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5 Answers

As an AGI can I endorse myself for a Commercial Pilot Knowledge Test?

Asked by: 4355 views Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor

I've recently become an Advanced Ground Instructor and have been continuing to study for my Commercial Pilot Knowledge Test. I won't begin the practical training for a few weeks but wanted to get the written test out of the way. Is it acceptable to endorse myself to take the Commercial Pilot Knowledge Test? I'm supposed to be able to endorse for any test except IFR, but is it OK to endorse for one's own test?

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5 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Sep 24, 2016

    61.195(i) contains language that prohibits a flight instructor from endorsing himself for any “certificate, rating, flight review, authorization, operating privilege, practical test, or knowledge test that is required by this part.”

    Subpart I of Part 61, which deals with ground instructors, contains no such language.

    According to the regulations, as a ground instructor, you can self endorse for a knowledge test. You may run into a problem with the testing centers.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Sep 26, 2016

    Ah, the old “Ha ha. The FAA forgot to include the obvious self-endorsement prohibition in the ground instructor regs, so lets throw good sense to the winds.”

    I think the only place I ever ever heard the phrase “self endorsement” used (without being a joke about oxymorons) is in the self-help and addiction recovery fields.

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  3. Kris Kortokrax on Sep 26, 2016

    I didn’t consider it a “Ha ha”. The old ground instructor regulations were contained in Part 143. In 1997, they moved to Part 61, where they now reside. There was no proscription concerning a ground instructor self endorsing in Part 143 and it is not included in Part 61. If the FAA were really concerned about this oversight, they have had a considerable amount of time to discover and correct it.

    I don’t know why there is even a requirement for an endorsement to take a knowledge test. All through grade school, high school and college, I studied for the tests that I took. I needed no endorsement from my teachers or professors attesting to the fact that I was ready and able to pass the test. I didn’t study nor did I have an endorsement for the IQ tests I took throughout my life and yet I performed quite well.

    If one is motivated to study the material (or use a course from King, Jepp, ASA, Gleim, etc.) to study and is further willing to gamble the $160 or so to pay for the chance to take the test, I say “Let them have at it”. Since people show up to take the test and have the endorsement and still fail, the endorsement was of little value to them.

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  4. Mark Kolber on Sep 28, 2016

    Kris,

    I don’t disagree at all with you at all on the idea that there is nor real need for an endorsement to take a knowledge test. unless it was intended to protect the applicant against himself.

    OTOH, I will stand by the statement that common everyday English usage of the word “endorsement” in terms of attesting to qualifications,is that one endorses someone or something other than oneself.

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  5. Craig Spirko on Sep 28, 2016

    Update: I paid for and used the ASA test prep even though I’d been studying with the Dauntless program (the Dauntless endorsement procedure is onerous) and secured myself an on-line endorsement just to me safe. I took the knowledge test today (95%) and afterword I asked the proctor if I could have endorsed myself. He said, “Sure.”

    Your milage may vary.

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