Private Pilot Practical Test: Survey Results From Designated Pilot Examiners and Newly Certificated Private Pilots

摘要

Ensuring that pilot applicants receive complete and thorough practical examinations is one safeguard to improve general aviation safety. Designated Pilot Examiners (DPEs), FAA aviation safety inspectors, and schools with examining authority serve as gatekeepers of aviation safety by ensuring that only pilot applicants that meet all certification requirements are issued pilot certificates. This study used two separate surveys to assess practical test examination practices. The 1st instrument surveyed DPEs. We mailed surveys to DPEs across the US and screened returned surveys to include only those who had conducted at least one 1st-time private Pilot Airplane Single-Engine-Land (P-ASEL) practical test in the previous year. Five hundred-forty respondents (64% response rate) met this criterion. The second instrument surveyed newly certificated GA pilots about their training and practical testing experiences. We mailed 4,216 surveys to pilots who were newly certificated. Returned surveys were screened to include only pilots who were tested by an examiner and to include only those who had no previous private P-ASEL category and class rating practical test failures. This left 1,112 surveys (26% response rate) for reporting purposes. The average amount of time between the certification date and survey completion was less than three months. Source of training for pilots was split across pilot schools and independent flight instructors (57%). The majority of pilots were positive about the quality of flight instruction they received. More than 95% reported that they were tested on stalls (power-on and power-off), spin awareness (82%), aeronautical decision-making (85%), and in- flight collision avoidance (82%).