FAAST Blast — Week of November 11 - 17, 2024
Biweekly FAA Safety Briefing News Update
The FAA published a final rule eliminating expiration dates on flight instructor certificates, replacing them with recent experience requirements every 24 calendar months. Removing the expiration date on certificates will increase efficiency, cut costs, and align instructor certificates with other airman certificates such as private and commercial, which do not expire.
Under the new rule, instructors must still renew their certificates every 24 calendar months by completing a flight instructor refresher clinic (FIRC), obtaining an additional instructor certificate, or engaging in further instructional activities. Additional activities must include “at least 15 flight activities recognized under the FAA-sponsored pilot proficiency program,” during which the flight instructor evaluates at least five different pilots and makes the required endorsements in each pilot's logbook for every activity. The rule also specifies that flight instructors who endorse at least five applicants for a practical test within 24 calendar months and maintain an 80% pass rate can also utilize this provision to renew their certificates.
The FAA estimates that the rule will result in $5.6 million in cost savings for both the FAA and the industry over five years.
You can review the final rule at https://federalregister.gov/d/2024-22018.
Pilot Minute: When Can an AME Issue a Medical Certificate After a DUI?
It is possible for an AME to issue your medical certificate with a history of DUI under certain circumstances. For example, if you previously reported a DUI on MedXPress and there have been no new events and you don’t require any kind of monitoring as documented in a letter from the FAA, the AME can issue your certificate. Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Susan Northrop explains more about the path to certification after a DUI and the information required for a pilot to submit in this recent episode of the Pilot Minute video series. To watch this and other videos, visit https://bit.ly/FAAPilotMinute.
Is My Aircraft Right For Flight?
In 2022, there were 358 fatalities in 222 general aviation accidents. Powerplant system and component failure was the third most common event for fatal accidents, with inadequate preflight preparation being cited as a contributing factor in many of these accidents.
Preflight preparation of your aircraft is one of the most important steps you can take to ensure that your aircraft is fit for flight. Read “Is My Aircraft Right For Flight” at https://medium.com/faa/is-my-aircraft-right-for-flight-017e3e6a000a — in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of FAA Safety Briefing magazine — to learn about how the steps you take before your aircraft leaves the ground can pay huge dividends towards your piece of mind while in the air. See the entire readers’ choice issue at www.faa.gov/safety_briefing.
Produced by the FAA Safety Briefing editors: www.faa.gov/safety_briefing
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