Pilot License Number Meaning

[Adiabatic]

Hello there,

This topic has probably been discussed before but I seem to not be able to find the answer doing a search in the forums.

How are license numbers derived and do they have any certain meaning? Like a 2 or 4 or 5 at the beginning, etc.

Thx!!

AB

[iflyforpie]

I think that there are just blocks of numbers assigned for each group of applicants, both by date and by region.

Most guys who had a VRP/XDC etc license number seem to have a 1xxxxx number now. When I got my TC number in BC over ten years ago (for AME and pilot) it was 7xxxxx, while guys in Alberta had 4xxxxx.

[jpilot77]

I got my license 10 years ago in Ontario and mine starts with a 9.

[Adiabatic]

Licensed in NS and start with 4 in '03

[Redneck_pilot86]

I got my license 10 years ago in Ontario and mine starts with a 9.

I got mine 10 years ago in Ontario as well, starts with 8.

[tiggermoth]

The other thing about the numbers is that they are nothing more than a 'file number' with TC. Any further licences you get from transport will have the same number.

For example, I got my AME license 10 years ago in Alberta, my license number is M4xxxxx. When I got my PPL in BC in 2008, all they did was put a 'PA' in front of the 4xxxxx instead of the 'M'.

A fella I work with has 3 different ones, all the same number but a different prefix.

M5xxxxx (maintenance)
PA5xxxxx (PPL)
CH5xxxxx (Commercial Helicopter)

[flyinthebug]

I got mine in the old days when your licence # also represented your "home" base. All licences started with the last 3 letters in your airport identifier. In my case it was YYZ-2*****. When the CARs came in 96 and they dropped the Senior Commercial licence, and ATR became ATPL, thats the same time they dropped the airport identifiers from the licences as well. I dont believe the numeric sequence has any significance beyond a file # for TC.

Hope this helps.
Fly safe all.

[iflyforpie]

Yes, once you get your TC file number, either by applying for a Pilot's Medical or registering with a TC office to write AME exams (not sure how it is now that most exams are written in school except CARS), you keep it for life no matter what region you go to. My pilot and AME numbers are both the same except for the letter prefixes.

What pisses me off is that I have to change my address twice with TC, even though they are supposedly the same file number (5802-7xxxxx)

I got mine in the old days when your licence # also represented your "home" base. All licences started with the last 3 letters in your airport identifier. In my case it was YYZ-2*****.

All of the old licenses I've seen it was the last two letters of the airport with the TC office in it, followed by a letter for the license type.

In BC, you had VRP, VRC, VRM. In AB, you had XDP, XDC, and XDM. I'm pretty sure I've seen YZP, YZC, and YZM in some old logbooks kicking around.

My grandfather flew out of Kamloops (CYKA... I wonder if the Russians think that is a funny identifier ) but his license was VRP.

[flyinthebug]

I got mine in the old days when your licence # also represented your "home" base. All licences started with the last 3 letters in your airport identifier. In my case it was YYZ-2*****.

All of the old licenses I've seen it was the last two letters of the airport with the TC office in it, followed by a letter for the license type.

In BC, you had VRP, VRC, VRM. In AB, you had XDP, XDC, and XDM. I'm pretty sure I've seen YZP, YZC, and YZM in some old logbooks kicking around.

My grandfather flew out of Kamloops (CYKA... I wonder if the Russians think that is a funny identifier ) but his license was VRP.

Way before my time iflyforpie lol. Those letters in that sequence mean absolutely nothing to me. That could even be before Cat and Doc`s time

I obtained my 1st licence in 1984. My licence started with YYZ as I was Toronto region. When I moved to Winnipeg, my licence became YWG-2*****. You are likely referring back to the 50s and 60s? Maybe someone else can shed some light on the time frame of the (Licence #`s) iflyforpie typed. When I started the ATPL was an ATR (Airline Transport Rating). SeniorCPL was still a licence. Ill be interested to hear the time frame. How old is your Grandfather? Im sure we could do the math based on that.

Fly safe all.

*The only time you have too much fuel is when your on fire*

[Sidebar]

I got my private licence, WGP14###, in 1973 following a flying scholarship through the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. Sometime in the 1980's the licence # was changed to my file # and became PA137###.

[iflyforpie]

Yes it was in the 60s, but I've seen entries with those numbers into the 90s. The last letter is P (private) C (commercial) and M (AME).

[Colonel Sanders]

If your file number is less than 060000 then you
won't have your medical for very much longer.

I'm pretty sure I've seen YZP, YZC, and YZM in some old logbooks kicking around

Correct. My father got his civilian licence in 1951 and his
old licence number was YZC8907. It was changed to
CA035xyz a few years back.

[cdnpilot77]

That could even be before Cat and Doc`s time

VERY unlikely!!! One might even say impossible. I always write Doc's down as AA5

I did my first medical and PSTAR in Invermere BC in 1999, but earned the PPL in Ontario and mine starts is 7xxxxx. As above stated, pretty sure is affiliated with the first medical or PSTAR and simply a file number.

[Caracrane]

My father had a licence issued in Montreal so is licence number was YUL1505. When it changed back in 1996 I think he lost some numbers so it was AA001565. If issued in Toronto let's say, back in the days it would have been YYZ1505 and so on depending from where your regionnal office was. Mine is AA3...

[Cat Driver]

Never mind the license number, my problem is remembering the number of licenses ......

Lets see from the start...

Canadian PPL:

Canadian CPL:

Canadian SCL:

Canadian Airline Transport Pilot License:

Canadian Helicopter:

Aerial Application License Ontario:

FAA Commercial Helicopter License:

FAA Commercial Gyroplane Pilot License:

CASA Authority for Airline Transport License:

JAA Authority for Airline Transport License:

Unrestricted Airdisplay Authority for Europe:

Then of course there are all the ratings that go with the above.

[it'sme]

My first couple of licences had the letter/number combination as mentioned above and also included the coloured diagonal stripe. The colour of the stripe indicated the type of licence. If I recall without digging through the back of the closet I believe red was private, tan was commercial, green senior commercial and blue ATPL........circa early '70's

[Siddley Hawker]

There was an older gentleman named Alfie Cockle who used to fly the Jetstar for the RBC after he'd finished his career at AC. One day he and I were filing flight plans at the same time at Innotech in UL. I finished filing and handed him the phone. He gave the guy all the pertinent details, then license number A145. The guy on the other end asked "ULA, YZA??" "No, just A145." Hadn't been many of 'em issued when he got his.

Oh, mine was ULA1782.

[trey kule]

IIRC , it was about 1979 or 1980 that the old license numbers changed, not 1996. They started in Bc alphabetically, then moved east. I still have a five digit file number. My first glider license had a three digit and identifier and my ppl a four digit. Things change

[Beefitarian]

Yeah I got mine in 1994 in Alberta, it was based on my student number first license was PA-3xxxxx.

Was that glider license number LXI Trey?

[CLguy]

Prior to the new 6 digit numbered licenses they started with 3 letters. As an example in 1976 when I got my Private Licence in Thunder Bay my licence number started with WGP followed by 4 digits. The WG represented the Transport Canada Winnipeg Region that I was in and the P represented Private Pilot Licence. Later it became WGC for Winnipeg Region, Commercial then WGS then WGA. Anybody in the Toronto Region had a licence that started with YZ etc.

[Tinker]

I got my licence in London Ontario in 1976.
YZP 21XXXX
Then they dropped the YZP and only refer to the number for all correspondence.
Old age?? If I have to quote my number, I can't remember it, unless I say the YZP part also, then the rest flows smoothly.

[jschnurr]

What were the privileges associated with the Senior Commercial Licence? Were the commercial and ATP privileges similar to the current licences?

[PilotDAR]

My file number started in 1976, as "22xxxx" with my first medical. When I was issued a student permit, that was numbered "YZX22xxxx". "YZ" for Toronto region, and "X" for danger, or experimental?

When I earned a PPL in 1978, It automatically changed to "YZP22xxxx". This stuck for a long time. It mysteriously changed to "PA22xxxx" somewhere along the line, then to "CA22xxxx" when I got a commercial. In the midst of that, I also earned a helicopter PPL, which is "PH22xxxx", and is in the same booklet, but I understand is a distinct license.

Is the "22xxxx" number national? Or are there blocks of numbers which are regional?

Or, phrased differently, is the chronology of the license linked to the number, or does the number jump around based upon the region of first issuance?

[Mostly Harmless]

When I first got my licence, it was a letter/number combination. The letters were the issuing office for the licence. Each issuing area had a set of numbers as well. When the CARS came in, they ditched the letters and kept the numbers to represent region.

So, VR, XD, WG, YZ, etc... for the regional office. A private pilots licence issued in the Edmonton region (IE: All of Alberta) would be XDP-######, now written as P-######

[rapid602]

When I started flying in Ontario in 1979 the Student Pilot Permit was X2#####, Private was YZP 2#####, Commercial was YZC plus the digits and ATPL was YZA plus the digits and now no letters just the digits. The numbers have always stayed the same.

My licence was alway 6 numbers, I had a PPC once and the Inspector was Jim B. and his Licence number was something like 1645.