FEEC Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 3 Content Areas

What FEEC Covers and What It Doesn't Publish

FEEC stands for Fiber Optics Evaluation & Endface Cleaning. It is an aerospace-focused fiber optics certification issued by ETA International. The technical foundation is ARINC Report 805-5, with aspects of ARINC 803-3, 806-7.2.1 and 807-4 as listed on ETA's current page. ARINC and SAE standards supply the technical context, but ETA remains the certifying body. If you are still orienting yourself, start with What Is FEEC? or What Does FEEC Stand For? before diving into content areas.

This guide breaks the credential into three content areas. Be clear about where those areas come from: ETA does not publish an issuer-authored list of examination domains or a weighted blueprint. The three groupings used here come from the course overview of KITCO, an external training provider that ETA names and links for FEEC preparation. KITCO states that completing its knowledge competencies and hands-on skillsets qualifies students to take the FEEC examination. That makes the groupings a reliable map of what a reputable course teaches, but not an official statement of what appears on the exam form or in what proportion.

The Three Content Areas at a Glance

Course equipment named in the provider scope reinforces this split: an optical light source and power meter, a visual fault locator, video inspection probes, and 400x / 200x microscopes. Each tool maps cleanly onto Domains 2 and 3, which is a useful reminder that FEEC is not a purely theoretical exam. For the broader picture of how the written and practical parts fit together, see FEEC Certification.

Domain 1: Aviation Fiber Optic Theory and Fundamentals

The first content area builds the vocabulary and mental models that make everything else make sense. In an aviation context, this is not generic telecom theory. Aircraft fiber links live in a harsh environment, and the standards behind FEEC (the ARINC 800-series reports) exist because avionics fiber has its own practices, connectors and test procedures.

A common trap is treating this domain as "easy background." The theory tends to show up inside scenario thinking later. If you understand why a contaminated endface causes loss, you can reason about a cleaning or test question even when the wording is unfamiliar. Candidates coming from copper or general structured cabling should budget extra time here, because aerospace fiber conventions are less intuitive than they look. The difficulty guide discusses where background experience helps and where it does not.

Domain 2: Inspection and Cleaning Practices

This is the domain that gives the credential its name, and it is the most distinctive part of the provider scope. It covers inspection and cleaning of single-ferrule connectors and termini, multi-terminus connectors such as D38999, ARINC 600 and EPX, and the use of the fiber optic video inspection probe (FOVIS).

Single-ferrule connectors and termini

Single-ferrule work is the baseline skill: inspect the endface, decide whether it is acceptable, clean if needed, and re-inspect. The discipline of the inspect-clean-inspect cycle is something both the written and practical sides reward. Expect to need a clear sense of what contamination and damage look like under magnification, and the difference between a defect that cleaning can fix and one that it cannot.

Multi-terminus connectors: D38999, ARINC 600 and EPX

Aircraft rarely use a single fiber in isolation. Multi-terminus connectors pack many termini into one housing, which changes both access and technique. You cannot simply hold a ferrule up to a microscope when it is seated deep inside a connector body, which is exactly why the video inspection probe matters.

The video inspection probe (FOVIS)

FOVIS use is a named element of this domain. Candidates should be comfortable with what the probe does, how it differs from a bench microscope (the course lists both 400x and 200x microscopes), and how to interpret what it shows. Practice reading endface images critically, because the exam can only test what you can recognize and reason about.

Domain 3: Testing Theory, Link Loss and Troubleshooting

The third area moves from condition of the connector to performance of the link. It covers testing theory and practices, including link loss testing and troubleshooting procedures and best practices. The tools named in the provider course are an optical light source and power meter, and a visual fault locator.

Notice how this domain loops back to Domain 2. A great deal of real-world link loss traces to dirty or damaged endfaces, which is why inspection and cleaning sits upstream of testing in actual maintenance practice. Candidates who understand that dependency answer troubleshooting-style questions far more reliably than those who memorize procedures in isolation. For a compact reference of facts to review, the FEEC cheat sheet pairs well with this domain.

Why There Are No Official Domain Weights

Many prep resources for other exams publish neat percentage breakdowns. For FEEC, none can be verified. ETA's "Competencies - What's covered?" link leads to a generic SAE ARINC standards catalogue rather than a syllabus, and the SAE page for ARINC 805-5 supplies report metadata and a broad scope, not a topic outline. The full paid standard is the underlying text, and it is not a published exam blueprint either. The ETA page also does not state how many of the 25 questions are scored versus unscored.

What this means practically:

• Do not allocate study hours using invented percentages. Balance your preparation across all three areas, with extra depth where your own experience is thinnest.
• Do not assume the exam covers only what a particular course teaches, or that it covers all of it. Provider scope is a preparation guide, not a guarantee of coverage.
• Treat the ARINC 805-5 foundation seriously. The report is dated January 28, 2019 on SAE's landing page, though no exact current exam-form year has been confirmed, so avoid resources that claim a specific form date.

Exam Mechanics That Shape How You Prepare

The structure of the exam affects how you should study each domain. Here is what ETA's published information supports:

• Questions: 25 on the official exam-information page. A third-party claim of 75 questions is not supported and should be ignored.
• Time: 2 hours for the knowledge exam.
• Passing score: 75% on the knowledge exam, and the required hands-on competency must also be satisfied. The scoring method and item allocation are not published, so avoid anyone who tells you exactly how many questions you can miss.
• Format: a proctored knowledge examination plus a separate required hands-on training/skills component. The precise question format, such as single-answer multiple choice, is not established by the public issuer sources.
• Delivery: ETA Certification Administrators at approved sites using Trapeza online testing or paper and pencil, with ExamRoom.AI remote knowledge testing also offered. The required practical training or assessment must still go through an ETA-approved school.

With only 25 questions in two hours, time pressure is unlikely to be the main challenge. The difficulty lies in depth and precision across three technical areas. Details on the cut score are covered in FEEC Passing Score 2026, and you can check what is and is not disclosed about success rates in FEEC Pass Rate 2026.

Fees and registration, briefly

Do not treat $130 as an all-in price. The full cost picture, including training, is in FEEC Certification Cost 2026. For eligibility, FEEC is stand-alone: an Associate CET is not a universal prerequisite, and no mandatory degree or employment-hour threshold was verified. The approved hands-on course is what you must complete, and the full picture is in FEEC Requirements 2026. ETA requires photo ID and proctoring. Its general onsite FAQ allows scratch paper and non-programmable or scientific calculators, bars personal electronic devices, and requires used scratch paper to be surrendered; confirm remote-specific rules for your delivery arrangement.

Sequencing Your Preparation Around the Domains

This is the one place where scheduling matters, and it should follow the dependency between the domains rather than a generic template. Theory first, then inspection and cleaning, then testing, because each builds on the one before it. A three-week arc is a reasonable frame if you are studying alongside a hands-on course.

For a fuller approach to pacing and resources, see the FEEC study guide, and when you want to test yourself under realistic conditions, use the FEEC practice tests. Keep in mind that any practice-bank allocation across the three areas is editorial rather than an official weighting, so treat practice scores as a signal of readiness, not a prediction of the exact exam mix. If you are still deciding whether to pursue it at all, Is the FEEC Certification Worth It? and FEEC Jobs cover the career side, including earnings.

Keeping the Certification Current

The certification term is currently stated as two years. The FEEC-specific maintenance section says people performing the certified job for at least 60% of a full-time work year can renew annually using an employer proficiency affidavit, while others must recertify, and failure of the recertification practical requires training again. However, the linked renewal form says certification expires after one year for those below the 60% threshold, while the current web text says all certifications are good for two years. That is an unresolved conflict in ETA's own materials, so confirm your exact renewal path directly with ETA before your term ends. The linked form lists a $50 renewal fee, though its revision date is uncertain. No FEEC-specific numeric continuing-education hour requirement was verified.

Because the practical component is part of recertification for some candidates, keeping your inspection, cleaning and test skills current is not optional. That reinforces why Domains 2 and 3 should be treated as working skills, not exam trivia.

Frequently Asked Questions