Examiner Flight Time Logging.

[JB Bus Drvr]

Not sure if it's still the case, but a few years ago a prospective DE needed 300 hours in the past twelve months in order to be designated. One result of that was that a retiring FAA Inspector who wanted to be a DE found it virtually impossible to qualify unless he/she had flown a heck of a lot while off-duty. Always seemed strange to me that one day a person was qualified and current to give almost any type of check ride and the next day couldn't meet the standards to give a Private.

As a former Inspector who became a DPE again, the reason is that nobody from the non-FAA side would ever have an opportunity to become a DPE if only retired ASIs got the job. Also, one of the requirements is to be holding an "active" aviation job at the time of appointment. A retired inspector is that, retired. Unless they go to another aviation job, say flight instructor or corporate pilot, they would not be eligable for appointment. Now once you get appointed, all you need to do is to maintain your required number of evaluations annually, attend DPE recurrent training and meetings annually, and pass your annual evaluation from the FSDO, you can retire from a full time aviation job and do something in aviation part-time.