ACS Might Be Regulatory

Even if you got your instrument rating 30 years ago, this still affects you since the requirements for an IPC are in the ACS.

Mark Kolber

Tuesday, February 13, 2024 at 04:22 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA proposes to make Airman Certification Standards (ACS) fully regulatory by incorporating them into Part 61 of the regulations, resolving past legal ambiguities regarding their enforceability for pilot certification and proficiency checks.
The draft Instrument ACS introduces significant changes to how instrument approaches are categorized for checkrides and Instrument Proficiency Checks (IPCs).
The new definitions simplify the distinction between precision and nonprecision approaches, focusing on the presence of "approved vertical guidance," which aligns with modern avionics and the reduction of older ground-based navigational aids.

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Back in December 2022, the FAA published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making to incorporate the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) into Part 61 of the FAA regulations appearing in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Related documents include the various Airman Certification and Practical Test Standards. Some of the test standards are identical to what we have now. Others are in draft form with revisions, mostly minor.

One group with a more significant change for instrument trainees and rated pilots alike is the draft Instrument ACS. It brings an important change affecting both the instrument checkride and the IPC. We will focus on the draft Instrument-Airplane ACS but there are similar changes in the new draft Instrument-Helicopter ACS.