Flight Engineer Certification & Duties
Flight Engineer Certification & Duties is a core knowledge area on the Flight Engineer FAA written exam. This hub collects our 5 in-depth, ACS-aligned flight engineer certification & duties articles — each written in plain English and grounded in the official FAA handbooks. Work through them below, then drill the topic with practice questions.
Flight Engineer Duties and Station Responsibilities in Multi-Crew Operations
Flight engineers serve as the third required crew member on certain transport-category aircraft, managing aircraft systems, monitoring performance, and supporting captains and first officers under 14 CFR Part 121 air carrier operations.
Flight Engineer Class Ratings: Reciprocating, Turboprop, and Turbojet
Flight engineer certificates are issued with specific class ratings—reciprocating, turboprop, or turbojet—each tied to the powerplant type of the aircraft and tested separately under 14 CFR Part 63.
Flight Engineer Certificate Eligibility and Aeronautical Experience Requirements
Flight Engineer certification under 14 CFR Part 63 Subpart B requires specific age, language, medical, and aeronautical experience standards that every candidate must meet before taking the written and practical tests.
Flight Engineer Recent Experience and Currency Requirements
14 CFR 63.23 governs how a flight engineer keeps a certificate current, requiring recent flight experience and a periodic proficiency check to act as flight engineer on a civil aircraft.
Crew Coordination and the Flight Engineer Role in a Sterile Cockpit
Flight engineers must balance rigorous crew coordination duties with strict sterile cockpit compliance; this article explains the FE's role, AC 120-71B crew resource management standards, and the certification framework under 14 CFR Part 63 that governs who may sit at the FE station.
More Flight Engineer subjects
Articles are original summaries grounded in the public-domain FAA handbooks and cite their source. ACS-aligned study aids — not a substitute for the official handbooks or regulations.