If you’ve tried to schedule a checkride in the past year or two, you may have discovered a frustrating reality: in many parts of the country, the wait for a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) is measured in weeks — sometimes months. This isn’t a local problem at a busy metro airport. It’s a nationwide bottleneck that is slowing pilot certification, costing students money in proficiency-maintenance flying, and creating real friction in the aviation training pipeline at exactly the wrong moment — when the industry needs pilots most.
What Is a DPE and Why Do They Matter?
A Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) is an experienced certificated pilot designated by the FAA under 14 CFR Part 183 to administer practical tests (checkrides) for pilot certificates and ratings. DPEs serve as a critical link in the certification pipeline: every Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, CFI, and ATP checkride in the civilian sector must be administered by either a DPE or an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI).
The FAA’s workforce of ASIs is nowhere near large enough to handle the volume of practical tests conducted each year. DPEs fill that gap — and the gap is enormous. According to FAA data, over 90% of practical tests in the U.S. are administered by DPEs, not FAA employees. That means the DPE network is not a supplemental resource — it is the certification system.
How Severe Is the Shortage? The Real Numbers
The DPE shortage has been building for years, but it accelerated dramatically alongside the post-COVID pilot training boom. Key data points:
- The U.S. had approximately 3,600 active DPEs as of 2024, according to FAA Airmen Certification Branch data. That number has been relatively flat while the number of pilot starts — and therefore checkride demand — has grown significantly.
- Student pilot starts have surged: The FAA reported over 70,000 new student pilot certificates issued in 2022, the highest in years, driven by the pilot shortage and COVID-era aviation interest. This surge works through the pipeline and hits the DPE system 12–18 months later as students reach checkride-readiness.
- Wait times of 4–8 weeks have become common in many markets for Private Pilot and Instrument Rating checkrides. In some regions — particularly the Southeast, parts of Texas, and Pacific Northwest — waits have exceeded 3–4 months for certain certificate types.
- CFI checkride availability is especially constrained: CFI practical tests are among the longest and most demanding, which means fewer DPEs conduct them per day. Combined with high demand from pilots finishing commercial training, CFI checkride wait times often exceed those for Private Pilot tests.
Why Is There a DPE Shortage?
1. The DPE Application Process Is Slow and Restrictive
Becoming a DPE requires a lengthy FAA application, recommendation by a local FSDO, a comprehensive knowledge evaluation, and final designation approval — a process that can take 12–24 months from start to finish. The FAA’s Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) control DPE designations in their regions, and the pace of new designations has not kept up with retirements and increasing demand.
2. DPE Retirements Outpacing New Designations
The current DPE workforce skews older. Many DPEs are retired airline captains or senior aviation professionals who entered the role late in their careers. As this cohort ages out, the pipeline of replacements has not filled the gap. A DPE who retires takes their authorization — and their years of examiner experience — with them.
3. Geographic Concentration
DPEs are not evenly distributed across the country. High-density aviation markets (Phoenix, Dallas, South Florida, Los Angeles) may have adequate DPE availability, while rural regions and smaller aviation markets can have a single DPE covering a large area. A DPE can only conduct a limited number of checkrides per day, and one DPE serving 50 students within a 150-mile radius creates an inevitable bottleneck.
4. Scope Restrictions
Each DPE’s designation authorizes them to conduct specific types of practical tests — not all of them. A DPE authorized only for Private Pilot and Instrument Rating cannot also conduct Commercial or CFI checkrides. This specialization means that even in regions with multiple DPEs, specific certificate types may still have inadequate examiner coverage.
The Real Cost to Students and Flight Schools
The DPE shortage has direct, measurable costs:
- Proficiency maintenance flying: A student who is checkride-ready but waiting 6 weeks for a DPE must continue flying to maintain currency. At $170–$200/hour, maintaining proficiency during a 6-week wait might cost $1,000–$2,000 in additional flying before the checkride even happens.
- Training pipeline delays: For career-track pilots, a 2-month delay at the CFI checkride stage delays the start of the hour-building phase by 2 months — pushing airline hiring timelines accordingly.
- Student frustration and dropout: The FAA’s own research has found that motivation and momentum are critical to student completion. Extended waits between checkride-readiness and actual testing are a known contributor to student attrition.
- Financial burden on flight schools: Schools that guarantee training program timelines face reputational risk when DPE availability outside their control creates delays.
What the FAA Is Doing About It
The FAA has acknowledged the DPE shortage and is taking several steps to address it:
- DPE Reform Initiative: The FAA’s Flight Standards Service has been working on streamlining the DPE application and designation process — reducing the time from application to designation and expanding the geographic scope of existing DPE authorizations.
- Expanded scope authorizations: The FAA has begun allowing qualified DPEs to conduct practical tests outside their traditional FSDO geographic boundaries, increasing the effective reach of the existing DPE workforce.
- Aviation Workforce Act provisions: The 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act included provisions directing the FAA to address DPE shortage issues, increase transparency in the designation process, and set response time requirements for FSDO processing of DPE applications.
- Industry partnerships: Some large flight training organizations — including ATP Flight School — have worked with the FAA to designate in-house examiners for their own student populations under special authorization arrangements, similar to air carrier examining authority.
How to Navigate the DPE Shortage as a Student
- Schedule your checkride early. As soon as your instructor believes you’ll be ready within 4–6 weeks, start contacting DPEs. Don’t wait until you’re “completely ready” — by the time a slot opens, you will be.
- Expand your geographic search. A DPE one or two hours away may have significantly shorter wait times than local examiners. The cost of driving to a checkride is trivial compared to the cost of extra proficiency flying while waiting for a local slot.
- Use the FAA’s DPE locator. The FAA maintains a searchable database of active DPEs at av-info.faa.gov. Check multiple FSDOs’ worth of examiners.
- Ask your flight school. Established flight schools typically have working relationships with multiple DPEs and can often facilitate scheduling faster than students can independently.
Checkride Support at Skyfare Academy
At Skyfare Academy, we actively help our students navigate DPE scheduling as part of our training program. We maintain relationships with qualified examiners across our region and work proactively to schedule checkrides as early as students approach readiness — minimizing the wait-time problem before it becomes a delay. Our goal is to get you from ready to certificated as efficiently as possible. Contact us to learn more.
