Originally Posted by
Never2Late
Not sure if it was an official "quota", however DPE's who pass rate was higher than some statistical norm, were looked at much closer. How do I know? When I got back to flying I googled the DPE who gave me my private 25 years ago. Seems he was involved in a lawsuit against the FAA for unlawful termination. Based on the reading online, he would give a check ride and sometimes, if the student passed, he would send in the paperwork saying they failed the first time and passed on the re-take, this kept his pass stats in-line (at least he didnt actually FAIL the student to do the same), it was found out when some of these students went to apply to airline jobs and were asked if they had failed any check rides. I believe the lawsuit was dismissed however I think he is still working for the FAA in some other capacity (so maybe some sort of settlement)
Most likely, that was what was happening. No actual quotas existed and some individuals decided to act outside of their authority, training and guidance. All an inspector wants to do when they ride along is see you are adhering to the standards and taking the appropriate action, whether it's pass or fail. Anything else is a ton more paperwork and work and must be based on something contrary to regs and standards. Having a DPE fail (or pass) people just so they wouldn't have to do more observations is just as bad as a student cheating on a test or falsifying documents (it is falsifying documents). Hopefully with the proliferation of the internet and how much information is at people's fingertips (standards, orders, regulations) this is a thing of the past, but I would maintain no official document or policy ever existed. A few individuals (comparatively) decided to act alone and outside of the scope of their designation. As a CFI, you should know when you are right and when you are wrong. This is also a good reason to use the FOIA process I described in another thread to check your own pilot records...just in case.