Regulation Text
§ 61.27 Voluntary surrender or exchange of certificate.
(a) The holder of a certificate issued under this part may voluntarily surrender it for:
(1) Cancellation;
(2) Issuance of a lower grade certificate; or
(3) Another certificate with specific ratings deleted.
(b) Any request made under paragraph (a) of this section 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.”
Research Notes
Voluntary Surrender — What It Means and When It's Used
Section 61.27 covers three scenarios for voluntary surrender: (1) outright cancellation, (2) exchanging a higher-grade certificate for a lower-grade one, and (3) removing specific ratings from a certificate while keeping the base certificate.
The most common use case is scenario (3) — removing a rating. For example, a pilot who no longer wants to maintain an instrument rating might surrender the certificate and have it reissued without the IFR rating. This has legal significance: under the signed statement required by § 61.27(b), the pilot acknowledges that getting that rating back requires passing all the tests again. This is not a temporary lapse — it's a permanent removal until re-qualification.
Medical certificate implications: some pilots voluntarily surrender their higher-class medical and continue flying on a lower class. This is a separate process handled through the AME system, not Part 61. Voluntary surrender of a pilot certificate is separate from and independent of any medical certificate action.
Note: Voluntary surrender is distinct from suspension or revocation. A voluntarily surrendered certificate has no enforcement stigma — it carries none of the implications that a suspended or revoked certificate does for future applications.
Amendment History
AOA Notes
These notes correspond to the highlighted phrases in the regulation text above. Each one flags something worth knowing — a common misread, a checkride gotcha, or a practical pro tip.
CFI Commentary
Highlighted phrases in the regulation text above link to instructor notes at the bottom of this page. Look for the amber or blue highlights — each one flags a gotcha or a pro tip worth knowing.