Designated Pilot Examiner

Lore & Background

The process to become a DPE involves joining a waiting list with the FAA, sometimes for 10 years or longer depending on the need of the local FAA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO). Once accepted, the applicant travels to an FAA training facility, usually a course at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, for training and testing. DPEs are required to attend biennial recurrent training conducted by the FAA, annual standardization meetings with their supervising FSDOs, and are examined regularly by FAA Aviation Safety Inspectors conducting ridealong flights or oral reviews.

Reader's Guide

The DPE system is significant because it enables the FAA to certify the vast majority of pilots despite limited government resources. DPEs are not FAA employees and charge fees for their services, but they act for the Administrator of the FAA. The quality of the system is assured by constant FAA oversight and annual re-certification of all Pilot Examiners. The FAA maintains a list of all DPEs and the tests they are qualified to accomplish, and tries to assure that no applicant need wait more than a week or travel more than 100 miles to obtain their flight test. The general guidelines by which DPEs examine pilots are called Airman Certification Standards, which began replacing the Practical Test Standards system in 2016. The majority of pilot examiners make their living flying in some capacity and often perform DPE duties as a service to the industry.

Did You Know?

• More than 90 percent of pilot certification checkrides in the U.S. are conducted by DPEs.
• The waiting list to become a DPE can be 10 years or longer depending on local FSDO need.
• The FAA tries to ensure no applicant travels more than 100 miles or waits more than a week for a flight test.