Commander’s direct line: Motorcycle program Q&A Published July 9, 2009 FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- Q: Why are the motorcycle safety courses at Fairchild AFB not certified by Washington state? If the courses were certified, then individuals who take a safety course on-base could take their state-certified completion certificates downtown and receive their motorcycle endorsement without having to pass a practical riding test. A: Thank you for your interest in the Fairchild motorcycle safety program and your inquiry regarding State certification of our program. The primary obstacle to achieving and maintaining Washington State certification of our program is the number of instructor hours required by the State, which greatly exceeds the number of instructor hours we are able to provide all of our 19 volunteer instructors through the training courses here at Fairchild. Achieving State certification would also require relocating Fairchild's motorcycle training range. The current training range does not meet the state's size requirements. Finally, you make an excellent point that becoming State certified would eliminate the need to take the riding test when applying for a motorcycle endorsement downtown; however, the current setup does serve an important purpose. When an individual completes the Fairchild motorcycle safety course and then successfully passes a practical test downtown, it validates the training here at Fairchild via an independent evaluation and guards against our training programs ever failing to achieve the suprb standard that our volunteer instructors currently provide. We hope this helps to explain the issue and sincerely appreciate your interest in the motorcycle program and the safety of the Fairchild community. Should you have any further questions, please contact the 92 ARW Safety Office at 247-2141. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this issue with the Fairchild community!