How to Fill Out and Submit FAA Form 8610-2: IACRA, FSDO, and Denials

FAA Form 8610-2 is the application you file to earn a mechanic certificate (with an Airframe rating, a Powerplant rating, or both) or a parachute rigger certificate under 14 CFR Part 65. You complete the form, gather your supporting documents, and present everything in person to an Aviation Safety Inspector at a Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). If the inspector is satisfied, they sign the form and authorize you to take your written, oral, and practical exams. The FAA charges no fee for the application itself; your costs come from the Designated Mechanic Examiner who administers the practical testing. Repairman applicants use Form 8610-3 instead, so if that’s your path, stop here.

Who Can File

Before you open the form, confirm you meet the baseline eligibility. For a mechanic certificate, 14 CFR § 65.71 sets two hard thresholds: you must be at least 18 years old, and you must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English.¹

Experience requirements depend on which rating you want. Under 14 CFR § 65.77, a single rating (Airframe or Powerplant) requires at least 18 months of practical experience in the relevant work. The combined Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certificate requires at least 30 months of experience performing duties appropriate to both ratings concurrently.¹ You can satisfy this two ways: graduate from an FAA-certificated Part 147 aviation maintenance technician school, or document the required months of civilian or military work.²

Parachute rigger applicants follow Subpart F of Part 65, which sets separate experience and testing standards for the Senior and Master certificate levels.³ The form is the same; the eligibility sections you’ll focus on differ.

What to Have in Hand Before You Start

Getting your paperwork together first saves back-and-forth with the FSDO.

A valid government-issued photo ID (passport, driver’s license, or military ID). The name on the ID must match the name you enter on the form exactly; a missing suffix or middle name can trigger a rejection.
Proof of experience: a graduation certificate from an FAA-certificated Part 147 school, or detailed work logs from civilian or military employment showing tasks performed, duration, and employer.⁴
An FAA Tracking Number (FTN). Every applicant must register in the Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application (IACRA) system at iacra.faa.gov to obtain an 8-digit FTN before taking any FAA knowledge test. If you already hold an FAA certificate, enter your certificate number during registration to retrieve your existing FTN.⁵
An Airman Knowledge Test Report (AKTR), if you’ve already passed your written tests.

Filling Out the Form

The fillable PDF is available at faa.gov. If you submit on paper rather than through IACRA, print two originals; double-sided is preferred, and if you print single-sided, fill in the “Applicant Information” header at the top of page two as well.⁶

Certificate Type (Top of the Form)

Before Section I, mark whether this is an original issuance, an added rating, or another change such as a name update. Check “Added Rating” only if you already hold a mechanic or rigger certificate. Then mark the certificate type (Mechanic or Parachute Rigger) and the specific rating. Apply for only one certificate type per form, and cross out any ratings you’re not applying for unless you already hold them.⁶

Section I: Applicant Information

The details here appear on your permanent certificate, so accuracy matters.

Block A — Name in Last, First, Middle format. If your full name exceeds 47 characters including spaces and suffix, use only one middle name. If you have no middle name, enter “NMN.”
Block B — Date of birth in MM/DD/YYYY format.
Block C — Place of birth: city and state if born in the U.S., city and country if born abroad.
Blocks D–H — Physical description: height in whole inches, weight in whole pounds, hair color, eye color, and sex. If you wear a wig, enter the color of your natural hair.
Block I — Citizenship. Mark “USA” if you’re a U.S. citizen or naturalized citizen; otherwise mark “Other” and list your country. Note dual citizenship in Remarks.
Blocks J1–J2 — J1 is your residential address and cannot be blank. J2 is your mailing address if different from J1, and the mailing address is what gets printed on your certificate.⁶

Section II: Certificate and Rating

Confirm the specific certificate and rating you’re seeking. This mirrors what you marked at the top of the form. Inconsistencies between the two are an easy way to get your application kicked back.

Section III: Record of Experience

This is where applications succeed or fail. List each employer or school where you gained qualifying experience, the duration in months, and a description of the maintenance work performed. The inspector uses this section to determine whether you’ve met the 18- or 30-month threshold. Vague entries like “aircraft maintenance” won’t clear the bar. Spell out the tasks (inspections, component replacements, engine troubleshooting) and the aircraft types involved.

If you graduated from a Part 147 school, you can reference your graduation certificate here instead of documenting field experience month by month.²

Section IV: Applicant Certification

Sign and date the form here. The date you sign must match the date you present the form to the inspector. Your signature certifies that everything in the application is true and acknowledges that fraudulent entries can lead to federal penalties, including fines and certificate revocation.⁵

IACRA or Paper

You can submit the application electronically through IACRA or on paper. IACRA walks you through the application, validates your entries as you go, and uses electronic signatures, reducing the kinds of errors that get paper applications returned. Either way, you still need an in-person FSDO appointment. IACRA just lets the inspector pull up your application digitally and skips the duplicate paper copies.⁵

If you file on paper, bring both completed originals to the appointment. The form cannot be submitted by mail or through a portal alone. You must present yourself and your documents in person to an Aviation Safety Inspector.

The FSDO Appointment

Contact your local Flight Standards District Office to schedule an appointment with an Airworthiness Aviation Safety Inspector. The FAA maintains a FSDO directory at faa.gov/about/office_org/field_offices/fsdo.⁷ Applicants located outside the U.S. contact an International Flight Standards Office (IFO).⁸

During the appointment, the inspector reviews your application, verifies your identity against your photo ID, and examines your supporting documents. They’re looking for evidence that your documented experience aligns with the regulatory requirements. Part 147 graduates should have the graduation certificate ready. Applicants relying on work experience need the original employment records or military documentation, not just what’s written on the form. When the inspector is satisfied, they sign the form to authorize you to proceed to testing.

Military Experience

If your maintenance experience comes from military service, the FAA maps specific Military Occupational Specialty codes (Army), Air Force Specialty Codes, and Naval Enlistment Codes to its experience requirements using FAA Order 8900.1, Volume 5, Chapter 5.²

Active-duty applicants should bring:

Training and qualification records from military maintenance training.
A letter from an Executive Officer, Maintenance Officer, or Classification Officer certifying length of service, time worked in each specialty code, and the aircraft makes and models worked on, including where the experience was obtained.
DD Form 214, if you’ve separated from service.
Evidence of Collateral Duty Inspector status, Quality Assurance Representative assignments, or engine turn qualification endorsements, which can strengthen your application.²

Only time spent actually working in your specialty counts. Training time — boot camp, initial tech school — does not count toward the 18- or 30-month requirement. The inspector will verify practical experience during the interview, so don’t inflate your months.

After the Form Is Signed

The signed 8610-2 authorizes testing. Under 14 CFR § 65.75, you must pass written knowledge tests covering the subject areas in the Aviation Mechanic General, Airframe, and Powerplant Airman Certification Standards, as appropriate to the rating you’re seeking. For an A&P certificate, that’s three separate written exams: General, Airframe, and Powerplant. Each written section must be passed before you schedule the oral and practical. Students still in a Part 147 program can take the General written test after completing only the general portion of the curriculum, even before meeting the full experience requirement.⁹

The oral and practical exams are administered by a Designated Mechanic Examiner (DME) under 14 CFR § 65.79, and you must present your signed 8610-2 at each testing session — without it, the DME cannot legally administer the exam.¹⁰ DMEs set their own fees; the FAA does not regulate what examiners charge.

If you fail a portion of any test, 14 CFR § 65.19 requires a 30-day wait before retesting on the failed subjects. That wait can be shortened if a certificate holder who already holds the rating you’re seeking gives you additional instruction on the failed subjects and signs a statement saying you’re ready.¹¹

After you pass all required tests, you receive a temporary airman certificate valid for up to 120 days under 14 CFR § 65.13.¹ The temporary certificate lets you work while the FAA’s Airmen Certification Branch in Oklahoma City completes its review and produces the permanent plastic card, which the FAA says takes roughly six to eight weeks to arrive by mail.¹² Once issued, a mechanic or parachute rigger certificate does not expire; under 14 CFR § 65.15 it remains effective until surrendered, suspended, or revoked.

When an Application Can Be Denied

The FAA can deny an application outright in specific circumstances. A conviction for any federal or state drug offense — growing, manufacturing, selling, or possessing controlled substances — is grounds for denial for up to one year after the final conviction, and the same one-year bar applies to alcohol-related violations under 14 CFR § 65.12. Cheating on a written test carries the same one-year ineligibility period under § 65.18 and can also result in suspension or revocation of any certificate you already hold.¹

If your application is denied and you believe the decision was wrong, you can appeal to the National Transportation Safety Board’s Office of Administrative Law Judges. An administrative law judge holds a hearing and issues a decision affirming, reversing, or modifying the FAA’s action, with further appeal available to the full NTSB Board and then to a federal court.¹³ These appeals have strict filing deadlines, and the NTSB provides a deadline calculator on its website.

1
eCFR. 14 CFR Part 65 – Certification: Airmen Other Than Flight Crewmembers
2
Federal Aviation Administration. Experience Requirements to Become an Aircraft Mechanic
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eCFR. 14 CFR 65.111
4
Federal Aviation Administration. Aircraft Maintenance Technician Schools
5
Federal Aviation Administration. FAA Form 8610-2 – Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application – Mechanic and Parachute Rigger
6
Federal Aviation Administration. FAA Form 8610-2 – Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application – Mechanic and Parachute Rigger
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Federal Aviation Administration. Flight Standards District Offices (FSDO)
8
Federal Aviation Administration. Form FAA 8610-2 – Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application – Mechanic and Parachute Rigger
9
eCFR. 14 CFR 65.75
10
eCFR. 14 CFR 65.79
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eCFR. 14 CFR 65.19 – Retesting After Failure
12
Federal Aviation Administration. How Long Does It Take the FAA to Send Out a Permanent License Certificate
13
National Transportation Safety Board. Description of the Airman Appeals Process