Specialized Aviation Flight Accreditation under Public Law 111-216: Aviation Program Administrators’ Perceptions

Abstract

Under Public Law 111-216, program integrity and quality assurance of collegiate aviation programs were questioned (Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010, 2012). The goal of this study was to update the field of specialized aviation accreditation in the new environment of the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 and outcomes-based accreditation (Aviation Accreditation Board International, 2013). This is in response to the Sherman (2006) and Prather (2007) studies on why so few of the schools offering aviation-related curricula leading to an associate’s or bachelor’s degree seek specialized accreditation. The purpose of this study was to determine if aviation administrators perceive AABI outcomes as important and how effectively their programs prepared aviation graduates with competences in the accreditation outcomes. Additionally, this study addresses the level of academic studies that program administrators feel can substitute for flight time as outlined in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Public Law 111-216. Administrators perceived AABI Core Outcomes—aircraft characteristics as well as meteorology and environmental issues—to be important and that their program was effectively teaching these competences. Administrators generally agreed that five hundred hours was an appropriate amount of time to credit a graduate of a four-year aviation program seeking a Reduced Airline Transport Pilot certificate, regardless of AABI accreditation status, which is the maximum time reduction for collegiate aviation students under the Reduced Airline Transport Pilot criteria published in 2013.