The “Next Gen” of Airman Certification Standards
Howard Deevers
We started into the “Next Generation” of Air Traffic Control over 8 years ago, although the mandate for the ADS-B (out) is not required until after January 1, 2020.
Now, it looks like the FAA is making changes to Airman Certification Standards (ACS). Up to now, we have trained to the Practical Test Standards (PTS). So, what is changing? This new ACS incorporates and supersedes the previous Practical Test Standards. This new Private Pilot – Airplane ACS is 100 pages long, including the pages marked “page intentionally blank.” I have never quite adjusted to that. Well, there is no way that we want to reprint 100 pages here, but I read all 100 pages, including those marked “intentionally blank.” So I am going to attempt to give you a summary of what I learned from this. Flight instructors, please pay attention; this may change the way we instruct new students.
ARIZONA PILOTS ASSOCIATION and other pilot organizations have for decades been giving Aviation Safety Seminars for pilots free of charge. Now, much of what these safety programs have been promoting are incorporated into the ACS. Now, Safety Management is expected to be part of the training, as well as the testing by Pilot Examiners. The four functional components are constructed around the following:
- Safety policy that describes aeronautical knowledge, flight proficiency, and risk management as integrated components of the airman certification system.
- 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. And:
- Safety Promotion in the form of ongoing engagement with both external stakeholders (e.g. the aviation training industry) and the FAA policy divisions.
If any of that sounds familiar to you, but put into more simple language, it might be because you heard it at the GAARMS seminars put on by Fred Gibbs, or any of the other safety seminars presented by your ARIZONA PILOTS ASSOCIATION at various times through the year. The FAA acknowledges that the many safety training programs have contributed to the development of the ACS.
Here is something interesting that I learned by reading through those 100 pages: It is possible to take the Private Pilot test and the Instrument Pilot check ride at the same time. Of course, you are required to have passed the knowledge test for each rating already, and the Oral part of the check ride. Here is what it says about that: “A combined checkride should be treated as one practical test, requiring only one application and resulting in only one temporary certificate, disapproval notice, or letter of discontinuance, as applicable. Failure of any task will result in a failure of the entire test and application. Therefore, even if the deficient maneuver was instrument related and the performance of all VFR tasks was determined to be satisfactory, the applicant will receive a notice of disapproval.”
After reading that, why would you want to attempt to combine any check rides? The odds are not in your favor. Buy lottery tickets! I know that there are geniuses and a lot of people a lot smarter than I am flying airplanes, but we are talking about the Private Pilot AND Instrument Rating all at one time. These would be people that are relatively new to aviation and not likely to have many hours of actual flight time in any case. Maybe the highly skilled genius category could do this, but I still think the odds are against passing in any case, but it is there.
Under each Task in the ACS, there is a Risk Management section. This is what we have been teaching for a long time, and now it is part of the Certification, or will be when the final rule is made public. Right now, it is draft form, but at least we know what it should look like in the final form soon.
I have not discussed these changes with any Designated Pilot Examiners (DPE) yet, but will do so soon. I expect that most of the Risk Management parts of the ACS will be oral. The examiner will throw out an example of something that could impact the safety of the planned flight, or if that flight could actually be completed. The student pilot will be required to give a reasonable answer to the problem.
Safety minded pilots are thinking about these things all the time. The safety minded pilots also come to the many seminars that are put on by the APA, FAASTeam, AOPA, and others all the time. It is the pilots that don’t come to any of these programs that we read about in the paper, after an accident. How do we reach them? The FAA and NTSB do check to see if a pilot involved in an incident or accident has ever attended a safety program, sadly most of the time the answer is no.
It appears that the many safety programs the APA has presented will be incorporated into the Airman Testing (ACS). Maybe our efforts are paying off. We sure hope so. Is it possible to have zero accidents? Surely not without trying. Be ahead of the game. Come to the next safety seminar, and don’t come alone; remember to bring your wingman!