) 

MEDICAL DATE A 6 MMYYYY (If has active Certificate Type “P”) 

MEDICAL EXPIRE DATE A 6 MMYYYY (Certificate Type “P” only) 

 BASIC MED COURSE DATE A 8 YYYYMMDD

 BASIC MED CMEC DATE A 8 YYYYMMDD

------

TOTAL RECORD LENGTH 214

Non-Pilot Certificate record (Record Type ‘01’ thru ’10’) 

UNIQUE ID A 8 1

st position = 'A' or ‘C’ followed by a 7-digit number 

RECORD TYPE A 2 01-10 = Airman Certificate record

CERTIFICATE TYPE A 1 

CERTIFICATE LEVEL A 1 

CERTIFICATE EXPIRE DATE A 8 Currently N/A for this file 

RATINGS A 110 Format is 10 positions per Rating (maximum of 11): 

FILLER A 84 1

st position = Rating Certificate Level 

------ 2

nd position = ‘/’ 

TOTAL RECORD LENGTH 214 3

rd thru 10th positions = Rating 

Notes: File is in Unique ID order. 

Only active Certificates are processed; At least 1 Certificate must be active for Airman to be in file. 
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Hints for Importing Airman Records into Microsoft Access

There are many programs that can be used to manipulate the data. For the novice or intermediate user, however, we have 

provided the following hints for importing using Microsoft Access which is included in many software packages. Microsoft 

Excel does not have enough capacity to manipulate the file. If you know Visual Basic, you can use VB to design the import 

process for the records you want. But if you just want to import the records into Access and then design a query to get 

address information for pilots, you may use the following guidelines: 

1. Open Microsoft Access. 

2. Cancel out of the Wizard box.

3. Click on File>New and create a new blank data base.

4. Once your blank data base is created, click the NEW button in the data base box.

5. Click IMPORT TABLE.

6. Click OK.

7. In the Import Box, find the file on your drive that you wish to import (the file you saved after unzipping the download).

Add a “.txt” extension to the file name.

8. Click on IMPORT.

9. Access opens the Import Text Wizard. It will detect the file as a fixed width file and display the first few records.

10. Click NEXT.

11. Use the first record, which will always be a basic record (containing the airman name), and set the break lines at lines 8, 

10, 40, 70, 103, 136, 153, 155, 165, 183, 185, 186, and 192. You will notice this corresponds to the file layout for the 

Airman Basic Data Record.

12. Click NEXT.

13. Select “in a new table.” 14. Click NEXT.

15. Name the fields according to the record layout by highlighting each field and naming it.

16. Click NEXT.

17. Let Access assign the primary key. This will let you know the number of records in your table.

18. Click NEXT.

19. Name your table.

20. Click NEXT.

Access will import the table. This will take some time. Your computer will need approximately 600 MB of free disk space to 

create this file, in addition to storage space. We also recommend at least 128 MB of RAM for this process. 

Access will give you a message when the file is finished importing. 

You may now click on QUERY in the data base box and design a query that will bring in whatever fields you desire from the 

Airmen Basic Record. You can set the criteria for the RECORD TYPE field to “=0” and you will only extract basic records. 

You can set other criteria in other fields as well (read the help file) to shorten your query. Once your query is complete, you 

will have a table of airmen with their addresses. 

You may then re-import the complete text file into another table, reset the break lines based on the Certificate Date Records 

and extract those records. You may then design queries using fields from both tables. 

The Airmen Certification Branch does not provide technical support. You should contact the software manufacturer for 

specific questions. These hints are simply provided as a guide. 
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CERTIFICATE TYPES 

The following information is provided in the required sort order and links the associated certificate level: 

CERT 

TYPE ABBREV

CERT 

LEVEL INCLUDES 

P PILOT A 

C 

P 

V 

T 

S 

AIRLINE TRANSPORT PILOT 

COMMERCIAL PILOT 

PRIVATE PILOT 

RECREATIONAL PILOT 

SPORT PILOT 

STUDENT PILOT 

F CFI FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR 

A AUTHINST AUTHORIZED AIRCRAFT INSTRUCTOR 

U REM PILOT REMOTE PILOT 

G GI GROUND INSTRUCTOR 

E FE FLIGHT ENGINEER 

H FE 63.23 FLIGHT ENGINEER (Special Purpose–Lessee) 

X E 63.43 FLIGHT ENGINEER (Foreign Based)

M MECHANIC MECHANIC 

T CTO CONTROL TOWER OPERATOR 

R REPAIRMAN REPAIRMAN Up to 5 allowed.

I REPAIR XPR REPAIRMAN EXPERIMENTAL ACFT BUILDER Up to 15 allowed.

L RPMNSPORT REPAIRMAN LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT 

W RIGGER U 

W 

MASTER PARACHUTE RIGGER 

SENIOR PARACHUTE RIGGER 

D DISPATCHER DISPATCHER 

N NAVIGATOR FLIGHT NAVIGATOR 

J NAV 63.23 FLIGHT NAVIGATOR (Special Purpose–Lessee)
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CERTIFICATE RATINGS

RATING RATING DESCRIPTION OBSOLETE

ADV ADVANCED

AIR LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRSHIP

AIRCR AIRCRAFT Yes

AIRFR AIRFRAME

AIRPL AIRPLANES Yes

ALL FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION FLIGHT STANDARDS SERVICE INSPECTOR ALL

RATINGS AUTHORIZED

Yes

AME AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE

AMEL AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND

AMELC AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND LIMITED TO CENTER THRUST

AMES AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE SEA

ASE AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE

ASEL AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND

ASES AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE SEA

ASME AIRPLANE SINGLE AND MULTIENGINE

BACK BACK

BAL LIGHTER-THAN-AIR FREE BALLOON

BASIC BASIC

CHEST CHEST

ENGINE AIRCRAFT ENGINE Yes

FAR FEDERAL AIR REGULATIONS Yes

GL GLIDER

GLAT GLIDER AERO TOW

GLATGT GLIDER AERO TOW AND GROUND TOW

GLATSL GLIDER AERO TOW AND SELF LAUNCH

GLGT GLIDER GROUND TOW

GLGTSL GLIDER GROUND TOW AND SELF LAUNCH
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CERTIFICATE RATINGS, continued

RATING RATING DESCRIPTION OBSOLETE

GLSL GLIDER SELF LAUNCH

GROUP I GROUP I

GROUP II GROUP II

GYRO ROTORCRAFT-GYROPLANE

HEL ROTORCRAFT-HELICOPTER

HELGY ROTORCRAFT HELICOPTER AND GYROPLANE

INSPT INSPECTION

INST INSTRUMENT

INSTA INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE

INSTH INSTRUMENT HELICOPTER

INSTI INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE AND HELICOPTER

INSTP INSTRUMENT POWERED-LIFT

JET TURBOJET POWERED

LAP LAP

LTA LIGHTER-THAN-AIR Yes

LTO LINK TRAINER OPERATOR Yes

MAINT MAINTENANCE

METEOR METEOROLOGY Yes

NAV NAVIGATION Yes

PLIFT POWERED-LIFT

POWER POWERPLANT

RADIO RADIO NAVIGATION Yes

RECIP RECIPROCATING ENGINE POWERED

ROTOR ROTORCRAFT Yes

SEAT SEAT

SPORT SPORT

SPUR SPECIAL PURPOSE Yes

TPROP TURBOPROPELLER POWERED
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 Contact Support

Direct Questions To: http://registry.faa.gov