The Vanishing Complex Trainer

The FAA has more plans in the works for Part 61, but, as they saw from the over 400 comments to the Notice for Proposed Rulemaking (NRPM), some of this thinking isnt fully cooked. Part of the plan was to provide some relief for flight schools who find it harder and harder to find (and afford to keep) complex trainers on the flight line.

Key Takeaways:

• The FAA is proposing Part 61 changes to address flight schools' difficulties in finding and affording complex aircraft for training.
• One proposal, allowing FADEC aircraft to count as complex, is criticized for replacing actual mechanical complexity (e.g., retractable gear, flaps) with a simpler system.
• Another plan suggests replacing the complex training requirement with 10 hours of advanced instrument training, which the author sees as potentially valuable.
• The author emphasizes the critical need to update Practical Test Standards (PTS) to remove the complex aircraft testing requirement, otherwise the proposed changes would be ineffective.

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