Aug 31 2026

Contract Part 135 Training Deserves Another Look Posted 3 hours ago ago by Admin

As the helicopter emergency medical services community prepares to gather in Fort Worth, Texas, for this year's Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC), the industry's attention will naturally focus on improving safety, maintaining operational readiness, controlling costs, and developing the next generation of professional helicopter pilots. Those discussions also present an opportunity to revisit an FAA authorized training option that has existed for years, yet remains largely overlooked by many Part 135 operators. The purpose of this article is not to advocate for one training provider over another, but to encourage discussion about a regulatory pathway that can help operators reduce administrative burden, improve flexibility, and maintain the uncompromising commitment to pilot proficiency that defines our industry.

Every chief pilot and director of operations understands the balancing act. Pilots must complete initial, transition, upgrade, and recurrent training to remain qualified under Part 135, yet every hour devoted to training is an hour an aircraft is unavailable for patient transport. Add the realities of instructor and check airman turnover, increasing administrative responsibilities, insurance training requirements, and the continual pressure to keep aircraft available for revenue producing operations, and it becomes clear why training has become one of the most demanding responsibilities within a commercial helicopter operation.

No operator questions the value of recurrent training. It is one of the foundations of aviation safety. The challenge is not whether to train, but how to accomplish it efficiently without sacrificing aircraft availability, operational readiness, or the quality of instruction.

For decades, most operators have relied on one of two proven approaches. They either conduct training internally using company instructors, check airmen, aircraft, and training resources, or they send pilots to an FAA certificated Part 142 training center. Both models have served the industry exceptionally well. Internal programs provide mission-specific instruction tailored to an operator's environment, while organizations such as Bell Training Academy, CAE, FlightSafety International, and others have elevated helicopter safety through standardized curricula and sophisticated simulation technology.

What many operators may not realize is that the FAA provides another fully authorized option.

Under 14 CFR 135.324, required Part 135 training, testing, and checking may be conducted not only by a certificated Part 142 training center, but also by another operator conducting operations under Part 135, provided the training is accomplished under the customer's FAA approved training program. The FAA intentionally created this flexibility because it recognized that certificate holders have different operational needs and varying training resources.

For some operators, this authority may provide an opportunity to rethink how recurrent training is delivered.

Maintaining an internal training department requires considerably more than experienced instructors. It requires qualified check airmen, scheduling, records management, regulatory oversight, aircraft availability, and, for many organizations, simulation resources. When instructor or check pilot turnover occurs, maintaining those qualifications becomes even more difficult. Smaller operators may find themselves depending upon a single individual to support an entire training program, while larger organizations often struggle to balance training schedules against daily operational demands.

Aircraft availability presents another challenge. Every aircraft committed to training is temporarily unavailable for operational missions. While advanced flight maneuvers are safely conducted every day by experienced instructors, operators naturally seek to minimize unnecessary utilization of operational fleet aircraft whenever practical. The objective is not to reduce training. It is to deliver exceptional training while making the most effective use of limited resources.

This is where the FAA's contract training authority deserves another look.

Rather than developing every capability internally, a Part 135 operator may contract another qualified Part 135 certificate holder to conduct training, testing, and checking under its approved training program. The contract provider effectively becomes an extension of the operator's training department, supplying instructors, check airmen, aircraft when needed, administrative support, and training resources while allowing the customer to remain focused on daily operations.

This authority was never intended to replace Part 142 training centers, nor should it. In reality, today's strongest training programs, whether delivered by an FAA certificated Part 142 training center or a contract Part 135 provider, fully embrace simulation as a cornerstone of pilot development. High fidelity flight simulation devices safely expose pilots to emergencies, system failures, weather events, instrument procedures, and decision-making scenarios that cannot reasonably be recreated in an aircraft. Their contribution to aviation safety is undeniable. The difference is not simulation versus aircraft training, but how classroom instruction, simulation, and aircraft training are integrated into a comprehensive learning experience.

Aircraft training continues to provide important value when combined with simulation. Aircraft handling, energy management, touchdown autorotations where approved, environmental awareness, and night vision goggle (NVG) operations develop proficiency in ways that complement simulator based instruction. The strongest training programs recognize that each training medium contributes unique strengths, and together they produce more capable, confident, and proficient pilots.

Another advantage of the Part 135 contract model is flexibility. Training may be conducted in the customer's aircraft or, when appropriate, in aircraft provided by the contract training operator. Depending upon the provider's capabilities, FAA recurrent training and insurance-required recurrent training may also be coordinated into a single event, reducing duplicate travel, administrative workload, and aircraft downtime.

One example of this FAA authorized model is Helicopter Institute, which has a business approach unlike most Part 135 operators. Rather than using its Part 135 certificate to conduct routine passenger transportation or utility operations, Helicopter Institute maintains its certificate specifically to provide contract pilot training and checking services for other Part 135 certificate holders. Its aircraft are intentionally dedicated to training, not commercial transportation missions. That distinction means the fleet is purpose-built to support pilot qualification and recurrent training rather than competing with revenue flights for aircraft availability.

Using aircraft listed within its FAA-approved D085 operations specifications, Helicopter Institute conducts training and checking in its own aircraft or in customer aircraft while operating under the customer's FAA-approved Part 135 training program. The company's training philosophy fully integrates classroom instruction, aircraft specific simulation devices, and aircraft training to develop pilot proficiency while satisfying FAA requirements, insurance expectations, and operational objectives whenever practical. As the Airbus Helicopters North American Training Center, it also provides factory authorized AS350 and H125 instruction, including specialized NVG training.

Helicopter Institute is not highlighted because it is the only organization capable of providing this service. Rather, it represents one practical example of how the FAA's contract training authority can be applied to help operators manage an increasingly complex training environment. Other Part 135 operators may choose to develop similar capabilities as industry needs continue to evolve.

That is why the timing of this discussion is important. AMTC brings together operators, regulators, manufacturers, insurers, educators, and training providers with a common objective of how to improve the safety and effectiveness of helicopter emergency medical services. It is the ideal forum to discuss every FAA-authorized pathway available to develop and maintain pilot proficiency.

Internal training departments, Part 142 training centers, and contract Part 135 training providers are not competing philosophies. They are complementary tools made available by the FAA to address different operational challenges. The question is not which model is best, but which combination of resources best supports a particular operator's mission.

The FAA anticipated that flexibility years ago. As our industry continues to face staffing shortages, increasing costs, and growing operational demands, perhaps it is time to give this often overlooked authority the attention it deserves. If this article encourages that conversation at AMTC and beyond, then it will have served its purpose.

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