There is no such thing as a “Part 61 Flight School” CFR 14 (FARs), but you hear this phrase all the time. A part 61 operation is just a collection of individual FAA CFIs, usually under a single employer, connected to a stable of aircraft and (hopefully) a common insurance policy. There is no FAA oversight or guidance (except for the regulations) for these organizations, yet they do 77% of all flight training in the US! Training under Part 141 is a much more tightly controlled environment, but sometimes that is exactly the problem; too hard to obtain and impossible to breathe!
If you instruct under CFR Part 61 you are individually responsible as the “certificated CFI” providing instruction regardless of how much guidance your organization provides. You are the PIC of this training and totally responsible if bad things happen (they come to see you)! Even the so-called “check pilots” under Part 61 training are a creation of this same private organization. They are not evaluated or approved by the FAA. Part 61 flight training has no Training Course Outline approved by the FAA, no required (or approved) syllabus and no Air Agency Certificate. Some of the largest flight training organizations (e.g. ALL-ATP “Flight Schools”) operate under CFR 61 and independently create and maintain their own private standards. Even if the CFIs are “employees” instead of “contractors,” in the eyes of the FAA each separate CFI is the responsible party under the authority of their personal CFI Certificate.
These Part 61 operations can be as good (or even better) than a 141 “FAA Pilot School” but there are many reasons they are not 141-Approved. If asked the common answers are usually “all those 141 regulations inhibit good education” or “it’s impossible to get a 141 approval.” There are horror stories of the significant wait times and the associated costs. These are the problems that need to be fixed. If this system were operating correctly, “FAA-Approved Pilot Schools” would be the most common training and also provide consistently superior training. The Airline Consortium already submitted their (186 page) proposal for a new “super 141” system with many interesting initiatives. This was, however, created with no GA input.
With FAA 141 Modernization, there is a push for more of these Part 61 flight training entities to apply and qualify under Part 141 as “Approved Pilot Schools” with an Air Agency Certificate, and approved TCOs/Syllabi (announcement for input). Under this system, the FAA would provide specific guidance, approval, and continuous oversight. The guiding document right now is AC-141-1B but this will probably be “modernized” also with the public input.
In “modernized 141,” the FAA would still have control over the quality of the training, but the new rules would be decided through industry input. The theoretical incentive for this transformation to Part 141 is that more of these new 141 Flight Schools would be approved for “examining authority,” at least to the private pilot level (and gradually increase with proven performance). With this approval, pilots graduating from an approved 141 course do not require a DPE part 61 flight evaluation; they graduate as fully fledged pilots. More information on SAFE’s position on 141 will be forthcoming (with member input).
All these parameters are under review and your suggestions as flight training providers are solicited by the FAA (Federal Register of curated meetings). The National Flight Training Alliance is the organization in charge of the process of input. Lee Collins of NFTA.will be at the SAFE CFI Roundtable to discuss the process. Sporty’s even provided some guidance HERE at the Redbird Migration.
SAFE at Sun ‘N Fun: B-80/81
CFI Roundtable (FREE Ice Cream) Prop 75!
