FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-13/4

Title and Subtitle: Effects of Training School Type and Examiner Type on General Aviation Flight Safety

Report Date: March 2013

Authors: Knecht WR, Smith J

Abstract: This study addresses the question "Do training school type and certifying examiner type affect a general aviation pilot's subsequent aviation safety record?" Education was operationalized as private pilot instruction in either a

• Part 61 or
• Part 141 school

and examiner type was operationalized as private pilots examined by either

• Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI),
• School Authority (Part 141 graduates only), or
• Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE)

Because of the unavailability of earlier reliable FAA school and examiner records, results herein are restricted to pilots certificated from 1 Jan., 1995 to 8 Aug., 2007.

The results essentially imply that school and examiner type do not affect subsequent accident rate. For U.S. GA pilots receiving the private pilot certificate from 1995-2007 and for whom data could be obtained�Part 61 graduates' subsequent accident rate appeared on a par with Part 141 graduates, and pilots tested by DPEs appeared equivalent to those tested under school authority. Graduates tested by ASIs showed a statistically lower accident rate, but that particular result was based on a sample of only 22 pilots, rendering it unreliable from a practical point of view.

Recommendations include a) adoption of a common pilot identification number (UniqueID) for both FAA and NTSB, to minimize data loss, and b) that user's manuals be made publically available for FAA's CAIS and DIWS databases.

Key Words: ATCS Selection, Aptitude, Validity

No. of Pages: 31