Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

5 Answers

Fired from a CFI job

Asked by: 2486 views FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor

Asking for a friend:  

  1. What if someone is fired from a flight school as an instructor for not signing a student off for a check ride who you know is not ready?  Is there any action you can take with the FAA to have that investigated? 

     2. What repercussions will this have on future career?  Will the major airlines see this as a "black mark" in your career?

 

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

5 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Nov 15, 2019

    Tell your “friend” that he did the right thing. If he signed an endorsement stating that the student was prepared to pass the practical test and he that was not the case, he would be in violation of 61.59(a)(1) & (2), falsification.

    Flight schools don’t contribute records to the database of records that air carriers check when hiring. Even if they did, what airline would think it is a bad thing for a pilot to adhere to the regulations?

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Max Trescott on Nov 15, 2019

    Fortunately, there’s strong demand for CFIs and for airline pilots. Tell your friend that he showed the kind of integrity any airline would like to see in its pilots. If I were a hiring manager and I heard that story, it would make me more inclined to hire the person! Your friend should have little problem finding another CFI job, and hopefully for a flight school with higher standards.

    +3 Votes Thumb up 3 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. KDS on Nov 15, 2019

    I will give you a real life example. Read this:

    https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20040920X01462&ntsbno=CHI04FA257&akey=1

    The CFI was pressured into signing the student off for their practical test by the owner of the flight school. Four people died.

    I will never be fired from a flight school for refusing to sign off a student. If the owner tried to pressure me into signing off a student, I would quit long before they could fire me. If that is their moral and ethical standard, it is not the kind of school I would have anything to do with, not even flying one of their airplanes.

    Yes, there is an action you can take with the FAA, but how effective it would be is highly dependent upon the FAA management in that area. You could write a letter to the FAA and it would be called a \”Public Complaint\”. The best anyone could hope for is that the POI for the school would put the school on notice that they have a complaint and will be watching.

    No responsible aviation professional would see that as a \”black mark\”. It is more akin to receiving an award for having high standards.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. JCBaum on Nov 27, 2019

    In addition to the previous comments for your “friend”, one of the typical line of questions asked during an airline interview is along the lines of, “So, tell us of a time when you were asked to do something which you felt was wrong/incorrect. How did you handle that problem? What was the outcome? What would you have done differently?” At least your friend won’t have to dig very far to have a “story”.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  5. Gary S. on Dec 02, 2019

    Two thumbs up for these first 4 answers! I agree 100%.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.