### Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee 

### Airman Certification System Working Group Airman Certification Standards

## BACKGROUND

• Pilots and Industry have long contended FAA testing is outdated, not relevant and/or 

## meaningful

– Hurdle to get out - of
- the way in order to become a certificated pilot



### – Rote memorization

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 2

## CURRENT PROCESS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 3

## CURRENT PROCESS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 4

## CURRENT PROCESS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 5

## CURRENT PROCESS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 6

### AVIATION RULEMAKING COMMITTEE

• Formed September 2011
• Recommendations :

– Integrate knowledge, skill, and risk management elements for each task and area of operation

– Create one reference document for each certificate called the Airman Certification Standards (ACS)

– Align training, testing, and reference materials and maintain alignment
ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 7

### AVIATION RULEMAKING ADVISORY

COMMITTEE



### • FAA accepted ARC report September 2012
• ARAC

– Standing committee is collaboration between industry and FAA to assist with regulatory matters 

### • To act upon the ARC recommendations, formed 

### Airman Testing Standards and Training Working Group (ATST WG)

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 8

### ARAC ATST WG TASKS



### • Develop draft Airman Certification Standards (ACS)

– Private Pilot



### – Instrument Airplane

– Authorized Instructor 

### • Proposal to realign, streamline, and consolidate 

### FAA guidance material such as FAA - H - 8083 - XX series handbooks • Develop knowledge test question bank that aligns 

### with, or “maps” to, the ACS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 9

### ARAC ATST WG

• Completed work – September 2013
• Final Report and Recommendations unanimously accepted and 

### forwarded to the FAA for implementation

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 10

### ARAC ATST WG



## • Recommendations –

– Adoption and Implementation of Airman 

### Certification System
• Standards, Guidance, and Testing



### – Recommendations on Effectively Managing the 

### Integrated Airman Certification System
• Stakeholder Participation
• Quality Management System

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 11

### Airman Certification System

Working Group



### • Formed February 2014

– Membership includes industry associations, academia, test prep providers, pilot examiners, and multiple FAA 

### offices and staff 

### • Tasks

– Finalize ACS documents

– Map guidance and test questions to ACS

– FAA internal guidance, training, and conversion from PTS to ACS

– Prototype beta testing
ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 12

### Airman Certification System

Working Group



## • A irman C ertification S tandards
• The core of the s ystem


## • Aligns aeronautical knowledge areas with flight proficiency areas of operation


## • Integrates risk management
• Incorporates and supersedes the PTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 13

## NEW SYSTEM

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 14

## NEW SYSTEM

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 15

## NEW SYSTEM

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 16

## NEW SYSTEM

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 17

## NEW SYSTEM

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 18

## NEW SYSTEM

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 19

### Safety Management System

Framework

• Safety Policy : Defines and describes aeronautical knowledge, flight proficiency, and risk management as integrated components
• Safety Risk Management : Processes through which internal and external stakeholders identify and evaluate regulatory changes, safety recommendations, or other factors that require modification of airman testing and training materials
• Safety Assurance : Processes to ensure the prompt and appropriate incorporation of changes arising from new regulations and safety recommendations
• Safety Promotion : Ongoing engagement with both external stakeholders (e.g., the aviation training industry) and FAA policy divisions ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 20

### AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARD



## • Standards are clarified and enhanced

– M aterial is presented better 

## • Check rides are not changing
• The ACS will be the only necessary reference 

## for both knowledge and skill
• Flight instructors can train more effectively
• Examiners can test more effectively
• Training will tie to testing ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 21

### AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARD



## • Areas of operation and tasks largely unchanged 

## • Each task has five blocks

– Reference

– Objective



### – Knowledge

– Skills

– Risk Management 

## • Each block has itemized standards or elements ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 22

### AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARD

23

### AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARD



## • Task Reference and Objectives

– Same as PTS



### – Refer to listed references just like in the PTS
• FAA Handbooks
• Advisory Circulars
• Regulations
• AFM
• Etc. ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 24

### AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARD



## • Task Knowledge Elements

– Better than the PTS

– Clearly itemizes the knowledge required

– Correlates directly to knowledge test

– Effective retraining and retesting for failed knowledge test questions

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 25

### OLD TASK KNOWLEDGE ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 26

### NEW TASK KNOWLEDGE ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 27

### ACS TASK SKILL ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 

## • Built upon current Practical Test Standards
• Completion standards for flight proficiency 

## largely unchanged

28

### PTS TASK SKILL ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 29

### ACS TASK SKILL ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 30

### RISK MANAGEMENT ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 

## • Practical Test Standards

– L ists generic special emphasis areas and SRM tasks

– G ives no guidance for specifically how they 

### correlate to each task 

## • Airman Certification Standards

– Does away with generic special emphasis areas and SRM tasks

– Itemizes risk management elements for each task
31

### PTS RISK MANAGEMENT ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 32

### ACS RISK MANAGEMENT ELEMENTS

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 33

### REVIEWING THE KNOWLEDGE TEST

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 34

### REVIEWING THE KNOWLEDGE TEST

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 35

### REVIEWING THE KNOWLEDGE TEST

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 36

### CURRENT LEARNING STATEMENT CODES

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 37

### REVIEWING THE KNOWLEDGE TEST

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 38

### ACS TEST QUESTION CODING

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 

## • Allows everything to be mapped and tracked to each specific element for each task and area of operation in a particular ACS
Applicable ACS: P rivate Pilot A irplane

Area of Operation: III – Airport and Seaplane Base Operations Task:

B – Traffic Patterns Element: 4 – Right - of
- way rules
Block: K nowledge 

# PA.III.B.K4

39

### NEW ACS TEST REPORT

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 40

### ACS KNOWLEDGE TEST MAPPING

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 

## • ACS codes replace PLT codes • Every test question correlates to a knowledge element in ACS • Instruction and retesting will be specific, 

## targeted, and based on specified learning criteria • Notice of Disapproval for the practical test will 

## use the ACS codes to identify the deficient skill(s )

41

### ACS KNOWLEDGE TEST REVIEW

ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 42

### ACS KNOWLEDGE TEST REVIEW

43

### ACS WG PROGRESS TO DATE

• Multi - year, multi - phase project

– Culmination and built upon previous work 

### • Published Commercial and Authorized Instructor in Federal Register for comments

– FAA - 2013 - 0316 

### • Prototyping Private ACS

– ERAU – Daytona Beach Campus
ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 44

### ACS WG PROGRESS
– NEXT STEPS

• Finalize foundation ACS’s
• Expand Prototyping • FAA

– Train Inspectors

– Draft new test questions

– New internal guidance/orders

– Train evaluators • Switch from current system to 

### integrated Airman Certification System ARAC ACS WG – AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS 45

### Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee 

### Airman Certification System Working Group Airman Certification Standards Questions

David.Oord@aopa.org 46