In yet another case of local interpretation of federal regulations, at the Long Beach, Calif., Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) FAA inspectors have decided that contract pilots cannot fly for different Part 135 operators without undergoing full initial training on each aircraft that they fly. This means is that if a pilot wants to fly for two different operators that each operate, say, a King Air 200, the pilot must undergo the full initial training course for the King Air 200 two times, once for each charter operator. It doesn’t matter, operators told AIN, whether the pilot completed initial King Air 200 training for the first operator just weeks before. That pilot will have to undergo the exact same systems and simulator or airplane sessions to fly for the second operator. There is no provision for differences training for just the policies and procedures that differ between the two operators.
JetFlite International (formerly Air Rutter International), a Long Beach charter operator, told AIN it has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in charters that it had to cancel because the company’s FAA principal operations inspector insisted that contract pilots must undergo full initial training in each airplane they fly for each company they fly for. Hiring enough full-time pilots to cover potential charters is simply not possible, but the local FAA is not allowing JetFlite to use contract pilots unless they have undergone the full initial training under JetFlite’s training program, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars, even if that pilot is current on the specific aircraft type.
More In Charter & Fractional
