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NTSB: CFI’s Need More FAA Oversight

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
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The NTSB recommended the FAA enhance oversight of flight instructors with substandard student pass rates (below 80%), implement automated alert systems, and use pass rates as a criterion for additional scrutiny, following a fatal crash linked to a pilot trained by such an instructor.
  • Florida's St Pete-Clearwater International Airport experienced a prolonged "ATC Zero" event for nearly two weeks due to staff exposure, requiring alternative air traffic services.
  • Increased military GPS interference testing is causing a significant rise in aviation safety incidents, including lost signals, navigation errors, and off-course flights, with many pilots reportedly ignoring Notam 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.”

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