Examining the content validity of the FAA Private and Commercial Pilot Practical Test Standards

The Practical Test Standards (PTS) were devised by the FAA to provide a standard format to evaluate the skills necessary for pilot certification. Both the private pilot and commercial PTS were generated years ago and, on a regular basis, are modified slightly. Despite these efforts, some aviators in the industry consider the PTS to be out of date. The purpose of this research was to examine the content validity of the private pilot and commercial pilot PTS items in order to assess the applicability to current general aviation practice. To accomplish this, a job-analysis style survey was developed and distributed to 139 flight instructors. The results indicate that considerable variance exists in perceived importance of the PTS skills in actual flight. Implications for general aviation flight training and assessment are discussed.