If you’ve ever wondered why the FAA’s pilot written exams still contain questions about outdated technologies like loran, microwave landing systems and VHF/DF steer, you’re not alone. A special pilot testing working group has identified dozens of questions on the Private, Commercial and ATP written tests that it says are obsolete. It is asking the FAA to remove the questions and notify training providers so they can update their training curricula.
Headed by Jason Blair, the former executive director of the National Association of Flight Instructors, and David Oord, manager of regulatory affairs for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the Airman Testing Standards and Training Working Group has been tasked with identifying questions that should be removed from FAA pilot written tests because they contain incorrect or outdated material. The exams are chock full of questions created more than 30 years ago. Some of them are fine as written, but too many are showing their age, safety experts say.
