Federal Air Marshal Qualification

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I tried this years ago and failed. I should try it again.

Federal Air Marshal Qualification: Test Your CCW Skills

Commonly called the “old Air Marshal (FAM) course,” it was created for Federal Air Marshals in 1992. In cooperation with the Office of Civilian Airline Security, it was developed by a private instructor in the Fort Bragg, NC, area who routinely taught skills to certain units based at that facility. It eventually became the qualification course for all Federal Air Marshals. Those who passed it received their flying orders. Those who failed went back for more training. It was not an easy course. In fact, when senior officers from the Joint Special Operations Command attended and reviewed the course in 1998, their opinion was that those passing the TPC were among the top one-percent of pistol shooters in the world.

I expect I will fail again but I now have easy access to a place where I can practice on the stages I difficulty with.

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7 thoughts on “Federal Air Marshal Qualification”

  1. Most of those stages should give you no problem. 6 & 7 are more challenging. I think any A, M or GM should pass.

    • Out of 158 recorded classifiers I only have two which are BARELY in the A’s.

      The last time I shot it I thought that I probably could pass it if I practiced it some. So, I’m inclined to agree with you that any A, M, or GM should pass.

      But I have not practiced it and I have not tried it again.

      • The shooting is straightforward, especially from low ready. The reloading on the clock is problem.

        There was a time I could have passed but not recently.

  2. While not the same course, this video shows the benefit of dry fire practice. Impressive, is what it is.

    “Having never shot a real gun in his life, Liku shows us what’s up after dry-firing with airsoft guns for three years in Japan.”

  3. I read the description of the course and got rather confused. For example the first stage seems to say “draw from concealment, fire one round at the target, reholster, draw, fire, reholster, all in N seconds”. Did I get that right? Or was the N second limit for “draw from concealment and fire one round” only?
    If the former, I don’t get the point. It’s clear why drawing fast & safely is important; I don’t see why holstering fast would be.

    • Agreed. It’s confusing.

      My interpretation, applying standard practices from some types of competitions, is that it is two different strings of fire. You are timed from the buzzer just before the draw until the last shot before you holster. The exercise is then repeated and the two times added together. The holstering action is off the clock.

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