DPE test rates jumped in 2025

Designated Pilot Examiners conducted more than 153,000 practical tests in fiscal year 2025.

That’s according to data recently shared by the Flight School Association of North America.

From Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025, DPEs conducted 153,967 tests. That’s up from just over 129,000 in 2024 and 140,000 in 2023, they noted.

Other statistics shared by FSANA include:

• 1,122 total DPEs were current at the end of FY2025, up from 1,035 in FY2024
• 536 DPEs conducted between 100 and 400 tests in FY2025
• 319 DPEs conducted less than 50 in FY2025
• 48 DPEs conducted more than 400 tests in FY2025, with 22 conducting more than 500
• 264 DPEs (roughly 23%) are covering 52.9% of the tests conducted in the year, which translates to 200 or more practical tests.

“This data shows us that while the FAA continues to add DPEs, there still remains a smaller core number of DPEs who are conducting the largest percentages of practical test events in the system. We continue to have over 28% of our DPEs doing an average of less than one practical test per week,” FSANA officials noted in the association’s Nov. 28, 2025, Flight Training News newsletter.

For more information: FSANA.com