Jay Obernolte: “I would strongly object to the characterization of this amendment as burdensome. If you want an example of burdensome…”

“I would strongly object to the characterization of this amendment as burdensome. If you want an example of burdensome, think about a student pilot who has applied to get their pilot's license. Mr. Chair, I have been a certified flight instructor for almost 30 years. This is a situation that I have experienced. When you are a student pilot, you don't know exactly when you are going to reach the level of proficiency required by the Federal aviation regulations, so you train and you train and you train and you sweat and you work, and finally your instructor says you are ready to take the test. Now, imagine a student in that position applying for a test and being told it is going to be months before they can be examined. Mr. Chair, I can tell you from personal experience that flight proficiency is a perishable commodity. You cannot go several months without flying, hop into a cockpit, and expect to be at the same level of proficiency that you were. We are adding burdensome regulation on our student pilots when we expect them to maintain their proficiency for however long it takes the FAA to schedule that exam. To be clear, this amendment does not direct the FAA to make its inspectors available; it directs the FAA to make the resources available to implement an accountability program to make sure we have a sufficient number of pilot examiners to make this situation better. Two weeks is an industry standard consensus.…”