New FAA Part 121 rules require 1,500 flight hours to become first officer

FAA has issued a new final rule requiring pilots to accumulate 1,500 flight hours before becoming a first officer at a Part 121 US airline, but the agency does allow for some exceptions.

FAA was mandated to raise commercial airline pilot training requirements by Congress, which passed aviation safety legislation in 2010 in response to the 2009 Colgan Air crash. FAA’s proposed rule on pilot certification calling for the 1,500-hours requirement, issued early in 2012, has been criticized by many regional airlines and pilot training instructors as creating a hurdle that is too high and too expensive for many aspiring pilots to clear.

The final rule, which had been long-awaited, requires first officers at Part 121 US airlines to hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, which demands that a pilot be at least 23 years old, pass a test demonstrating knowledge of the aircraft category and class he or she will be operating, and have accumulated a minimum of 1,500 flight hours.

First officers currently must have only an instrument rating and commercial pilot certificate requiring just 250 hours. The 24-year-old first officer in the Colgan Bombardier Q400 crash, which killed 50 people, had a commercial pilot certificate but not an ATP certificate.

New US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement that “safety will be my overriding priority,” adding, “We owe it to the traveling public to have only the most qualified and best trained pilots.”

FAA administrator Michael Huerta said, “The rule gives first officers a stronger foundation of aeronautical knowledge and experience before they fly for an air carrier.”

The final rule’s enhanced requirements for an ATP certificate include “50 hours of multi-engine flight experience and completion of a new FAA-approved training program,” FAA said.

The exceptions, which will allow pilots to gain “restricted privileges” ATP certificates, include two that were part of the 2012 proposed rule: military pilots with 750 flight hours and graduates of a four-year baccalaureate aviation degree program with 1,000 hours. Other exceptions include graduates of associate’s degree programs—usually involving two years of college/university training—with a major in aviation that have accumulated 1,250 hours and pilots who are at least 21 years old—but  not 23—with 1,500 flight hours.

US Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), the ranking member of the House of Representatives’ aviation subcommittee, said in a statement praising the final rule, “Flying in America has never been safer, but the tragic crash of Asiana Flight 214 is an urgent reminder that we must still constantly look for ways to make it even safer.”

Regional Airline Association (RAA) president Roger Cohen has been highly critical of the 1,500-hours requirement, telling ATW earlier this year, “The 1,500-hours requirement has, in our view, almost denigrated safety and created potential new problems … [Aspiring airline pilots are] going to gain those hours in likely the fastest and cheapest way possible. That would be flying around in a single-engine aircraft towing banners along the beach in places like Ocean City, Md. That is not the best kind of training to train an airline pilot.”

Cohen and others would like to see FAA allow pilots to use simulator time and other kinds of training to meet some of the 1,500 flight hours-requirement.

FAA’s rule also includes a requirement that pilots accumulate 1,000 hours of flight time as a first officer before becoming a captain at a US airline.

(Aaron Karp -ATWOnline News)