Price Fixing

This past week proved to be a revelation.  Aviation continues to teach me important lessons some seven years into my own journey and this one will feature prominently.  Over the past few years, students and Certificated Flight Instructors (CFIs) have taken to open forums to protest check-ride price hikes that outpace the nation’s rapid rate of inflation.  Along the I-70 corridor, students can now expect to pay a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) the hefty sum of $1,000 for a Private Pilot Checkride – that’s $250 an hour for an exam that typically lasts half-a-day (approximately four hours).  In 2020, my own Private Pilot Checkride cost a relatively modest $600.  Costs for Commercial, Insturment, and CFI practical exams have risen even higher, with the latter of these now fetching $1,600!

So, what gives?  In Factors Contributing to the DPE Shortage – the DPE’s Role (Part 3), I wrote that the total rate of inflation between 2020 and today – the length of time that has passed since my own PPL exam – stands at approximately 25%.[1]  At that rate, what was a $600 checkride in 2020 should cost only $750 today, within our geographic region.  But the average cost currently stands at $1,000.  That $400 price jump corresponds to a 67% inflation rate – more than 2.5 times the national average.  A Google or YouTube search will yield a plethora of DPEs taking to the net in both written and video contexts, attributing their rapid rise in prices to “market forces.”  But in the same aforementioned post, I also reported the FAA’s recent approval of additional DPEs to meet rising demand.  The increased number of checkrides between Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and FY 2025 confirms a positive trend, with the number of checkrides between those same two FY’s rising from 129,000 to over 140,000.[2]  While some DPEs are working much harder than others, the FAA has acted upon increases in demand for testing services.  In light of the increasing supply of evaluators, I find it difficult for a DPE to cite rising demand as the primary impetus behind their price increases.[3]

I recently discovered another variable at play, however.  Last month, I emailed a DPE to inquire about availability and price on behalf of one of my students.  Their email reply arrived over two weeks later and stated, “…my rate will be $1,000 cash, check, or Venmo for PPL.”  That was $100 more than the $900 this same DPE had advertised before the New Year and so I followed up, “…could you help me understand the price?  That’s up $100 from two months ago and is far higher than the $600 I paid for my PPL.”  The DPE then call by phone to explain, “$1,000 is what we all agreed to.”  Still on the phone, I lowered my face into my hands.  “Who’s we?” I asked, already certain of the response. “The other DPEs in the area and I agreed to charge students $1,000 for Private Pilot certifications.”  “Really?” I countered frustratingly, “do you realize what you’ve actually just done?”  “I know we’re not supposed to, but we have bills to pay and….” Nearly half-a-dozen excuses followed attempting to justify what “they” had decided and why.  This DPE then attempted to shift the responsibility for their cost increase back on me stating, “If you feel my price to be too high, you can always schedule with another DPE.”

Those closest to me know about my tenure in law enforcement and the federal government.  I can assert that this DPE had just unknowingly admitted to a federal crime.  The Sherman Act expressly prohibits businesses of any size, scope, or field from engaging in “price fixing” (i.e. agreeing on prices with competitors for the same product or service).  Penalties include over $1,000,000 in fines and up to ten years in federal prison for even small business owners who engage it.  DPEs and independent CFIs like myself constitute “small business owners” and so fall within this law’s purview.[4] 

Credit: Investopedia / Michela Buttignol

Department of Transportation Order 8900.95D also addresses DPE checkride rates and all but outlaws the practice.  This order compels DPEs to, “Charge Reasonable Applicant Fees.”  “Reasonable” in this context means fees based solely on local “supply and demand.”[5]  Fee increases that a group of DPEs have agreed to in private occurs beyond the influence of market forces.  “Price fixing” violates the very Designee Management Policy that DPEs are expected to uphold regarding their own conduct.  This hypocrisy – passionately holding students and CFIs to FAA regulations while simultaneously violating their own code of conduct to their own benefit – is unprofessional to say the very least. 

My response to this DPE or any of their colleagues reading this is threefold:

1. “Price fixing” is illegal and ignorance of the law excuses no one.  The feds have zero tolerance for organized crime, no matter if the “organization” means well or is truly nefarious.  Take it from me on this one: you don’t want federal law enforcement even suspecting you of this practice.   

   
   

2. Most young aspiring pilots aren’t wealthy and take on enormous debt to fund their way to the airlines.  “Price fixing” is an affront to their effort and sacrifice.  One fellow aviator of mine had to quit flying – cease his dream – and take up a non-flying job to pay off his $70,000 flight training loan.  To say that he’s demotivated by the experience would be an understatement and he is by no means alone.  Charging exorbitant checkride fees only adds to the financial burden and the growing negativity that DPEs have begun to complain about.

   
   

3. Any aviator in a position of authority – a DPE, CFI, or PIC – who cannot regulate their own behavior has no business policing others.  Hypocrisy is a poor optic and a risky foundation on which to represent the industry.  How might the greater public – or at least the flying community – respond if this practice were brought to their attention in the media?  Scandals almost always ruin their perpetrators and those associated with them.  In light of the January 2025 aircraft crash into the Potomac, the heated debate surrounding the ROTOR Act, and the NTSB pointing its finger at the FAA, our community can scarcely afford more negative press.[6] A large group of DPEs found complicit in a pricing scheme would garner additional unwanted attention.  

To be clear, I’m not saying camaraderie amongst DPEs is illegal.  Pilots and evaluators have so much to learn from each other and the friends we make in aviation add so much more to what is already a rewarding experience.  If you want to socialize with your colleagues over a “$100 hamburger,” a beer, or during the “big game,” then by all means do so.  And if you just so happen to find your “tribe” amongst those same colleagues and want to treat them like family during Christmas or invite them to a wedding, great!  But family or not, you still can’t scheme with them on prices so long as you’re in commercial competition with each other.  Period.  

In Factors Contributing to the DPE Shortage – the CFI’s Role (Part 1) I discussed what more CFIs can do to alleviate the “purported DPE shortage.”  But I’m going to add one more item to that list: report “price fixing” when you or your students encounter it.  Our community deserves so much more from those of us who are appointed to a special position of responsibility and trust within it.  If you witness a DPE engaging in “price fixing” or they confess the practice to you, contact your local Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) and notify them right away.  Still not satisfied?  Then call your local branch of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and tell them.  They’ll be all too eager to investigate and prosecute anyone wrongdoing.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this practice must stop.  The upward trend of prices for training services, aircraft maintenance, and aviation gas – just to name a few – keep flying out of financial reach for so many and at time when this nation faces a chronic shortage of trained aviators.  Fixing checkride prices only reinforces that trend and injects animosity into an already uneasy relationship between DPEs, CFIs and students.  If we wish to do more to secure the future of our community, we must all be vigilant to “price fixing” and cease tolerating it.

Fly on Folks,

Josh Meyer  

[1] “Current US Inflation Rates: 2000-2026,” CoinNews Media Group, 2026: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/

[2]  Mark Ryan, “Report Shows Rise in DPE Supply,” Flight Schools Association of North America (FSANA), AVweb.com, 2025: https://avweb.com/aviation-news/report-shows-rise-in-dpe-supply/

[3] Ibid.

[4] Department of Justice, “Price Fixing, Bid Rigging, and Market Allocation Schemes: What they Are and What to Look For.” Justice.gov, 2021: https://www.justice.gov/d9/pages/attachments/2016/01/05/211578.pdf

[5] Department of Transportation, Department of Transportation Order 8900.95D. FAA.gov, 2025:  https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Order/Order_8000.95D.pdf

[6] Reuters, “NTSB says House Bill Falls Short on Advice Against Mid-Air Collisions,” reuters.com, 2026: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ntsb-says-house-bill-does-not-fully-address-mid-air-collision-safety-2026-02-26/