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DPE Today, a section of the FSANA site especially for the flight examiner community and flight training providers. Vital news, viewpoints and more. All are welcome.
Annual Designated Pilot Examiners Symposium Returns Early in 2025 for #4 Edition
DPEs, flight school operators, chief flight instructors and anyone serious about becoming a DPE this annual event is for you. The DPE Symposium provides a unique opportunity to share information in person between DPEs from around the country, which does not happen anywhere else. FAA individuals will again take part in the informative exchange.
For all you who were at our Symposium in October 2024, or either of the previous two, we're sure you'll want to return for this 4th edition planned for early 2025. If you've never had the opportunity to attend, it's time to see what all the noise is about. As soon as the date and location are firm, we'll let you know and open registration. Stay tuned.
FSANA has been actively engaged with supporting DPEs, the work they do, and helping integrate these service providers with flight training providers. Our goal is to have the attendees of this event take what they have learned back to their local areas and improve the collaboration between training providers to enhance standardization and efficiency.
Historic First-Time Gathering of DPEs
On October 26-27, 2021, FSANA hosted its 1st Annual Designated Pilot Examiners (DPE) Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee. A historic first for providers of testing to airmen in the United States, the event brought together a significant representation of DPEs from all around the country to discuss examiner policies, training integration of flight training providers, and testing providers.
Trey McClure, manager of the FAA Delegation Program Branch, lead a group of FAA team members during the symposium. Panelists came from across America to share their information and knowledge.
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Examiners modernizing their accepted methods of payment
— First appeared in
FSANA Flight Training News, October 20, 2022
How examiners allow applicants to pay for their testing services is modernizing much like the rest of our industry. Even just a few short years ago most DPEs accepted cash or check only as payment for their testing services. FSANA's 2022 Practical Test Pricing Survey indicates that more DPEs are now allowing test applicants to pay through credit or debit cards.
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DPEs available to travel
FSANA collects the names of DPEs who have express a willingness to travel to help flight training providers secure practical tests. We revise the list periodically and make it available here and in FSANA's monthly newsletter. If you are a flight training provider who is finding a challenge of scheduling DPEs in your local area, feel free to reach out to these individuals. They may be able to serve some of your local testing needs.
List of Travel-Willing DPEs (updated November 27, 2023)
If you are a DPE who is not listed but would like to be, please let us know by emailing us at
info@fsana.com with your name, city, state, email, and phone number and we will include you.
Video oversight of checkrides
— First appeared in
FSANA Flight Training News, January 27, 2021
FSANA has been receiving information from some areas around the country that oversight activities for DPEs, 141 staff members, and some charter operations are being conducted using video cameras an examiner or applicant must provide onboard the aircraft. The video activity when completed is then shared with FAA oversight staff for performance evaluation.
The video process has raised some concerns by many about privacy, document records requirements, potential FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), and use for violations enforcement.
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Airman practical testing and DPE update
— First appeared in
FSANA Flight Training News, December 8, 2020
Airman certification in the United States is something conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and it is something the agency takes very seriously. Much of the actual certification of pilots is not done directly by FAA staff, but by designees of the FAA. These are experienced individuals who meet and exceed minimum qualifications requirements, have been trained, receive regular oversight, and are trusted with upholding the standards of certification for airmen.
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FAA action affects pilot certificate holders
— First appeared in
FSANA Flight Training News, July 30, 2020
An FAA notice dated July 15, 2020, has gained some attention and spread throughout the training community. “Reexamination of Airmen Tested by Michael A. Puehler” is a notice of program policies and procedures for reexamining individuals holding pilot certificates with various ratings who were tested by Puehler of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Of particular concern is that the notice highlights the procedures by which the FAA will be notifying individuals who received practical tests administered by this FAA Designee that they in prescribed instances will be required to retest for a rating or certificate for which they already had the “license in hand."
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