A working group that is part of the FAA Air Carrier Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee has submitted recommendations to the FAA for modernizing pilot training for Part 135 air carriers. The Air Carrier & Contract Training Working Group (AC & CT WG) recommended that the FAA “align regulations under Part 135 and Part 142 to reduce administrative inefficiencies, develop a standardized training curriculum model for 135 operators and to develop scenario-enhanced recurrent (SER) training and checking for 135 operators.” 

The working group includes NATA and NBAA, training providers CAE and FlightSafety International and operating members led by Jet Logistics and Reynolds Jet.

According to NBAA, the working group has been developing these recommendations during the past two years. One of the group’s first moves two years ago was to formulate recommendations regarding expansion of check pilot functions during initial and recurrent testing, and the FAA made changes reflected in Notice 8900.270.

Regarding the latest recommendations, NBAA noted, “An optional standardized training curriculum would allow operators to avoid delays associated with securing approval of a training program, create consistency among operators, and provide feedback data on training to the FAA.” Development of a standardized recurrent training program for each aircraft type would be the responsibility of a Training Standards Board, which would include contract training providers, aircraft manufacturers, operators and the FAA. The purpose of the SER training would be to help operators improve on training that has become routine, allowing training center instructors “to create a realistic operating environment, including a framework for developing multiple-day scenarios of staged training and checking that allows the pilot to complete designated tasks within the framework of a typical trip profile.”

According to AC & CT WG chair John McGraw, NATA’s director of regulatory affairs, “The industry has been looking for training reform for quite some time. These recommendations will help pave the way for sweeping changes in on-demand air carrier training.”

"These standardized training programs will provide an option for operators to focus on the bigger picture of their training, and therefore raise the safety bar, in lieu of spending time to resolve small differences in the training and checking programs for crew and instructors,” said Mark Larsen, NBAA senior manager of safety and flight operations. “In addition, the data that will interface with this industry-wide program will allow risk-based updates to the programs to address data-identified risks to business aviation operators, and further keep the safety bar rising.”