The Airman Certification Standards (ACS) is the guide for aviation students, instructors, and FAA-designated examiners to know what pilot and industry license applicants must know, do, and consider for their FAA Knowledge Exam and practical (checkride) to earn a certificate or rating. The new ACS (effective June 2016) replaces the Practical Test Standards (PTS) and it is basically an enhanced version of the PTS. It adds task-specific knowledge and risk management elements to each PTS “Area of Operation” and “Task.”

The result is a presentation that integrates the standards for passing both the FAA Knowledge Exams and the FAA Oral and Practical Exams in a way that coordinates the study and learning for both, making them relevant to each other.

This Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Instrument Rating – Airplane ACS provides the aeronautical knowledge, risk management, and flight proficiency standards for instrument rating certification in the airplane category, single-engine land and sea, as well as multi-engine land and sea classes (ASEL, ASES, AMEL, AMES). This ACS incorporates and supersedes the previous Practical Test Standards (FAA-S-8081-4), for “Instrument Rating – Airplane” license applicants.