FAA examiners and inspectors
The FAA does much of its testing and inspecting through private designees: 6,855 people in all, among them 975 pilot examiners, 117 sport aviation examiners, 1,812 aviation medical examiners, 285 mechanic examiners. A student pilot's checkride is given by a designated pilot examiner; the medical certificate comes from an aviation medical examiner; a new mechanic is tested by a mechanic examiner; an airworthiness representative signs off a rebuilt or imported aircraft. This page counts them by state and town and places each at the main public airport of the town the FAA lists (or the nearest one to its zip code), so every airport page and flight-school page can say how many work nearby and what they may test for. Each state's page lists them by name with the telephone number and email address the FAA publishes, since the FAA lists them so that they can be found.
By kind active designees in the United States
| Kind | What they do | How many |
|---|---|---|
| DPE pilot examiners | Designated Pilot Examiner: gives the practical tests (checkrides) for pilot certificates and ratings | 975 |
| SAE sport aviation examiners | Sport Aviation Examiner: gives the tests for sport pilot certificates and light-sport aircraft | 117 |
| AME aviation medical examiners | Aviation Medical Examiner: a doctor who issues the medical certificates pilots must hold | 1,812 |
| DME mechanic examiners | Designated Mechanic Examiner: tests candidates for the mechanic certificate (airframe and powerplant) | 285 |
| DAR-T airworthiness representatives (maintenance) | Designated Airworthiness Representative, maintenance: issues airworthiness certificates and approvals for aircraft in service | 215 |
| DAR-F airworthiness representatives (manufacturing) | Designated Airworthiness Representative, manufacturing: issues airworthiness certificates for newly built aircraft and parts | 254 |
| DER-T engineering representatives | Designated Engineering Representative: approves engineering data for repairs and alterations on the FAA's behalf | 686 |
| DPRE parachute rigger examiners | Designated Parachute Rigger Examiner: tests candidates for the parachute rigger certificate | 33 |
| DADE aircraft dispatcher examiners | Designated Aircraft Dispatcher Examiner: tests candidates for the dispatcher certificate | 39 |
| TCE training center evaluators | Training Center Evaluator: gives tests at a simulator training center | 1,218 |
| APD aircrew program designees | Aircrew Program Designee: an airline's own check pilot who gives the FAA's tests to the airline's pilots | 824 |
| DCTO-E training center examiners | Designee at a certificated training organisation | 230 |
| Admin-PE administrative pilot examiners | Administrative Pilot Examiner: handles certificate paperwork rather than flight tests | 167 |
By state click a state for its towns
| State | Pilot examiners | Medical examiners | Mechanic examiners | All designees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 96 | 160 | 21 | 926 |
| Florida | 112 | 146 | 25 | 824 |
| Georgia | 26 | 59 | 8 | 438 |
| California | 80 | 135 | 24 | 419 |
| Colorado | 16 | 49 | 5 | 286 |
| Kansas | 15 | 31 | 7 | 239 |
| Washington | 26 | 60 | 8 | 233 |
| Ohio | 35 | 46 | 12 | 220 |
| Arizona | 57 | 29 | 9 | 219 |
| North Carolina | 24 | 52 | 8 | 181 |
| Tennessee | 35 | 41 | 10 | 173 |
| Missouri | 22 | 43 | 4 | 140 |
| New York | 27 | 63 | 14 | 130 |
| New Jersey | 16 | 25 | 4 | 129 |
| Pennsylvania | 26 | 54 | 8 | 129 |
| Illinois | 32 | 44 | 11 | 126 |
| Utah | 19 | 32 | 2 | 124 |
| Michigan | 21 | 47 | 7 | 117 |
| Minnesota | 18 | 35 | 7 | 105 |
| Oregon | 33 | 26 | 7 | 103 |
| Indiana | 22 | 34 | 7 | 97 |
| Kentucky | 13 | 21 | 4 | 96 |
| Virginia | 15 | 48 | 9 | 93 |
| Nevada | 17 | 19 | 3 | 92 |
| Alabama | 16 | 36 | 5 | 89 |
| Oklahoma | 14 | 32 | 8 | 89 |
| Alaska | 20 | 27 | 4 | 85 |
| Wisconsin | 13 | 37 | 3 | 85 |
| Delaware | 0 | 7 | 1 | 84 |
| South Carolina | 20 | 25 | 8 | 76 |
| Louisiana | 8 | 29 | 3 | 75 |
| Iowa | 16 | 40 | 6 | 73 |
| Idaho | 13 | 36 | 3 | 67 |
| Maryland | 14 | 28 | 4 | 65 |
| Arkansas | 12 | 24 | 4 | 63 |
| Montana | 12 | 20 | 1 | 52 |
| Massachusetts | 8 | 23 | 4 | 45 |
| Mississippi | 8 | 16 | 3 | 45 |
| Hawaii | 8 | 10 | 1 | 43 |
| Connecticut | 3 | 17 | 1 | 39 |
| New Mexico | 10 | 11 | 1 | 37 |
| Nebraska | 6 | 21 | 4 | 36 |
| North Dakota | 7 | 16 | 1 | 32 |
| New Hampshire | 5 | 14 | 2 | 28 |
| West Virginia | 2 | 13 | 3 | 25 |
| Wyoming | 4 | 14 | 0 | 24 |
| South Dakota | 6 | 12 | 1 | 20 |
| Maine | 5 | 7 | 1 | 17 |
| Puerto Rico | 7 | 5 | 2 | 16 |
| Vermont | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| Rhode Island | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Guam | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| MH | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Source: the FAA's designee locator (the Designee Management System), read October 10, 2026: 8,164 listings of 6,855 active designees, 7,723 of them placed on the map (a designee with several addresses is counted once per town; each is placed at the main public airport of the town the FAA lists, or, when the town has none, at the public airport nearest the centre of its zip code, from the Census Bureau's gazetteer of zip code areas, 2013 edition). Designees are listed with the name and contact details the FAA publishes for them, because the FAA lists them to be found; private individuals are not named, the site's policy at this time; a designee who would rather not appear here can ask us through the contact address on the About page. A designee's functions are the FAA's own codes (DPE-PE-ASEL is a pilot examiner for the private certificate in single-engine airplanes); the airport pages spell the main ones out. Examiners who list a flight school, FBO, operator or repair station on this site as their place of work are counted on that organisation's page (15 FBOs, 51 operators, 55 repair stations, 115 flight schools).