Factors Contributing to the "DPE Shortage" - The CFI's Role (Part 1 of 3)

There are few topics that will conjure more animosity between students, Certificated Flight Instructors (CFIs), and Designated Pilot Examiners (DPEs) than the purported “DPE shortage.”  While this topic is not new, the last eighteen months saw the aviation community abuzz with related conversation to a level not before witnessed.  Simply uttering this two-word phrase in the wrong place might earn you a look askance or an irritated sigh.  Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) town halls fielded questions from frustrated CFIs while DPEs looked on in disapproval.  The FAA received numerous complaints from disenfranchised students – leading to an increase in DPE numbers.[1]  Well known VLOGs also hosted DPE interviews to generate greater awareness of evaluators’ frustrations that included a fair amount of finger-pointing.  While the complaints differed greatly, each of these three groups shared one important thing in common:  no sincere acceptance of accountability for their role in the “DPE shortage.” 

Much of what I heard or read was as soaked with emotion as a wet paper towel, but passion erodes objectivity as much it can breed animosity.  What our aviation community needs – the fix to this growing crisis – is each group owning its respective role in it.  Our continuing to hold one another in contempt does nothing to reduce or eliminate the 24,000 pilot vacancies estimated for calendar year 2026 or the more than 17,000 projected through 2032.[2]

As both a former student and now CFI, I must confess my own, initial lack of objectivity.  I found it difficult to watch the many videos and read the many posts DPEs eagerly generated and exercise genuine empathy.  Some anecdotes amounted to nothing short of open hostility toward my fellow instructors.  But after several months I realized just how much I had projected my own feelings onto the situation – a "defense mechanism" the Fundamentals of Instruction (FOIs) warn this former college professor and now CFI to guard against.[3]  So, I took a deep breath, put my professor hat back on, and set about to gather the facts. While I do not pretend to possess a perfect solution – there will always be more to learn and understand – I do aim to identify the biggest contributing factors from all three parties to the certification process.  In this first post of a three-part series, I set out to determine what more CFIs can do to alleviate the “DPE shortage.” I have withheld the identities of any quoted commentators. 

One well-known VLOG host recently opined, “in one year [tens of thousands] of checkrides didn’t happen…your CFI might be contributing to the problem.”  The invited DPE guest followed-up that comment with what they felt to be one of the chief causes: “CFIs – especially those who don’t teach full-time – not teaching to FAA standards.”  The DPE then recalled a check-ride where the student’s logbook did not include a long, solo cross-country flight where at least one of the landing points was “more than 50 nautical miles” from the originating airport.  Their words proved a perfect match to the "aeronautical experience requirements" listed for Private Pilot applicants in FAR Part 61, subpart E.[4] 

Another VLOG recorded impassioned discussion regarding another faux pau CFIs sometimes commit before a checkride: “wrongly worded endorsements.”  The pre-printed endorsements in the back of your leather-bound log that you bought from that popular pilot supplier may not be worded correctly!  Whether you’re a student or a CFI, I encourage you to compare the canned endorsements in the back of your logbook to those examples included in Advisory Circular 61-65K – they may by outdated (AC 61-65J was superseded on 14 November, 2025).[5]  When they do, the CFI must write or print out the correct version listed in the updated AC.  The VLOG also included a number of subjective conclusions that the numbers don’t support and that I’ll examine in later post, but the DPE was correct to point out that so many CFIs out there are not paying attention to the fine details and just as many students are turned away on test day because of it.

Students showing to check-rides (i.e., “flight tests”) missing the required flight time or with an improper endorsement almost always result in a cancelled check-ride.  DPEs typically spend the first twenty minutes of any practical test establishing students’ eligibility – reviewing their logbook to confirm that the hours recorded meets or exceeds the minimums stated in the FAR for the certificate sought.  The graded portion of the examine does not technically begin until eligibility is confirmed and so the above example did not result in a notice of disapproval (i.e., “failed checkride), but it did consume the DPE’s and student’s time.  Private Pilot check-rides last approximately half-a-day and establishing ineligibility early on is time lost to the DPE – a source of popular irritation.  It’s also a time slot that another eligible applicant might have scheduled to pass their checkride and earn a certificate.  The impact of ill-preparedness on DPE availability is a very real contributing factor to the “DPE shortage.”

So, what more can CFIs do?  The Theory of Constraints – a concept that underscored much of my teaching material in academia – suggests improving any process begins by examining where the slimmest “bottleneck” exists within that process, for cause.[6]  As the debate surrounding the “DPE shortage” suggests, aviation's bottleneck is the check-ride and it is here where CFIs might leverage the greatest impact.  While students must take their own responsibility for performance during evaluations, the above suggests CFIs must better prepare their students by confirming prerequisites as well.  While many of us can assert our knowledge of those with a high degree of integrity, overall performance suggests that a review of our responsibilities as stated in the Fundamentals of Instruction and Airmen Certification Standards are in order for many instructors:

• We CFIs are responsible for ensuring “safety, standards, helpfulness, adequacy, and positivity” in the training environment.  The above examples both fit under our responsibility to abide by training standards as stated within the Fundamentals of Instruction.[7]

  
  

• Read the applicable FAR subparts in Part 61 – those that apply to your student(s) – and commit numbers and major milestones to memory.  Students cannot show to a checkride with a “long cross-country” including a destination that measured exactly 50 miles from the point of origin when the FAR calls for “greater than.”[8]

  
  

• Read the applicable Airmen Certification Standards – those that apply to your student(s) – and commit those key facts and figures to memory as well.[9]  As I learned a few years ago, a commercial student not knowing they must enter any ground reference maneuver on the downwind (i.e., “from the correct direction”) could mean a checkride failure.[10] My CFI at the time appeared surprised by that feedback.

  
  

• Watch out for notices of “proposed changes to rulemaking.” Admittedly, the recent release of AC 61-65K and cancelation of the preceding “J” variant caught me off-guard – I didn’t learn of it until a week later and my ignorance could have cost a student a check-ride appointment during that period.[11]

At this point, I can sense the eye-rolling emanating from my fellow CFIs out there.  The above list is certainly familiar to most of you and no one enjoys a lecture – certainly not from a peer.  But some of you might be surprised by recent regulatory changes and DPEs losing their patience is of no help to us.  Given a choice, I’d prefer the lecture from one of my own versus a condemnation from an angry DPE after evaluating one of my students.  Thousands of checkrides are cancelled or cut short every year because we instructors sometimes overlook a fine detail when our students deserved better.[12]  While open hostility emanating from some of our DPEs detracts from their argument, it’s difficult to rally against it when something we’ve done may have contributed it.

One final suggestion:  attend the opening of your students’ check-rides if time permits.  Traveling to the testing location places additional demand on our schedules, but it could save even more time for everyone involved.  Those twenty minutes the student and DPE spend with one another reviewing eligibility sometimes reveal simple administrative mistakes (i.e., “wrongly worded endorsements”) that require mere minutes to fix if the CFI is present to do so.  But when the CFI is absent, it could mean a checkride slipping many weeks or even more.  If a typo that may have stopped a checkride from beginning is corrected before it can waste anyone’s time, your student is more likely to walk away with a smile on their face and a certificate in their hand.  If a typo that might have stopped a checkride from beginning is not corrected, it’s yet another datapoint that DPEs might use to visit their frustrations back on us, further inflaming the issue.  Investing more energy toward checkride preparation is our primary constraint within the training pipeline.  Investing more time there will go a long way to reduce student disappointments and simultaneously cut the tension within the certification process.

Fly on Folks,

Josh Meyer       

[1] “FAA Adds More DPEs To Ease Certification Delays,” by Amelia Walsh, AVweb, 2024: https://avweb.com/flight-safety/faa-adds-100-more-dpes-to-the-system/  

[2] “Pilot shortages deepen as high costs and aging workforce strain U.S. aviation,” by Mirella Franzese, Capital Analytics Associates, 2025: https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/pilot-shortages-deepen-as-high-costs-and-aging-workforce-strain-u-s-aviation/  

[3] Aviation Instructor’s Handbook, FAA, 2022, page 2-10:  https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/aviation_instructors_handbook

[4] Federal Aviation Regulation, Part 61, Subpart E,” FAA, 2025:  https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-61/subpart-E

[5] Advisory Circular 61-65K – Certification of Pilots and Flight and Ground Instructors, FAA, 2025: https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_61-65K.pdf

[6] “Theory of Constraints,” Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt, 2021:  https://www.tocinstitute.org/theory-of-constraints.html

[7] Aviation Instructor’s Handbook, FAA, 2022, pages 8-1 – 8-3:  https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/aviation_instructors_handbook

[8] Federal Aviation Regulations, FAA, 2025, Part 61:  https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-61

[9] Airmen Certification Standards, FAA, 2018 – 2025:  https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs

[10] Ibid.

[11] “Advisory Circulars,” FAA, 2025:  https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/

[12] “Optimizing National Checkride Efficiency!” by David St. George, 2025:  https://safeblog.org/2025/06/07/optimizing-national-checkride-efficiency/