Type Rating Instructor (TRI)

The TRI authorization is governed by Part-FCL FCL.905.TRI (privileges), FCL.910.TRI (restricted privileges for newly issued TRI certificates), FCL.915.TRI (prerequisites), and FCL.930.TRI (course requirements), all within Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011 as amended. The authorization is type-specific: a TRI(A) holding authorization for the Airbus A320 family is not authorized to conduct type rating training on the Boeing B737 or any other type — a separate type rating and TRI course completion is required for each additional type endorsement. This constraint is fundamental to understanding TRI scarcity in ATO operations.

The prerequisites for TRI(MPA) initial issue are defined in FCL.915.TRI(b): the applicant must hold the type rating for the relevant aircraft, have completed at least 1,500 hours of flight time as a pilot of multi-pilot aeroplanes, and have completed the TRI course. For TRI(SPA) complex high-performance aircraft, FCL.915.TRI(c) requires the type rating for the relevant aircraft, at least 500 hours of flight time including a minimum of 30 hours as PIC on the relevant type, and completion of the TRI course. The TRI course itself under FCL.930.TRI requires at least 25 hours of theoretical knowledge instruction in instructional techniques and at least 5 hours of flight instruction technique on the relevant type or an approved FFS — the flight instruction element is assessed by a Type Rating Examiner (TRE) in a final skills assessment. A TRI who has not previously held a flight instructor certificate (FI, IRI, CRI, or SFI) must complete additional pedagogical training covering teaching and learning fundamentals before the TRI course.

TRI certificates are valid for 3 years under FCL.940.TRI. Revalidation within the 3-year validity requires: at least 3 route sectors or 2 hours of flight time as pilot on the relevant aircraft type (which in practice means the TRI is an active line pilot or retains currency through simulator sessions), plus attendance at a TRI standardization seminar conducted by the ATO or operator. Renewal after expiry requires re-assessment by a TRE. The distinction between revalidation (within validity) and renewal (after expiry) is practically important: an expired TRI who cannot demonstrate recency must return to full TRE assessment before resuming type rating instruction.

Two related but distinct authorizations operate alongside the TRI. The Synthetic Flight Instructor (SFI) authorization under FCL.905.SFI permits the holder to conduct type rating training exclusively in FFS and FTD devices — the SFI cannot conduct actual flight training in the aircraft. SFI prerequisites (FCL.915.SFI) are lower than TRI(MPA): 500 hours on multi-pilot aeroplanes plus the SFI course. The Class Rating Instructor (CRI) under FCL.905.CRI covers single-pilot aircraft below the TRI(SPA) complexity threshold. For the examiner layer: the Type Rating Examiner (TRE) under FCL.1005.TRE is the authorization required to conduct type rating skill tests and proficiency checks — a TRE must first hold the TRI for the relevant type, making TRI a prerequisite for TRE rather than a parallel track.

The FAA does not have a directly equivalent named authorization. Part 142 training centers under 14 CFR §142.55 are required to use instructors and check instructors who hold the aircraft type rating (or an equivalent simulator authorization) and meet company qualification standards, but the FAA does not issue a separate "TRI" credential as a licensing authorization. Airlines and training centers operating under Parts 121 and 135 rely on company-designated Check Airmen and Instructor Pilots authorized under §121.411 and §135.338 — authorizations granted by the operator's Operations Specifications (OpSpecs) rather than by a standalone license endorsement. The practical effect is that the FAA system distributes type-specific instructional authority through operator certification rather than individual license endorsements, whereas the EASA system places TRI authority in the individual pilot's license.

TRI scarcity is one of the most acute capacity constraints in the European type rating training market. A TRI(MPA) for a narrowbody jet type is typically a current or recently retired airline captain with 5,000+ hours on type — a demographic with limited availability and high daily rate expectations. An ATO delivering A320 or B737 type rating courses requires a minimum TRI workforce that can cover simulator sessions across a multi-shift simulator schedule; on a full simulator utilization model (16 hours per day, two 4-hour sessions per shift), an ATO needs multiple TRI-qualified instructors per type to sustain throughput without single-point-of-failure exposure. When a TRI leaves the roster — through retirement, return to airline operations, or illness — the ATO's approved TRI list drops, and if the active count falls below the minimum required in the ATO's Operations Manual, the authority may require the ATO to reduce intake until the TRI workforce is rebuilt. Recruiting replacement TRIs takes months: the FCL.930.TRI course is 25+ hours of ground training plus simulator assessment, and candidates must already hold the type rating.

The 3-year TRI validity creates a secondary scheduling pressure. Revalidation requires route sectors or simulator time on the type, which means TRIs who have moved away from active line flying need simulator recency sessions booked into the same FFS schedule that is also delivering revenue-generating type rating training. If ATO management treats TRI revalidation as an administrative task rather than a resource-constrained scheduling event, revalidation deadlines can expire unnoticed — particularly for part-time TRIs who instruct infrequently. An expired TRI who conducts a training session without a valid authorization creates an ORA.ATO.150 course completion validity failure: the training delivered by the unauthorized instructor may not be credited toward the candidate's type rating requirements, potentially voiding hours already logged and requiring the student to repeat sessions.

Aviatize's compliance and auditing module maintains the TRI authorization register as a structured dataset: each TRI's certificate, validity date, type endorsements, and revalidation status are tracked against the ATO's approved instructor list. Automated expiry alerts are issued to the TRI, the Chief Instructor, and the Head of Training at 90, 60, and 30 days before validity expiry — giving sufficient lead time to schedule revalidation simulator sessions without displacing commercial training slots. When a TRI's authorization expires, the system blocks that instructor from being assigned to type rating sessions in the training management module, preventing the ORA.ATO.150 violation at the assignment stage rather than discovering it retrospectively during an audit. The audit trail of each TRI's session history, revalidation records, and standardization seminar attendance is maintained in a format directly usable for authority inspection without manual file assembly.

For simulator capacity planning, Aviatize's smart planning and booking module models the FFS schedule with TRI availability as a hard constraint. When an ATO enters TRI roster details — including each instructor's available days, active type endorsements, and upcoming revalidation events — the planning engine flags weeks where TRI coverage drops below the minimum required to sustain the approved training throughput. This makes TRI workforce gaps visible in the planning horizon weeks before they create intake delays, and gives the Head of Training data to support TRI retention decisions: the KPI reporting and dashboards module surfaces per-TRI utilization rates, showing which instructors are approaching the minimum instructional hours for revalidation and which are underutilized, enabling proactive scheduling rather than reactive crisis management.