• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
General Aviation News

General Aviation News

Because flying is cool

  • Pictures of the Day
    • Submit Picture of the Day
  • Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Products
    • NTSB Accidents
    • ASRS Reports
  • Comments
  • Classifieds
    • Place Classified Ad
  • Events
  • Digital Archives
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Revisions to airmen certification standards take effect June 11

By General Aviation News Staff · June 7, 2018 ·

Several revisions to the FAA’s airman certification standards (ACS) will take effect June 11, 2018.

The revisions, called “Major Enhancements” by FAA officials, were made to the ACS for Private Pilot-Airplane, Instrument Rating-Airplane, Commercial Pilot-Airplane, and Remote Pilot-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.

Some of the revisions in Version FAA-S-ACS-6B include:

  • Revised Introduction and appendices to account for FAA reorganization.
  • Replaced numerous prescriptive references to airplane configuration with more general references.
  • Revised numerous Tasks in all Areas of Operation to include more consistent element descriptions.
  • Added language to account for Part 68 BasicMed.
  • Distinguished different types of hypoxia.
  • Broadened scope of engine starting conditions knowledge element.
  • Revised Area of Operation III, Task A to include runway lighting systems.
  • Revised Area of Operation IV to require touch down at proper pitch attitude.
  • Added airspeed tolerance to Area of Operation IX, Task A.
  • Correlated knowledge elements of multiengine airplane engine inoperative flight to zero sideslip.
  • Revised language regarding reduction of drag with one engine inoperative in terms of the manufacturer’s recommendation or appropriate use of flight controls.
  • Added CFIT to low altitude maneuvering risk elements.

The revision also includes updates to several appendices in the standards.

You can see the full document, with revisions, here.

Reader Interactions

Share this story

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit Share on Reddit
  • Share via Email Share via Email

Become better informed pilot.

Join 110,000 readers each month and get the latest news and entertainment from the world of general aviation direct to your inbox, daily.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Curious to know what fellow pilots think on random stories on the General Aviation News website? Click on our Recent Comments page to find out. Read our Comment Policy here.

Comments

  1. Wylbur Wrong says

    June 10, 2018 at 9:12 am

    This is a bit odd:

    “The revisions, called “Major Enhancements” by FAA officials, were made to the ACS for Private Pilot-Airplane, Instrument Rating-Airplane, Commercial Pilot-Airplane, and Remote Pilot-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.”

    But the attached document is ONLY for Private Pilot.

© 2025 Flyer Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Writer’s Guidelines
  • Photographer’s Guidelines