A reader recently took me to task for writing that the FAA is reinterpreting Part 135 regulations, in a story about the FAA's belief that contract charter instructors and check airmen apparently are not complying with the rules. This reader believes that this particular rule is not subject to interpretation and that training school instructors and check airmen have simply not been complying with the rules and that it's about time the FAA cracked down. Never mind that this could put charter operators out of business or force them to comply by avoiding training altogether—which is legal—and having check rides done by FAA inspectors, or simply conducting training in aircraft instead of simulators.
Now this just isn't so. The FAA is going to crack down on compliance with the rule, supposedly to improve safety, and in order to comply with that rule, offer incentives for operators to operate less safely.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
