SAFE Says Not A Shocker, Some Good

The FAA-Industry advisory group formed in June of 2019 to investigate problems with the agency's Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) system has issued a 101-page report.

SAFE notes that the report largely codifies many suggestions for increasing DPE availability circulating in the industry for years. But the report also reflects disagreements as to who and how to test applicants efficiently for certificates and ratings and offers suggestions. The group highlighted many still unresolved questions in the airman testing process.

"Some easily implemented improvements in IACRA such as embedding the CFI endorsements should be a no-brainer," said SAFE Executive Director David St George. Also mentioned in the report is the integration of FAA WINGS for successful pilot candidates.

In the report, St George said that the report also includes a "little shop of horrors" in Appendix F on page V-61-2.

Those horrors are grey areas that every DPE seems to interpret differently, such as a go-around directed on a 180-degree power-off accuracy landing at the commercial level. Read the full report here.

FMI: www.safepilot.org