§44728 Flight Attendant Certification

Summary

People working as flight attendants on air carrier planes must have a certificate from the FAA that shows they are trained and proficient. The FAA, the NTSB, or another federal agency can ask to see that certificate and the crew member must show it within a reasonable time. Flight attendants who were already working when the rule took effect can keep working until they finish any required refresher or requalification training and get certified. When an airline tells the FAA that a person finished the approved training, the person is treated as having the certificate and the FAA must issue the official certificate within 120 days (or within 1 year for those already serving on the effective date). Airlines’ training programs must be approved by the FAA, and any programs approved in the one-year period before the law counts as meeting the proficiency rule. Under federal rules (14 CFR part 183), an airline’s director of operations is the person who decides if someone completed training. Certificates must be recorded, show the holder’s name and address and the airplane group it covers, and look like other airman certificates. Flight attendants must also show they can read, speak, and write English well enough to do their job, except when they work only on flights between places outside the United States. A “flight attendant” here means someone working in the cabin on an air carrier plane with 20 or more seats.