471 

Federal Aviation Administration, DOT 

§ 135.293 

Subpart G—Crewmember Testing 

Requirements 

§ 135.291

Applicability. 

Except as provided in § 135.3, this sub-

part— 

(a) Prescribes the tests and checks 

required for pilot and flight attendant 
crewmembers and for the approval of 
check pilots in operations under this 
part; and 

(b) Permits training center personnel 

authorized under part 142 of this chap-
ter who meet the requirements of 
§§ 135.337 and 135.339 to conduct train-
ing, testing, and checking under con-
tract or other arrangement to those 
persons subject to the requirements of 
this subpart. 

[Doc. No. 26933, 61 FR 34561, July 2, 1996, as 
amended by Amdt. 135–91, 68 FR 54587, Sept. 
17, 2003] 

§ 135.293

Initial and recurrent pilot 

testing requirements. 

(a) No certificate holder may use a 

pilot, nor may any person serve as a 
pilot, unless, since the beginning of the 
12th calendar month before that serv-
ice, that pilot has passed a written or 
oral test, given by the Administrator 
or an authorized check pilot, on that 
pilot’s knowledge in the following 
areas— 

(1) The appropriate provisions of 

parts 61, 91, and 135 of this chapter and 
the operations specifications and the 
manual of the certificate holder; 

(2) For each type of aircraft to be 

flown by the pilot, the aircraft power-
plant, major components and systems, 
major appliances, performance and op-
erating limitations, standard and 
emergency operating procedures, and 
the contents of the approved Aircraft 
Flight Manual or equivalent, as appli-
cable; 

(3) For each type of aircraft to be 

flown by the pilot, the method of deter-
mining compliance with weight and 
balance limitations for takeoff, landing 
and en route operations; 

(4) Navigation and use of air naviga-

tion aids appropriate to the operation 
or pilot authorization, including, when 
applicable, instrument approach facili-
ties and procedures; 

(5) Air traffic control procedures, in-

cluding IFR procedures when applica-
ble; 

(6) Meteorology in general, including 

the principles of frontal systems, icing, 
fog, thunderstorms, and windshear, 
and, if appropriate for the operation of 
the certificate holder, high altitude 
weather; 

(7) Procedures for— 
(i) Recognizing and avoiding severe 

weather situations; 

(ii) Escaping from severe weather sit-

uations, in case of inadvertent encoun-
ters, including low-altitude windshear 
(except that rotorcraft pilots are not 
required to be tested on escaping from 
low-altitude windshear); 

(iii) Operating in or near thunder-

storms (including best penetrating al-
titudes), turbulent air (including clear 
air turbulence), icing, hail, and other 
potentially hazardous meteorological 
conditions; and 

(8) New equipment, procedures, or 

techniques, as appropriate; and 

(9) For rotorcraft pilots, procedures 

for aircraft handling in flat-light, 
whiteout, and brownout conditions, in-
cluding methods for recognizing and 
avoiding those conditions. 

(b) No certificate holder may use a 

pilot, nor may any person serve as a 
pilot, in any aircraft unless, since the 
beginning of the 12th calendar month 
before that service, that pilot has 
passed a competency check given by 
the Administrator or an authorized 
check pilot in that class of aircraft, if 
single-engine airplane other than tur-
bojet, or that type of aircraft, if heli-
copter, multiengine airplane, or tur-
bojet airplane, to determine the pilot’s 
competence in practical skills and 
techniques in that aircraft or class of 
aircraft. The extent of the competency 
check shall be determined by the Ad-
ministrator or authorized check pilot 
conducting the competency check. The 
competency check may include any of 
the maneuvers and procedures cur-
rently required for the original 
issuance of the particular pilot certifi-
cate required for the operations au-
thorized and appropriate to the cat-
egory, class and type of aircraft in-
volved. For the purposes of this para-
graph, type, as to an airplane, means 

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