Instrument ACS

[denverpilot]

Appears a little delayed. Was supposed to be posted to the FAA website two days ago, per them. But they did say "around" that date.

Anyone heard any scuttlebutt or seen anything?

 

[iamtheari]

Are there major revisions coming since last June? Am I going to be kicking myself even harder for not finishing up by now?

 

[dmspilot]

Everyone would love to kick the FAA for causing the ACS to exist.

 

[denverpilot]

Are there major revisions coming since last June? Am I going to be kicking myself even harder for not finishing up by now?

I'd call switching from PTS to ACS a "Major revision", yeah. But the skill set supposedly will remain the same. The real answer is "nobody knows until it's published".

 

[iamtheari]

I'd call switching from PTS to ACS a "Major revision", yeah. But the skill set supposedly will remain the same. The real answer is "nobody knows until it's published".

I'm confused. I thought the ACS went into effect for private pilot airplane and instrument airplane last summer. Here's where I would look for the changes between last year's edition and this year's edition: https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/

 

[denverpilot]

I'm confused. I thought the ACS went into effect for private pilot airplane and instrument airplane last summer. Here's where I would look for the changes between last year's edition and this year's edition: https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/

Bah. You're correct of course. I'm mixing Instrument and Commercial up when I read there were changes coming for Instrument.

 

[iamtheari]

Bah. You're correct of course. I'm mixing Instrument and Commercial up when I read there were changes coming for Instrument.

The cool thing is that I just now discovered (a) there are changes coming for instrument and (b) they have an ACS put together for commercial. My theory remains that check rides won't change much. DPEs should all be grizzled enough to judge your piloting the same way regardless of which book they're judging you under.

 

[denverpilot]

The cool thing is that I just now discovered (a) there are changes coming for instrument and (b) they have an ACS put together for commercial. My theory remains that check rides won't change much. DPEs should all be grizzled enough to judge your piloting the same way regardless of which book they're judging you under.

There have been examiner's who've followed the ACS guidance as intended, and a few stories of those who don't.

We haven't had any bad ones here locally, but there's a few horror stories out there from other FSDO regions of folks who made up what they thought it all meant, even in the face of widely available and web-disseminated as well as live Q&A sessions by FAA.

And a few continue to do so, judging by the stories that still trickle out.

But I think in by and large, most examiners have the experience and knowledge and pay attention to the guidance given by FAA.

 

[iamtheari]

I am in the middle of "ALC-449: Understanding Airman Certification Standards (ACS) through faasafety.gov. I realized today that I had enrolled in the course a long time ago and forgot to go through with it. Totally coincidental with seeing this thread. Anyhow, one slide near the end has these three bullet points:

• The ACS does not change the skill performance metrics in the PTS.
• The ACS does not change the way the flight portion of the practical test is conducted today.
• The ACS does not lengthen either the oral or the flight portion of the practical test.

They should add:

• The ACS does not prevent DPEs from varying their interpretation of the ACS any more than the PTS did.

 

[BrianNC]

Any update on this? I thought I had read June at one point.