Re: ATP Written expiration dates and working at a 121 carrie
No - not as long as you remain employed with that 121 carrier. If there is a break to another carrier for employement - expires immediatly.
Incorrect on both counts!
The test DOES expire. However, if you complete a 121 air carrier's approved upgrade training course, you may submit the expired test results as if they were current. Refer to 61.39(7)(b). The reg states:
"...Is employed as a flight crewmember by a certificate holder under part 121, 125, or 135 of this chapter at the time of the practical test and has satisfactorily accomplished that operator's approved—
(i) Pilot in command aircraft qualification training program that is appropriate to the certificate and rating sought..."
61.39 doesn't care who you were employed by before you took the test, or whether or not you switched employer between the test's expiration and taking the practical test.
I have no idea where people get this idea that if you switch employment between carriers after the expiration, the ATP written suddenly becomes worthless....if there is some FAA legal counsel opinion I am not aware of that says otherwise, I'd like to know.
So the bottom line:
-If you have taken, and passed, an ATP knowledge test, it's technically valid forever so long as the ATP practical test is taken after completing an air carrier's approved PIC training course. Any air carrier, any time...you could have taken the test 30 years ago and switched jobs 10 times since...it doesn't matter. Anyone upgrading or getting employed as a street captain by any carrier does not need to worry about the expiration date...that piece of paper will be accepted by the FAA.
-However, if you take your ATP practical test under part 61 (for example- with a DPE in a PA-44 at the local GA airport after getting 3 hours of instruction from a CFI from ATP), then the expriation date applies, and you must have taken and passed the knowledge test within the preceding 2 years.