Issues NPRM To Clarify "Inconsistent' Rules

The FAA has issued a notice of proposed rule-making (NPRM) to remove regulatory inconsistencies that have caused misunderstandings over the fact that medical certificates are not required for check pilots and instructors at commercial operations who perform their functions in aircraft, as long as they are not serving as part of a required flight crew.

National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) chairman John Niehaus said in a statement posted on the NAFI website that current regulations are contradictory. For example, FAR 135.338(b)(5) states that flight instructors (aircraft) must hold at least a third-class medical certificate; however, FAR 135.338(e) states that an airman who does not hold a medical certificate may serve as a flight instructor in an aircraft if functioning as a non-required crew-member. According to the FAA, this confusion has unnecessarily limited airmen to conducting check pilot functions in flight simulation training devices. Changes are also proposed for similar contradictions in Part 121.

Requiring a medical certificate for check pilots and flight instructors who are not serving as required flight crew-members is an "unnecessary burden," the FAA said. "Moreover, there has been no degradation in the safe operation of aircraft resulting from the current application of the regulations during the estimated eight years the agency has allowed eligible check airmen and flight instructors to serve without medical certificates if not serving as required crew-members." Comments on the NPRM, which is available here, are due August 2.

(Source: NAFI news release)

FMI: www.nafinet.org
NPRM