The purpose of the airframe and powerplant (A&P) mechanic test is pretty simple: to ensure an applicant possesses the basic knowledge and skill required to perform or supervise the maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alteration of an aircraft or appliance (within the privileges and limitations of § 65.81). The written test assesses the applicant’s knowledge (see § 65.75) and the oral and practical test assesses his or her skill level (see § 65.79).
FAA and industry agree that the A&P mechanic test in its current form no longer meets its intended purpose. The reasons are also pretty simple: 1) the current practical test standards (PTS) do not reflect what is actually expected of a newly minted mechanic in the “real world”, 2) there is no standard to guide the development and review of the written test, resulting in a question bank rife with inaccurate and outdated questions, and 3) the written and oral and practical tests don’t complement one another given one references a standard (the PTS) and the other does not.
The aviation community has a solution that will continuously improve the readiness of our incoming workforce.
Airman Certification Standard (ACS)
Introducing the Airman Certification Standard (ACS). The ACS is fundamentally an enhanced version of the PTS; it adds knowledge and risk management elements to each subject area. The result is a comprehensive document that outlines what an applicant needs to know, consider, and do in order to pass both the knowledge and practical tests for a mechanic certificate.
The ACS is the brainchild of the Airman Testing Standards and Training Aviation Rulemaking Committee, a group created in 2011 and made up of pilot community and FAA representatives. Aviation Supplies & Academics curriculum director Jackie Spanitz described the reason the ACS was created and some very familiar challenges that industry faced: “The first ACS was initiated as an effort to fix the pilot knowledge tests. With many questions that seemed outdated, irrelevant, and more “tricky” than “meaningful,” test preparation became an exercise in memorizing correct answers solely for the purpose of passing the test.”
Over the past five years a committee working group developed processes and procedures to create, implement, and continuously improve the ACS. The first ACS for pilot private airplane and instrument airplane ratings was effective June 2016 (making ineffective the previous PTS), and standards for commercial, ATP, and flight instructor are in development.
Industry participation
Seeing the need for similar reforms in other sectors of the industry, and an opportunity to utilize the infrastructure created, a new task was assigned to address the mechanic testing shortcomings. The following AMT community representatives were thereafter selected to participate:
- Mike Busch, Chief Executive Officer, Savvy Aircraft Maintenance Management Inc.
- David Dagenais, Program Manager, Florida State College at Jacksonville
- Chuck Horning, Department Chair, Aviation Maintenance Science, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- David Jones, Director of Maintenance, Praxis Aerospace Concepts International (previously Corporate Aviation Education Director at Aviation Institute of Maintenance)
- Crystal Maguire, Executive Director, ATEC
- Joaquin Villarreal, Senior Manager, Technical Operations Training, FedEx Express
The working group’s goal is to develop general, airframe, and powerplant testing standards that clearly and succinctly communicate the knowledge and skill required to pass the written and practical tests for a mechanic certificate. Once the AMT ACS is complete, industry and FAA officials will review and modify handbooks, written test questions and oral and practical projects to ensure adherence with the standard. That means outdated questions and projects will be replaced with relevant assessment material, and incorrect, incomplete, or inadequate questions and projects will be updated or removed. Thereafter, the ACS and tests will be periodically reviewed and updated to ensure 1) the standard is in line with mechanic knowledge and skill requirements as technology evolves and 2) that the written, oral, and practical tests are consistently and correctly assessing to that standard.
As representative of the aviation maintenance technician schools certificated by part 147, the Aviation Technician Education Council (ATEC) will push even further to ensure future rulemakings governing teaching requirements (i.e., part 147) are in line with updated testing standards. Once the standard is set (via the ACS), certificated AMTS should have the ability to teach to that standard free of prescriptive requirements and defined subject areas. The ACS would naturally be the basis and framework for every AMTS teaching curriculum.
ACS development will continue over the coming months, visit www.atec-amt.org to review initial drafts and provide comment.
