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New airman certification standards?

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FAA Regulations, General Aviation

In the June 2016 issue of Flying magazine I saw a brief mention of "the new Airman Certification Standards".  I don't have a subscription so I'm far from a regular reader of the magazine and I've been a bit out of the loop of the aviation world since I left my job at the FBO, so this is entirely news to me.

 

What standards does this refer to and what changed?  (and when?)

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2 Answers



  1. Kris Kortokrax on Jun 23, 2016

    My, you have been out of the loop for a while. The Airmen Certification Standards (ACS) have been in the works for years. Draft copies were made available for the public to read and offer comments.

    They are available on the FAA’s website under Testing. Their use became mandatory on June 15, 2016.

    Currently, only Private – Airplane and Instrument – Airplane ACS are being used. Others are in the works.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Jun 23, 2016

    The Airman Certification Standards are a new title and format for the PTS. You’ll see when you look at a copy but, to summarize briefly, it seeks to accomplish two things. One is break down the tasks into component of knowledge, skill, etc. I think that’s both for guidance of CFIs and DPEs and to capture some metrics that were never examined before.

    The second is is to integrate risk assessment and pilot decision making in a formal way on the theory that most accidents result from failures of judgment rather than lack of adequate skill.

    There’s quite a bit of disagreement in the aviation community about whether they really can accomplish these goals or just make instruction and checkrides take longer.

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