The 8 Instrument ACS Areas, Explained

The FAA Instrument Rating Airman Certification Standards (ACS) is the definitive document that defines what a DPE must evaluate during your practical test. It replaces the older Practical Test Standards and adds knowledge and risk management elements alongside skill requirements. If your DPE asks about it during the oral, they are drawing from this document — and so should you when you study.

The Instrument Rating ACS is organized into eight Areas of Operation, each containing Tasks. Each Task has three columns: Knowledge (what you must know), Risk Management (how you must think about risk), and Skills (what you must be able to do). Understanding this structure helps you study more efficiently because you know exactly what is on the table.

Preflight Preparation is consistently one of the most heavily tested areas in the oral exam. It encompasses weather interpretation, filing and opening IFR flight plans, aircraft systems and airworthiness, and the regulations governing IFR operations.

Weather products and interpretation

DPEs expect you to fluently decode METARs, TAFs, PIREPs, SIGMETs, AIRMETs, winds aloft forecasts, and graphical weather products such as the ceiling and visibility analysis. They will hand you a real or realistic weather briefing and ask you to walk them through your go/no-go decision. Be ready to explain what each product means in practical terms, not just recite the abbreviations.

IFR currency and regulatory requirements

You need to know the IFR currency requirements cold — the regulation requires recent instrument experience (approaches, holds, and intercepting/tracking) within a specified look-back period to act as PIC under IFR. You should also know what happens when you are not current and how to restore currency, including use of an approved simulator.

Aircraft airworthiness for IFR

Expect questions about what equipment is required for IFR flight under Part 91, how to determine that equipment is operative and legal to use, and what to do if required equipment is inoperative. The FAA's minimum equipment list (MEL) concept and deferral authority is a common topic here.

This area covers the practical setup before departure: obtaining a clearance, copying and reading back ATC instructions, and departing under instrument conditions. DPEs look for proficiency in reading back clearances correctly — every item, in the right order — and for proper use of the cockpit flows and checklists for IFR departure.

Instrument departure procedures (DPs), including Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODPs) and Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs), are frequently tested. You should understand when you are expected to fly a DP, how to read one, and what the climb gradient requirements mean practically.

Area III is about operating in the ATC system: understanding and complying with clearances, holding patterns, route amendments, and lost communications procedures. The lost comms procedure — when to squawk 7600, what route to fly, and when to descend — is a perennial favorite of DPEs and worth knowing thoroughly.

Holding patterns appear in the flight portion of almost every instrument checkride. You need to demonstrate entry technique (direct, teardrop, or parallel depending on your arrival heading), timing adjustments for wind, and speed compliance. DPEs also ask about holding clearances verbally during the oral — be ready to sketch and explain a hold from a verbal description.

This area covers the fundamental skill of controlling the aircraft using only the instrument panel. Basic attitude instrument flying, unusual attitude recovery, and partial panel flight (with the attitude indicator and heading indicator failed or covered) are all evaluated here.

For the oral portion, DPEs often ask about instrument failures — how do you know an instrument has failed? What do you do when the vacuum system quits? How do you prioritize your scan with reduced instrument availability? Understanding failure modes and the implications of each is as important as the flying skill itself.

Area V covers the navigation systems you use in IFR flight: VOR, GPS/GNSS, ILS, DME, and their various limitations and failure modes. RAIM (Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) for GPS is a frequently tested topic — you should understand what RAIM does, when it might not be available, and what to do if a RAIM alert appears before or during an approach.

GPS approaches under the WAAS system — particularly LPV approaches with their lower minimums — are now standard equipment in most training aircraft. Understand the difference between LNAV, LNAV/VNAV, and LPV minima, and what equipment and database requirements apply to each.

Approaches are the heart of instrument flying and receive significant attention in both the oral and flight portions. DPEs will walk you through approach plates, ask about minimums, MDA versus DA, missed approach procedures, and when a circling approach applies.

Precision vs. non-precision approaches

A precision approach (such as an ILS) provides both lateral and vertical guidance and uses a Decision Altitude (DA). A non-precision approach provides lateral guidance only and uses a Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA). The practical difference is significant: on a precision approach you continue descending on the glideslope until DA; on a non-precision approach you level off at the MDA and fly level until you either see the runway environment or reach the missed approach point.

Approach chart literacy

DPEs expect you to read every element of an approach plate: the plan view, profile view, minimums section, notes, required equipment, and the missed approach procedure. Bring approach plates for your departure airport, destination, and alternate on checkride day — the DPE may use any of them as oral exam material.

Emergency operations covers partial panel flight, inadvertent entry into IMC for VFR pilots (less relevant for IFR applicants, but understanding it is still good risk management), and equipment malfunctions. DPEs want to see that you have a plan when things go wrong, not that you freeze.

Common emergency scenarios in the oral include: total electrical failure, vacuum system failure, pitot-static system blockages (and the effect on airspeed, altimeter, and VSI), and engine failure at various points in the approach. Know your aircraft's emergency checklists and the logic behind each step.

Postflight Procedures is typically the shortest area on the checkride — it covers arrival, shutdown, securing the aircraft, and filing a closing IFR flight plan if applicable. DPEs may ask how you handle a VFR flight plan inadvertently left open (contact FSS to close it) or what you do if ATC never clears you to cancel IFR (you remain on an IFR flight plan until formally cancelled or landed at destination).

Despite its brevity, this area is a good opportunity to demonstrate professionalism: clean checklists, proper shutdown sequence, and making sure ATC paperwork is squared away before you walk away from the airplane.