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The Major Differences between Continuing Education and Fitness for Duty for Doctors, Lawyers, and Airline Pilots
Continuing Education
Medical Doctors
All state medical boards require physicians to participate in continuing medical education (CME) activities to maintain their medical licenses. According to the American Medical Association, CME requirements for physicians vary by state.
Continuing mecial education helps those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new and developing areas of their field. These activities may take place as live events, written publications, online programs, audio, video, or other electronic media. In the US, each state has control over its CME requirements. Indiana and South Dakota require zero credits while Massachusetts and Illinois require up to 50 credit hours per year for physicians.
All state medical boards require physicians to participate in continuing medical education (CME) activities.
Attorneys at Law
Continuing Legal Education (CLE) is required for lawyers in most jurisdictions, meaning they must complete a certain number of hours of legal education courses periodically to maintain their license to practice law. Specific requirements vary by state. More than half of all states require judges to take continuing education courses while on the job.
Airline Pilots
Continuing education is required for airline pilots. Once certified, they must undergo ongoing training and recurrent checks to maintain their licenses and fly commercially, which is mandated by their employer and federal aviation regulations. Most professional pilots will be required to complete a flight proficiency check, either in an actual aircraft, or in a simulator, every six to 12 months.
Most professional pilots will be required to complete a flight proficiency check every six to 12 months.
Major Differences
Pilots undergo recurrent checks and proficiency checks administered by check airmen that observe and evaluate to ensure compliance and standardization throughout the company and industry. These checks are pass or fail. Doctors, lawyers, and judges are not checked to ensure their ability to perform their duties.
Check airmen are used by the airline industry to perform recurrent checks, proficiency checks, and line checks. All airline pilots attend annual recurrent training that includes ground school and simulator training that requires an evaluation. The simulator sessions may be one or two days. These sessions involve working as a crew performing normal and abnormal procedures or emergencies. Also, each individual pilot must validate their proficiency in each required maneuver or procedure.
Next, every six months, captains must undergo a proficiency check in the simulator or airplane to ensure proficiency in all normal and emergency procedures. This is not training; this is a pass or fail check. Simulators are preferred for these checks since many of the maneuvers are very dangerous in the airplane. These maneuvers include an engine failure on takeoff, loss of lift on the wing during departure, en route, and approach, crosswind landings, wind shear scenarios, engine inoperative landings, low visibility landings, crash landings and evacuation.
Every six months, captains must undergo a proficiency check in the simulator to ensure proficiency in all normal and emergency procedures.
Finally, the pilot in command is required to have an annual line check. Line checks involve the observation of a captain and first officer on a regular company route to assess command authority, decision making, and flying abilities. An FAA inspector is empowered to perform an evaluation at any time and in any phase of training or checking.
What happens to a pilot that fails a check? They are given additional training and another check. Failure of another check can lead to termination due to lack of proficiency.
Checkrides are serious business, and failures can results in termination. Meanwhile, doctors and lawyers can undergo an entire career without being checked by a peer or a government employee. There are valid reasons why doctors and lawyers are not required to undergo similar checks. Many of them are not employed by organizations that require oversight and standardization.
Fitness for Duty
Doctors and lawyers are not required to undergo any fitness or medical exams. Also, they are not required to undergo exams for illicit use of controlled drugs.
Every six months, airline pilots are required to undergo a rigorous medical exam performed by a government-approved medical examiner. The pilot’s vision, hearing, equilibrium, mental, neurological, and cardiovascular conditions are checked. This includes an EKG. Finally, airline pilots are subject to random drug testing at any time.
Final Thoughts
Flight and voice recorders are required by the FAA on airline flights. Flight data recorders monitor how the aircraft’s systems perform during flight and include parameters like altitude, airspeed, and heading. Cockpit voice recorders record radio transmissions between pilots and air traffic controllers along with all conversations in the cockpit including engine noises. I believe that airline pilots are the most scrutinized profession in the world.
- Airline Pilots Are the Most Scrutinized Profession - February 12, 2025
- The NTSB Got It Wrong on TWA Flight 841 - January 27, 2025
- A Big Surprise from an FAA Inspector - September 23, 2024
I knew you guys were looked at hard but I would suggest your article be titled, “Pilots Are the Most Scrutinized Profession”. As a fighter pilot in the Air Force, I can attest to the rigor with which we were constantly evaluated. I was a Stan/Eval (check) pilot in the single-seat A-10 and we had to fly our own A-10 in order to conduct an evaluation of another pilot flying his A-10. Similarly, although not an eval pilot in the F-16, as an IP, I had to ‘instruct’ a student flying his own Viper as I flew mine — patterns and landings were especially trying! Pilots underwent two evals/year, instrument and mission (ground attack). Every check flight also included a ground evaluation with the subject focused on the type eval was flown, be it an instrument eval, or a tactical eval. On top of that, EVERY flight that wasn’t an eval was debriefed with no punches pulled whether it was the flight lead debriefing the other members of the flight, or vice-versa. Sometimes our flights were 12 aircraft on a single mission and everyone had a voice in the debriefing from #1 to #12. We also had video recorders to capture our delivery of weapons as well as to record how we worked the radar on an intercept mission and those recordings were part of the debrief. One last point, when we flew a range-ride we had a standard bet on the bombing and strafing scores. For each bomb dropped (we carried 6 on a normal range ride), everyone put a quarter on the table and the one with the best score for that bombing pass, won the quarters. When it came to strafing, the standard bet was ‘a nickel a hole’. We set a rounds limiter, so everyone fired the same number of bullets and if you got 50 hits while I only got 40, I would owe you $.50. However, given that we could fire up to 100+ rounds on a normal range ride, you could win a lot more than $.50 when all four of you were betting. If you did well on the range with three other aircraft in the flight, you could win $4.50 on the bombs and another $2-3.00 strafing. Trust me, everyone was working hard because it was a point of pride to come out of the debrief with your reputation and your wallet intact! BTW, we also flew evals in the sim where they threw emergencies at you while you were flying a night mission (be it bomb-dropping or intercepts). Thanks for your views, I just wanted to share mine with you.
Excellent article!
And an excellent comment from Mr. Dale Hill
Continuing education is required for airline pilots. Once certified, they must undergo ongoing training and recurrent checks to maintain their licenses and fly commercially, which is mandated by their employer and federal aviation regulations.
PLEASE. …to maintain their “certificates” and fly commercially…
FAA Certificates are not licenses. Otherwise, excellent.
Thanks for sharing.
You did a superb job.
I worked for Continental Airlines.
Frank Lorenzo, a once well known aviation leader liked to say regarding pilots –
1) Pilots were a dime a dozen.
What does it cost the USA Taxpayer to pay for a F16 pilot o being proficient to successfully engage an enemy?
One year of Pilot Training costs today how much?
1968 we were told $1,000,000/student.
We had 86 students in my class.
Around 75 graduated at the end of the year and at that point, they were just learning.
Bring that up to today’s value of a dollar due to inflation.
How much to train a C-130 pilot make a true assault landing under fire with say only 1500 hours of actual flying?
Or a Navy F-18 pilot with 1,000 hours of experience?
Ever experience such operations as landing a F4 on a carrier in the dark and with a pitching deck?
I think Jerry put this subject very accurately if in fact he under played it?
Ah, but Airbus senior leadership wants to remove the human element from flying … good luck.
Such leaders in the world of manufacturing and using the machines are really worthy of their big buck salaries?
How many dangers and variables exist in the real environment out there?
Weather and all of its variables…, mechanical failures due to not doing preventative maintenance, etc.?
Anyone who does not fly thinks they can foreseen the dangers from a computer terminal inside an air conditioned office?
That kind of leader needs to change their profession to becoming a comedian, they’d do well in Las Vegas.
But, they are out there as sure as the sun shall rise tomorrow morning.
Hi Jerry,
Your points about the scrutiny on line ATPs are certainly valid. However, an attorney rarely kills a client, and a MD will usually only kill one at a time. A screwup in the cockpit like Tenerife can kill hundreds of folks in less than a minute.
You know that of course, so I’m stating the obvious point that probably flitted through the mind of everyone who read your article. There is a reason that Airline accidents and fatalities are way down since the 1960’s. The same reason that Sullenberger was able to ditch in the Hudson with everyone safe — Lots of sim time presenting nightmare scenarios that you hope to never encounter in real life… and lots of scrutiny directed toward detecting the few pilots that can’t handle it.