FAA Releases Report on Pilot Training Modernization With Only a 10-Day Comment Period

The FAA released its report, “A Comprehensive Modernization of Pilot Training Conducted by 14 CFR Part 141 Training Organizations” April 1, 2026, with the agency only accepting comments on the report through April 10.

“Many in the aviation training industry have been awaiting the release of a report from the National Flight Training Alliance (NFTA) that is intended to be representative of a consensus of desires from the flight training industry for changes in flight training regulations,” noted Jason Blair, a well-known CFI and DPE.

The 471-page report is part of the FAA’s Part 141 Modernization Effort.

“Know that the proposed changes in this document, if implemented by the FAA, will affect far more than just those providers that provide training under FAA Part 141 approvals,” Blair advises.

“I will be going through the document and providing some more notes on it in the upcoming days, but if you have an interest in the flight training sector in the United States, I strongly encourage you to do the same and provide comments, concerns, or issues with what is being provided,” he added.

Comments can be made at Regulations.gov/commenton/FAA-2024-2531-0280.

While Blair said the report contains some “good things” for the flight training sector, there are also a “wide variety of things that raise concern. “

One is the 10-day comment period, which is “wildly divergent” from typical federal regulatory comment periods, which are typically 30 or 60 days — or even longer, he noted.

“We now officially have until April 10 to review and provide comments on a document that the FAA will then utilize to begin the rulemaking writing process that will potentially change our aviation training industry regulations in ways that are bigger and more impactful than any changes have been in many decades,” he said.

Blair added that he’s hopeful pilots and the flight training community will do two things:

• Contact their elected representatives to ask for an extension to the comment period.
• Take the time to read the document and “think about how the proposed changes might affect your flight training operation, how it might enhance or reduce pilot quality, and the safeguards in our training system to ensure the quality of our pilots in the future.” Then provide your comments at Regulations.gov.

For more information: JasonBlair.net