Knowledge Tests and Checkrides

Every pilot licence is earned twice: once at a desk and once at the controls. The theoretical knowledge examination tests what the pilot knows; the flight test shows what the pilot can do. EASA calls the flight test a skill test; the FAA calls it a practical test, universally known as the checkride, and calls its theory exams knowledge tests, still widely known as the written. Between the two sit the progress tests of the training organisation, the stage checks.

The two systems test the same subjects in different ways. Part-FCL sets many separate papers for each licence, run by the national authority from a common European question bank, with a 75 per cent pass mark. The FAA sets one knowledge test per certificate or rating, with a 70 per cent pass mark, and writes it, like the checkride that follows, to a public standard, the Airman Certification Standards. A pilot converting between them usually has to sit the other side's theory as well as its flight test.

Theoretical knowledge examinations

Under FCL.025 the examinations are run by the competent authority of the State issuing the licence, usually on computer at the authority or its examination centres. Questions come from the European Central Question Bank maintained by EASA for the national authorities, each with four options and one correct answer, and the bank itself is not published. A candidate may sit the papers only when recommended by the training organisation that gave the course, an approved training organisation (ATO) or, for the leisure licences, a declared training organisation (DTO), and that recommendation is valid for 12 months; if no paper has been attempted within that time, the organisation decides what further training is needed.

The number of papers depends on the licence: nine subjects for the PPL, seven for the instrument rating and thirteen for the CPL and ATPL, which cover the same subjects at different depth. Subject 090 Communications replaced the former separate VFR and IFR communications papers, which is why older sources count fourteen ATPL papers. The ATPL papers run from 010 Air Law to 090 Communications, and a pass in them also covers the theory for the lower licences in the same aircraft category.

The rules on passing are the same for every licence:

The ATPL rule explains the frozen ATPL (see commercial and airline transport pilot licences): a new first officer with a CPL, a multi-engine instrument rating and all thirteen passes keeps the passes alive by keeping the instrument rating valid, until the experience for the licence itself is reached. Since the 2020 syllabus the ATO must also assess the candidate's knowledge, skills and attitudes (Area 100) and mental arithmetic before recommending the final ATPL paper.

FAA knowledge tests and handbooks

An FAA applicant sits one knowledge test per certificate or rating, on computer at a testing centre run by the FAA's contractor. Before booking the private pilot test, for example, the applicant needs an FAA tracking number from the IACRA system, photographic identification and an endorsement from an authorised instructor, or a graduation certificate from an accepted home-study course.

Under 14 CFR 61.39 a knowledge test result is valid for 24 calendar months, within which the practical test must be passed. The ATP knowledge test result lasts 60 calendar months, and the ATP multiengine test may be taken only after the ATP Certification Training Program of 61.156: at least 30 hours of academic training and 10 hours of simulator training. The result arrives as an Airman Knowledge Test Report listing the code of every topic the applicant got wrong, and the examiner at the checkride must re-examine each of them. A 72 per cent pass is therefore a pass with a long oral to follow.

The FAA stopped publishing its question banks in 2012. What it publishes instead are the sources the questions are written from, all free on its website:

• the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (PHAK, FAA-H-8083-25): aerodynamics, systems, instruments, weight and balance, performance, weather, airspace, navigation and aeronautical decision-making;
• the Airplane Flying Handbook (AFH, FAA-H-8083-3C): manoeuvres, take-offs and landings, and emergencies;
• the Aeronautical Information Manual and 14 CFR Parts 61 and 91;
• the Aviation Weather Handbook (FAA-H-8083-28);
• for the instrument rating, the Instrument Flying Handbook and the Instrument Procedures Handbook.

EASA has no equivalent official textbook. Its theory is defined by learning objectives published as acceptable means of compliance to Part-FCL, and students learn from ATO course notes and commercial manuals written to them.

Airman Certification Standards

The Airman Certification Standards (ACS) is the FAA document, one for each certificate and rating, that defines what the applicant must know, what risks he or she must manage and what he or she must be able to do. For the main aeroplane certificates and ratings it replaced the older Practical Test Standards, which described each manoeuvre and its tolerances but did not break knowledge and risk management into separately coded elements. The private pilot airplane ACS is FAA-S-ACS-6, the commercial FAA-S-ACS-7 and the ATP FAA-S-ACS-11.

Each ACS is divided into areas of operation, each area into tasks, and each task into knowledge, risk management and skill elements, all coded. PA.I.C.K1, for example, is Private Airplane, Area I (Preflight Preparation), Task C (Weather Information), knowledge element 1. The same codes tie the whole process together: every knowledge test question carries one, the test report lists the codes missed, and the examiner builds the checkride from the tasks.

The risk management elements are what make the ACS more than a manoeuvre list. The checklist appears in almost every task, single-pilot resource management and automation management are tested explicitly, and an applicant who flies a perfect steep turn but cannot explain the hazards of a diversion is not up to standard.

Stage checks

A training course is divided into stages, and a stage check closes each one: a flight, often with an oral, to show that the student has met the objectives of the stage before moving on. It is normally flown with an instructor other than the student's usual one, in a Part 141 school the chief instructor, an assistant chief or a designated check instructor, so that the student meets an unfamiliar assessor before the real test. Part 61 training has no formal stage checks, but most schools use them anyway, and the last one before the checkride is effectively a mock test.

In an EASA ATO or DTO, progress checks are built into the course, and the organisation recommends the candidate for the skill test once the training is complete, passing the training records to the examiner.

The practical test

An FAA applicant is eligible for the practical test under 14 CFR 61.39 only with:

• a knowledge test passed within the preceding 24 calendar months, where one is required;
• the aeronautical experience for the certificate or rating;
• a medical certificate, where one is required, and the minimum age;
• an endorsement from an authorised instructor certifying recent training in preparation for the test, readiness for it, and instruction in the subjects missed on the knowledge test.

The test is conducted by a designated pilot examiner or an FAA inspector (see flight instructors and examiners) to the ACS. It begins on the ground, with the documents and an oral examination, and continues in the aircraft or, for type ratings and the ATP, often in a full flight simulator. A pass brings a temporary airman certificate on the day. A fail brings a notice of disapproval listing the tasks not met; the retest needs further training and a new instructor endorsement. A test stopped for weather, a defect or illness is discontinued, with a letter recording the tasks already completed.

A passed checkride for a certificate or rating also stands in for the flight review of 61.56 (see flight time logging and recent experience). A test flown in a simulator may leave a limitation on the certificate, such as circling approaches in visual conditions only, until the missing task is demonstrated. A failure stays on the record, and US airlines ask about failed checkrides at interview.

The EASA skill test

Under FCL.030 a candidate may take the skill test only after passing the relevant theoretical examinations and, except for the ATPL, being recommended by the training organisation that gave the course. The examiner is an FE, IRE, CRE, TRE or SFE, according to the licence or rating, and the test content, sections and tolerances are set in the appendices to Part-FCL. An oral assessment of knowledge is integrated into the test.

Timing rules apply. A class or type rating skill test must be passed within 6 months of starting the course and within the 6 months before the application for the rating. An instrument rating that has not been revalidated or renewed for 7 years requires the IR theory examinations and the skill test to be passed again. The ATPL(A) skill test is flown in a multi-pilot aeroplane, or a simulator of one, and is normally combined with a type rating skill test.

The skill test is for the issue of a licence or rating. To revalidate a rating that is still valid, or renew one that has expired, the pilot takes a proficiency check of similar content with an examiner; renewal adds whatever refresher training the ATO judges necessary. The licence itself and the theory passes do not have to be repeated (see class and type ratings).

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.