Update to PTS May Eventually See Light of Day

The FAA has updated the ACS Working Group with the agency’s plan to publish future updates, after a period of pause that left some instructors wondering if they would ever come to be.

The private pilot and commercial pilot Airman Certification Standards were completed years ago, but up to now, no further developments have occurred due to administrative disputes in the publication process. The Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE) announced in their November membership newsletter that the wait may finally be over. 

In the spring of 2021, SAFE signed an industry letter to the Department of Transportation requesting the continuation of the updated standards, hoping to spur a continuation of the working group’s process. A legal debate had stalled the project, as the DOT concluded that the ACS and PTS required legal rulemaking because it used mandatory language when assigning tasks to refer to maneuvers or skills not mentioned explicitly in the CFRs. Following that decision in December 2018, the DOT advised the FAA that all future ACS documents, including updates, would require that the FAA choose between removing any tasks not explicitly required by regulators, or to through the process to make a rule that would make them regulatory. The former would invalidate much if the ACS project’s purpose, while the latter would subject its development to lengthy, bureaucracy.

The SAFE letter contested such findings, pointing to cases where waiting for rulemaking would have placed undue risk on the industry by keeping standards older and out of date. One example was the industry-recommended replacement of NDB and ADF training with newer RNAV GPS tech navigation. If the DOT’s guidelines were held in such a case, it would have been years before the legal rulemaking process was completed, subjecting swathes of new pilots to pointless training for equipment no longer in service in place of vital, possibly life-saving education on modern navaids. 

The issue seems to have been solved, with the FAA intending to incorporate by reference, a legal technique used when referencing external documents as informational for rules. An example used by SAFE can be found in 14 CFR 91.1721, which incorporates a manufacturer’s cockpit checklist, a non-governmental publication, into regulation. 

"While I'm not happy with the decision, I'm glad the FAA is finally moving forward to publish the remaining ACSs," said SAFE's Dr. Donna Wilt, a long-time member of the ACS Working Group. "The FAA still intends to work with stakeholders to the extent possible and keep the community informed as the changes unfold."

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.safepilots.org