NTSB: CFI's Need More FAA Oversight

NTSB: CFI’s Need More FAA Oversight

Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 09:56 AM ET

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The graphic accompanying an FAA flight advisory for GPS interference testing centered on Idaho's Mountain Home Air Force Base shows signal disruption is possible at FL250 within a 184 nm radius, or even at 50 feet all within an 84 nm radius

Key Takeaways:

The NTSB issued recommendations to the FAA for increased oversight of flight instructors, particularly those with substandard student pass rates, following a fatal crash involving a pilot taught by such an instructor.
Recommendations include developing automated alerts for low pass rates and incorporating these rates as a criterion for additional instructor surveillance.
A significant "ATC Zero" event occurred at St Pete-Clearwater International Airport (KPIE) with an extended closure due to staff exposure, disrupting IFR services.
Military GPS interference testing has substantially increased, leading to a rise in reported incidents of navigation loss, off-course flights, and autopilot errors, despite many pilots ignoring warnings.

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As a result of its ongoing investigation into the fatal June 21, 2019, crash of a Beech A90 King Air after takeoff from a Hawaiian parachute operation, the NTSB is issuing three recommendations to the FAA calling for increased oversight of flight instructors, especially those CFIs with “substandard student pass rates.” According to the NTSB, the “accident pilot had failed three initial flight tests…after receiving instruction from a single instructor.”

After each failure, the accident pilot subsequently passed his flight tests but “the pass rate for other students taught by the same flight instructor was 59 percent (for the two-year period ending in April 2020).” The NTSB noted, “FAA data show the average national pass rate for students of all flight instructors is 80 percent.”