Federal Aviation Administration

I look forward to the day that all FAA practical tests have ACS rather than PTS. I was originally planning on getting my private ASEL, got mired in the difficulty of obtaining a 3rd class medical, and decided to get my sport while waiting for FAA Aeromedical. Because the sport and private for ASEL are so similar, I never bothered to read the PTS, having already combed through the private ACS numerous times.

Now I teach ground and am a few hours shy of taking my sport CFI checkride, so it show more makes sense for me to have a copy of the "guiding document" for sport checkrides. In addition, sport CFI is included in this PTS document.

First, I find the PTS to be just a confusing document altogether. The sport PTS includes airplane, weight-shift, and powered parachute so the whole book is really dense when all the applicant is going to need is a small portion herein. I was reading through the sport CFI section and I was so confused about how I had never heard of some of the things I was expected to do before I even realized I was in the weight-shift sport CFI section of the book. There really aren't good header/footer labs to make this clear. The table of contents for sport airplane has two sections which are labeled section 1 and section 4. I don't know what happened to sections 2 and 3; they're probably lost in some bureaucratic nightmare somewhere.

The ACS for private pilot contains lists of all references that are useful to each task to be included in the checkride. No such luck here in the PTS. Not a big deal if you're just getting a sport certificate as you can mostly just read the private ACS and figure everything out from there. Not as much luck for sport CFIs.

All in all, you can't exactly avoid this book if you want to really know what goes into the sausage of your sport pilot or sport CFI checkride, but you'll wish you could. show less

I passed three instrument knowledge tests yesterday (FII, IGI, IRA) so I'm shelving this and the [Instrument Flying Handbook] as read even though I'll go back and consult throughout my instrument airplane training.

I have to say that this is the worst of the FAA handbooks that I've read. Usually the FAA handbooks (like the [Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge] or [Airplane Flying Handbook) are maybe not the best written books ever, but are terribly useful for the beginner pilot because show more they lay out all of the necessary information in a reasonably well-structured way.

I can't say that is true about the instrument handbooks, especially for this, the Instrument Procedures Handbook. One of the most important things for a student instrument pilot to master is approaches, and having no more than just an idea of what approaches are, I need to know what they are, how they're designed and flown... start with the basics, and build up.

The chapter about approaches in this book starts by talking about getting weather from DUATS (phased out) and 1800wxbrief (thankfully still in existence) and other weather products like HIWAS (phased out) and TIBS (phased out). So not only do I not want to know about products that haven't been in use for years, I also learned about how to get a weather briefing in my private pilot training. Then there's more information about ATIS/AWOS/ASOS including way more detail about the automated weather systems than I ever wanted to know. I still know zero about flying an approach meanwhile.

Then the very nitty-gritty regulations about weather requirements for part 91 / 135 / 121 is laid out in very intricate detail. This was the point at which I got completely demoralized reading this chapter, because it's too much too soon. I still don't know how to fly an approach or read an approach plate!

Maybe you get the idea? The handbook is poorly written. It was probably outlined by a committee of pilots who all got their instrument ratings decades ago and can't remember what the most important things are to *start* with, when talking to a beginner student instrument pilot. Start with the basics, then build on it from there. Include weather details in a separate chapter.

And that's only the chapter on approaches! Yikes! At any rate, if you're starting your ground training for instrument ratings, I recommend [The Pilot's Manual: Instrument Flying] as a primary source, and maybe just hit up the FAA handbooks for an informational nugget here and there. show less

This isn't really a book that you read, although if you're a pilot, you sure as hell better be familiar with the stuff that applies to you in the FAR section, because it's the law.

The FAR/AIM consists of two sections, the FAR (Federal Aviation Regulations) which is the legal framework within which pilots operate within the National Airspace System in the US. This version contains those laws most pertinent to pilots (there are other versions of this book for maintenance workers and flight show more crew). If you've passed an FAA knowledge test, chances are good that you know a lot of the stuff that's in here, whether or not you've read/skimmed it. I recommend at least skimming all of the sections that are pertinent to your type of aircraft and flight rules.

The second half of this book is the AIM (Aeronautical Information Manual). It's not the law, so you're not legally bound by this section of the book, but on the flip side, it's not the law, so it's actually easy to read. Tons of information is packed inside of the AIM, including things like airport markings, traffic patterns, communicating with ATC, navigation aids, etc. Some of the information herein can be found in more detail in other sources (advisory circulars, Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge), but this at least gives you a high-level view of important topics.

Every pilot should own a copy of this book. It is updated every year to reflect new regulatory changes. Buy a copy, highlight and bookmark the pertinent sections, and be aware of revisions by checking the FAR/AIM online at the FAA's website. show less

Easily one of the best references to go along with your flight training and ground school. I've read the entire thing cover to cover, and I'm sure I will refer to it often in the future to help me remember different concepts and techniques.

You can get a PDF of the book for free from the FAA's website, but I purchased a physical copy so that I can highlight and make notes inside. (I'm old school, I like paper.)