Airman Certification Standards - The new PTS

June 09, 2016 2 Comments

You've probably heard a lot about the new Airman Certification Standards (ACS) that the FAA is releasing next week. Here are the basics:

What it is:

"The ACS is basically an enhanced version of the Practical Test Standards (PTS). It adds task-specific knowledge and risk management elements to each PTS Area of Operation and Task. The result is a comprehensive presentation that integrates the standards for what an applicant needs to know, consider, and do in order to pass both the knowledge test and the practical test for a certificate"

When they're effective:

The Private Pilot and Instrument Rating ACS are being released to replace the PTS on June 15.

Additional ACS will be released for the Commercial, ATP, and CFI/CFII in the future (the FAA estimates in the next 12-18 months).

How this affects The Backseat Pilot lesson plans:

We will be introducing lessons tailored to the new Private Pilot and Instrument ACS shortly, and will have our CFI lessons tailored to the ACS upon its release (as usual, if you've bought our lessons before you'll get the update for free).

Want more info than you'll ever care to read? Here you go: https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/