Board Also Recommends FAA Limits On Flight Check Failures

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued two recommendations related to the record-keeping and review of pilot flight check records, and access to these records by airlines and charter operators for the purpose of hiring decision-making.

The Board cited a case in which an Air Sunshine pilot who ditched his aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean in 2003 after the right engine failed. The statement of probable cause put the blame on the failure of the engine due to inadequate maintenance and the pilot's inability to keep the aircraft under control after the engine failed. The pilot also failed to provide passengers with an emergency briefing after the engine failed, and the result was two people dead -- one adult and one child.

A review of the pilot's records revealed that he had failed nine separate flight checks during the period from 1983 to 1988 -- two for his private pilot certificate, one for his instrument rating, one for his ATP certificate, two for his CFI certificate and three for his CFI instrument rating.

In 1994, the Board issued Safety Recommendations A-95-116 through -119, in which it asked the FAA to:

• Require all airlines operating under 14 CFR Parts 121 and 135 and independent facilities that train pilots for the airlines to maintain pertinent standardized information on the quality of pilot performance in activities that assess skills, abilities, knowledge, and judgment during training, check flights, initial operating experience, and line checks and to use this information in quality assurance of individual performance and of the training programs.
• Require all airlines operating under 14 CFR Parts 121 and 135 and independent facilities that train pilots for the airlines to provide such information to the FAA for incorporation into a storage and retrieval system.
• Maintain a storage and retrieval system that contained pertinent standardized information on the quality of 14 CFR Part 121 and 135 airline pilot performance during training.
• Require all airlines operating under 14 CFR Parts 121 and 135 to obtain information from the FAA’s storage and retrieval system that contains pertinent standardized pilot training and performance information for the purpose of evaluating applicants for pilot positions during the pilot selection and hiring process.

The Board recommended that any system implemented to meet these recommendations should have appropriate privacy protections and provide for a way for the pilot to have access so as to ensure accuracy of the records. The recommendations resulted in the passing by Congress of the Pilot Records Improvement Act (PRIA) of 1996, which required that any company hiring a pilot for air transportation request and receive records from any aviation carrier, company, organization, or person that had employed a pilot applicant during the previous 5 years.

Unfortunately, while the PRIA provided what the NTSB described as an acceptable alternate means of compliance with the recommendations, the law does not state that air carriers are also required to request from the FAA documentation on failed flight checks for certificates and ratings.

The Board recognizes that one failed flight check in an otherwise successful pilot career is not a reason to deny someone a job, but it also thinks that a history of multiple flight check failures should be an issue that the carrier should consider prior to making that hiring decision.

Based on these facts and arguments, the NTSB has issued two recommendations to the FAA.

• Require all Part 121 and 135 air carriers to obtain any notices of disapproval for flight checks for certificates and ratings for all pilot applicants and evaluate this information before making a hiring decision. (A-05-01)
• Conduct a study to determine whether the number of flight checks a pilot can fail should be limited and whether the existing system of providing additional training after a notice of disapproval is adequate for pilots who have failed multiple flight checks. On the basis of the findings of the study, establish a flight check failure limit and modify the recheck training requirements, if necessary. (A-05-02)

FMI: http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/2005/A05_01_02.pdf