FAA Moves Ahead With Airman Certification Standards for CFIs

Meg Godlewski

Wednesday, November 03, 2021 at 09:14 PM ET

Verified

The new airman certification standards for flight instructors do not yet have a release date. Adobe Stock

Key Takeaways:

The current FAA test standards (PTS) for Flight Instructors (CFIs) lack a mechanism to evaluate an applicant's judgment regarding risk management, creating a disconnect as CFIs are expected to teach these skills.
The upcoming Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for CFIs will rectify this by introducing tools, including scenario-based evaluations, to explicitly assess an applicant's judgment and risk management abilities.
The transition to ACS aims to significantly enhance aviation safety by translating abstract concepts like aeronautical decision-making into specific, testable behaviors relevant to each task.
Integrating the ACS into training from the outset is crucial for both CFIs and learners to ensure comprehensive preparation and improve overall safety outcomes.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Teaching people to fly should incorporate risk management, yet currently the test standards for CFIs do not contain a mechanism for evaluating the applicant’s judgement toward risk.

This will change with the release of the airman certification standards for CFIs, a document currently in development. The date for the release has not been set; however, last month the FAA held a meeting with the ACS working group made up of stakeholders in the aviation training industry.