An FAA aviation rulemaking committee has released its report on the state of FAA airman knowledge tests, and the news is good for pilots. The committee was composed of many of the most forward-thinking and experienced pilot-educators in the industry, and their findings represent the cutting edge of opinion on testing.
The authors spared no feelings on the part of the FAA in assessing the state of the current instruments, finding the current tests to be often outdated, irrelevant and trivial. The perception on the part of pilots, the authors said, is that some questions reinforce “the impression that the test is a barrier and not an important assessment,” and that “the tests should be purged of any questions that (1) only discern whether the applicant memorized a specific passage from a specific FAA publication, (2) contain a correct answer that is subjective to how the question is interpreted, or (3) are based on obscure or trivial information.” This recommendation mirrors the opinion of Flying magazine.
