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Factors Contributing to the DPE Shortage – The Student’s Role (Part 2 of 3)

  • Writer: JM
    JM
  • Dec 26, 2025
  • 7 min read

Updated: Jan 21

In part one of this three-part series, I identified and discussed the most proactive measures Certificated Flight Instructors (CFIs) might implement to alleviate the “DPE shortage” within the general aviation industry.  Chief among these were knowledge of the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) – and ensuring students met them – and writing the “properly-worded” endorsements in student logs as spelt out in Advisory Circular (AC) 61-65K.[1],[2] Designated Pilot Examiners (DPEs) must ascertain a student’s qualification prior to initiating any exam and instructors correctly and diligently recording training and endorsements in their students’ flight logs is the single best way to enable an accurate appraisal of preparedness.  It’s a CFI’s most potent prescription for preventing check-ride cancellations and saving our DPEs’ time.  But the suggestions I identified in part one only addressed the responsibilities to one party within this three-dimensional problem.  There is much more that students and DPEs might also do to address the certification bottleneck.  In part two, we’ll shift our analysis of the “DPE shortage” to the student – seeking to identify and discuss what more they can do to better ensure their own preparedness for a check-ride and save their DPE’s time.


Before I begin, it’s worth illuminating two key truths about flight students.  First – as former student – I remember just how naïve I was to the inner-workings of airman certification before my first check-ride.  As busy as I was committing flight, regulatory, and weather fundamentals to memory and honing my application of them, AC 61-65 was not yet known to me.  Neither the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) made reference to it, nor did my CFI make any mention of it.  Thus, I will not hold students accountable for the information contained therein or any other regulation CFIs ought to be responsible for.  While there are some DPEs out there who have suggested that initial flight students (i.e., pursuing a first flight certificate) reference the above AC to double-check their instructors, I’ll disagree with this practice as a matter of principle.  Just because a suggestion might prove proactive, doesn’t make it effective.  Students assuming more of the administrative legwork does little to hold CFIs accountable in the long run – it doesn’t solve any of the problems I discussed in part one. 


Second, my own students’ preoccupation with the fundamentals and my responsibilities as a CFI stand firmly in opposition to the idea of adding yet another complex piece of guidance to the long list they must already learn.[3]  A student’s focus should not be on those aspects of the administrative process that are not within their direct control (i.e., “properly worded endorsements”).  Students should be focused on the aforementioned fundamentals as well as their responsibilities as future “Pilots-in-Command.”  They are not in need of any additional regulatory burdens.  The idea that a student ought to double-check their instructor’s responsibilities constitutes a distraction from their own and at a time when they can least afford it. 


With those two truths in mind, I’ll begin by recalling an independent CFI I flew with a few years back ahead of my Commercial Pilot certification.  This person came highly recommended and my interacting with them beforehand left me no reason to suspect their assertiveness and courtesy.  Things went awry on the flight deck during our first lesson – however – with this CFI’s incorrect interpretation of a “proper traffic pattern.”  They insisted on an 800-foot Above Ground Level (AGL) altitude in the downwind when the FAA’s guidance stated, “1,000 feet above the elevation of the airport surface” unless otherwise noted in the Chart Supplement.  While my naivete to Commercial Pilot standards encouraged a more open mind in the moment, a quick review of the Airplane Flying Handbook and Chart Supplement that evening confirmed what I already knew about the traffic pattern at that airfield.[4],[5]  My approaching him before our next lesson to discuss this only put him on the defensive.  “Josh,” he said, “I’ve been flying lower altitudes and tighter patterns since I learned to fly…the FAA needs to get out of the way.”  Not only had this CFI not lived up to their own responsibility to teach to the “standard,” but their “projecting” accountability back onto the FAA revealed a great deal about his character.


Another CFI I flew with – shortly after I had earned my Private Pilot Certificate – also stands out.  I was shopping for an aircraft at the time and thought a Piper Cherokee would prove to be a less expensive, but equally capable alternative to a Cessna.  Upon learning that a Part 61 Flight School in my area offered one for rent, I inquired about “checking-out” in the aircraft to learn more about how it handled.  This flight lesson proved disappointing from the get-go, however.  After securing the keys and checklists from the main office we made our way to the flight-line where the CFI spent the better part of thirty minutes chatting with a friend.  When I politely interjected, the CFI responded with, “you’re a licensed pilot.  You can go perform the walk-around on your own.”  I walked out to find an aircraft that differed significantly from the Cessna make and model that I had flown exclusively up to that point.  Simply locating the fuel sumps and light switches on the flight deck of a novel Piper Cherokee took me fifteen minutes. 


In the air, I learned just how inconsistent this aircraft’s particular radio was.  We could barely hear the tower’s instructions upon our return to land and it had crossed my mind to squawk “7600” as much as the radio was cutting in and out.[6]  Upon inquiring to the CFI about this he remarked, “yeah, it’s been acting strangely since last week.  A student and I had to squawk ‘no radio’ during our last lesson…looks like the mechanics still haven’t fixed it.”  My response was less than pleasant, “and you didn’t think to record that in the squawk list so that I might know about it before I started the airplane?”  I never flew with this person again. 

   

As students, you may not control the syllabus, the training pace, or even the instructor in part 141 environments, but you are the ultimate authority on whether training proceeds or ends.  You are the paying customer!  If your CFI – or flight school – gives you any reason to doubt their quality, then do yourself a favor, save your money, and move on.  Identifying poor quality is a difficult thing to do, especially as a new student.  But a combination of arming yourself with the right information as well as heeding your intuition are sufficient to protect yourself in most training contexts:

 

  • DPEs are correct to hold students accountable for the information listed in the Airman Certification Standards respective to the certificate they are seeking.  But if you know the ACS, it also gives you a place to start when confronting an instructor or deciding to move on.

 

  • The same can be said for FAR parts 61 and 91.[7]  Taking the time to familiarize yourself with the basic standards listed therein will prepare you for the check-ride and give you a basis for approaching your CFI with questions or deciding to seek out another instructor.

 

  • Basic respect and courtesy are the hallmarks of a professional educator.[8]  If your CFI is routinely late, is constantly distracted by their cellphone in the plane, is easily frustrated, minimizes your concerns, etc., then you can’t expect this person to adequately plan, execute, and record you flight training.  Heed your intuition!  If your subconscious is telling you something isn’t right about the interaction, then there is almost certainly cause for concern.

 

  • FAA lawyers penned the majority of what you’ll read in the two above documents and so they are difficult to digest.[9]  But any CFI worth their wings will structure ground lessons on deciphering the meanings of these documents – many of the FAA’s written test questions will ask you to recall information from the FARs and DPEs will do the same during the oral portion of your flight test (i.e. “check-ride”).

 

  • Great instructors assign reading and homework.  They know that learning doesn’t stop the moment you shake hands and call it “done” after a day of flying or ground instruction.  Quality CFIs understand the “law of exercise” and assign homework.[10]  So too do great learners – hours of study are required to master aeronautical concepts outside of the flight deck or classroom.      

 

The above list emphasizes CFI selection and accountability as the primary means via which students can address DPE availability.  A quality CFI will do everything they can to ensure you are ready – both technically and administratively – before your check-ride.  Poor CFIs are too distracted with chasing hours or resurrecting a bygone era to focus on what’s best for you.  Students can do their part to alleviate the “DPE shortage” by seeking out quality CFIs who will best ensure their preparedness and minimize the likelihood of appointment cancellations and check-ride failures.

 

One last point:  quality training takes time and effort.  One DPE recently opined online that, “students must take accountability to prepare, after all it is their check-ride.”  As a both a former flight student and former college professor, I strongly agree with that assertion.  One of my former schools even compelled my students to sign an “agreement” to conscientiously undertake the work we required of them.  While the FAA doesn’t compel student pilots to sign anything before training begins, the highest performing students have mentally committed to the hard work ahead of them and can effectively schedule the time required.


The information you’ll encounter related to weather theory, aeronautical engineering, and regulation are on par with materials you’ll learn in 101 courses at colleges offering programs on these subjects.  The online world is replete with flight school’s offering online ground training programs that all but guarantee a mastery of the materiel within a certain time frame.  But I almost always chuckle and shake my head each time my YouTube playlist breaks for one of these advertisements.  The nearly three-foot tall stack of flashcards in my office is proof that we can’t download all we must know in a short timeframe – this isn’t The Matrix.  Investing the time – to shop for a quality instructor and to study effectively – is perhaps the most potent tool students have at their disposal to better the likelihood of passing a check-ride and increasing DPE availability.

 

Fly on Folks,

Josh Meyer


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

[2] “Airman Certification Standards,”  FAA, 2025:  https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs

[6] FAA Order 7110.65BB, FAA, 2025, Section 2, “Beacon/ADS-B Systems”:  https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/atc_html/chap5_section_2.html  

 
 
 

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