Check Rides Grind to a Halt After IACRA System Failure

The system outage comes amid an ongoing pilot examiner shortage that has already forced some applicants to wait weeks for a test date.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, March 03, 2023 at 12:33 PM ET

Verified

Flight training. [Credit: Daryl LaBello/Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University]

Key Takeaways:

The FAA's Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application (IACRA) system has experienced sporadic failures and a significant outage, making it impossible for designated pilot examiners to conduct essential check rides.
The FAA confirmed a recent outage from February 27-28 that resulted in some data loss, requiring manual processing for certain applications and potentially necessitating applicants to redo account creations or password changes.
These system failures cause considerable frustration for applicants who lose time and money, delay pilot certifications, and exacerbate the existing pilot shortage.

See a mistake? Contact us.

In January, the FAA’s Notice to Air Mission (NOTAM) system crashed, spurring a ground stop of commercial air traffic. Today, it’s the sporadic failures of the FAA’s Integrated Airman Certification and Rating Application system (IACRA) that are making it nearly impossible for designated pilot examiners to perform check rides.

“It’s been going up and down for days,” said Doug Stewart, a DPE from the east coast. Stewart was also the first executive director of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators, an organization that, along with the National Association of Flight Instructors, strives to improve the quality of flight instruction to create better pilots.