It is the time of the year when data from last year’s pilot certification efforts starts to come out, and I start to play with spreadsheets and see what that data is showing us for the past year, and compare it with years past.
The FAA recently posted the knowledge test statistics from 2025, a partial indicator of what certification efforts were doing in the year. Precursors to being able to finish certificates, the FAA knowledge tests are partial gauges of the volume of certification efforts going on in the United States.
So, with that said, let’s see what some of those data points showed last year and compare them with recent years.
ATP Knowledge Test Numbers Up Slightly from the Previous Year
While ATP certificate issuances actually dropped in 2025 (click here for my post on this topic and to see the numbers from 2025 – ATP Certification Numbers Dip in 2025), knowledge test volume did not follow suit.
You can see from the chart that ATP testing numbers went up slightly. This might be an indicator that there continues to be a large number of pilots preparing to complete ATP certificates in the upcoming years.
The next chart is an aggregated chart showing tests for multiple individual tests, from private pilot to CFI tests.
Instrument, Commercial, and CFI Tests Increase
Not surprisingly to me, the test volumes in instrument ratings, commercial pilot, and CFI testing continued to grow again in 2025. Each of these tests saw increases in volumes compared to the past years, and compared to many of the previous years. As we have continued to grow the lower-level certification efforts, and as those pilots continue to push through career pilot-focused training paths, they continue to take more knowledge tests. A large push of training has been happening since approximately 2020, and those pilots continue to flow through our training sector and become CFIs, where they then gain experience to meet ATP pilot experience requirements.
Private Pilot Test Decrease
For the first year since 2020, we saw a decrease in the number of Private Pilot knowledge tests given. It wasn’t overly large, down just a couple of thousand tests from the previous year, and still well above the testing volume of much of the past two decades, but it wasn’t a continued increase. I can’t tell you what that means, if it is a temporary burble, or if it is the beginning of a trend, but it will be worth watching.
Sport Pilot Testing Numbers Flat
We continue to see very flat numbers of sport pilot knowledge tests year-over-year. However, with the implementation of the changes from the MOSAIC regulatory efforts, it will be interesting to see if this number does increase in 2026 or subsequent years. This will be a metric my own curiosity will have me looking to again next year.
Overall Test Numbers Up.
When we look at the total volume of FAA knowledge tests, it continues to grow.
But there is a factor here that has been a big part of it over the more recent years, the large volume of tests for unmanned aircraft.
When we look at a chart that does not include these, but just includes the historical battery of available tests, the increase in volume isn’t quite as drastic, but still showing growth.
The table below lets you see that unmanned aircraft systems knowledge tests, since they began in 2016, have accounted for a relatively significant number of the overall test volume. They now represent well over 30% of the FAA knowledge tests given in a year.
The Numbers Behind the Graphs
The table below is the aggregated data from which these charts were made, and shows much more detailed, specific data points you can dig into.
Every year, the 