FAA Form 8410-3: The Airman Competency/Proficiency Check Form Explained

Last reviewed June 16, 2026 · By Chad Griffith

FAA Form 8410-3, titled the Airman Competency/Proficiency Check, was the FAA form a check airman or Aircrew Program Designee used to record the result of a Part 135 pilot check — the competency check under 14 CFR 135.293, the instrument proficiency check under 135.297, and the line check under 135.299. The FAA has decommissioned the form, but the checks and the 12-month pilot record under 135.63 remain required.

What FAA Form 8410-3 was and what it recorded

FAA Form 8410-3, the Airman Competency/Proficiency Check, was the standard form used to document that a pilot in command had successfully passed a required check ride under Part 135. A single form captured the airman’s identification and certificate, the date and location of the check, the aircraft or simulator used, the maneuvers and procedures graded, and the type of check completed — the recurrent competency check under 14 CFR 135.293, the pilot-in-command instrument proficiency check under 135.297, and the line check over routes and airports under 135.299. It was completed by the person authorized to conduct the check (an FAA inspector, an approved company check airman, or an Aircrew Program Designee) and the result became part of the pilot’s permanent file. The form was also long used in the Part 121 air-carrier world for the equivalent checks.

Important: the FAA has decommissioned Form 8410-3

Operators searching for the form today should know it is no longer an active FAA form. The FAA decommissioned Form 8410-3 (announced in FAA Notice 8900.739, “Decommissioning of FAA Form 8410-3, Airman Competency/Proficiency Check”) and replaced the single legacy form with example Competency and Checking Record templates published by the Air Carrier Training Systems branch (AFS-280) for the three primary aircraft categories: Airplane, Helicopter, and Powered Lift (PL). Operators are expected to tailor a record to their own equipment and type of operation rather than rely on one universal form. The decommissioning changed the form, not the obligation: the underlying checks under 14 CFR 135.293, 135.297, and 135.299 are unchanged, and the result of each check must still be documented and retained in the pilot’s record. Confirm the current template and any guidance with your Principal Operations Inspector (POI) before relying on a specific document version.

The three Part 135 checks behind the form

The form (and its replacement records) exists to prove three distinct, separately timed checks were passed:

• Competency check — 14 CFR 135.293. A written or oral knowledge test plus a practical competency check on the pilot’s skills and techniques in the class or type of aircraft, required since the beginning of the 12th calendar month before service.
• Instrument proficiency check — 14 CFR 135.297. For a pilot in command operating under IFR, an instrument check required since the beginning of the 6th calendar month before that service — a six-month interval, not twelve.
• Line check — 14 CFR 135.299. A pilot-in-command flight check over the routes and airports the pilot is to fly, in one of the types of aircraft to be flown, required since the beginning of the 12th calendar month before service.

Because the intervals differ, the same pilot can be current on one check and lapsed on another, which is exactly the kind of gap a records system has to surface.

How the check result feeds the pilot record under 14 CFR 135.63

The completed 8410-3 (or its replacement record) is not the end of the obligation — it is the source document for the pilot record the certificate holder must maintain under 14 CFR 135.63. That rule requires each operator to keep an individual record for each pilot that includes “the date and result of each of the initial and recurrent competency tests and proficiency and route checks,” alongside the pilot’s qualifications, current duties, medical certificate class and date, flight time, and any check-pilot authorization. Each certificate holder must keep that pilot record for at least 12 months. In a Part 135 inspection, the inspector typically asks to see this record — so the value of a check ride lives or dies on whether the documented result can be produced, current, on demand.

Do not confuse Form 8410-3 with Form 8710-1

These two forms are routinely mixed up, but they serve completely different purposes. Form 8410-3 recorded the result of a recurring competency or proficiency check for a pilot already employed under Part 135 (or Part 121). FAA Form 8710-1 is the Airman Certificate and/or Rating Application — the form a pilot uses to apply for a new certificate or rating with the FAA, which the FAA itself revised in late 2024. In short: 8710-1 gets you the certificate or rating; 8410-3 documented the recurring check that keeps you current to fly the line under Part 135. If you are tracking ongoing currency, the 8410-3 family of records (now the Competency and Checking Record) is what you are looking for.

Tracking 8410-3 check records with FileFlo

The hard part is not running the check ride — it is making sure every pilot’s competency, instrument, and line checks are documented, current against their different intervals, and instantly producible when an inspector asks. FileFlo is the records-and-proof layer for exactly that: upload the completed Competency and Checking Record (or legacy 8410-3) and FileFlo reads it, classifies it to the right citation (135.293, 135.297, or 135.299), tracks each result against its regulatory interval with 90/60/30/7-day expiration alerts, flags pilots missing a required check, and exports an inspector-ready audit binder of the pilot records you must keep under 135.63. To be clear about scope: FileFlo does not conduct checks, and it is not your SMS, your flight-operations/dispatch (FOS) system, your training LMS, or a check-airman authority — it organizes and proves the records those people and systems produce. Starter $89/mo, Professional $299/mo, 5-day free trial (FileFlo is not SOC 2 certified).

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