NTSB Wants Flight-check Failure Limits

The NTSB has asked the FAA to limit the number of times a pilot can fail a checkride and questioned whether the existing requirements of providing additional training after multiple failures is adequate. Additionally, the Safety Board wants the FAA to require Part 121 and 135 operators to improve their safety background checks of pilot applicants by obtaining all notices of failed checkrides before making a hiring decision. The NTSB’s recommendations follow its investigations into several accidents in which it determined that the air carriers’ process for evaluating pilots’ experience and skills was inadequate. In one case, the pilot of an Air Sunshine Cessna 402 that ditched in July 2003 after an engine quit was found to have failed nine flight checks between April 1983 and February 1998, including two for his private ticket and three for his instrument CFI.