The flight training industry—and aviation as a whole—suffered a blow whose full ramifications still remain to be seen when on April 2, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit made its ruling on Warbird Adventures, Inc., et. al. v. FAA. The ruling declined to reverse an emergency cease-and-desist order meted out by the FAA in July 2020 barring Warbird Adventures, a Kissimmee, Florida-based boutique flight school, from providing flight instruction for compensation or hire in a dual control World War II P-40 fighter training aircraft certificated in the limited category.
An FAA and Federal Court Interpretation of the FARs Threatens Flight Instruction
Key Takeaways:
- The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld an FAA ruling that redefines paid flight instruction as "carriage of persons for compensation or hire," overturning decades of historical interpretation by the FAA itself.
- This new interpretation effectively renders most current compensated flight training illegal, requiring flight schools and independent instructors to operate under commercial air carrier certificates (e.g., Part 135), which most cannot meet.
- The decision significantly impacts flight instructor certificates, potentially invalidating compensated instruction by sport pilot instructors or CFIs using third-class medicals/BasicMed, and raises concerns about aviation safety by disincentivizing traditional commercial maintenance schedules.
- Though the court labeled its decision non-precedential, the FAA can still utilize it as a precedent in future enforcement actions, threatening widespread disruptions across the flight training industry.
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