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certification standards — Aviation Definition | Keynomen Aviation

Words for: Certificates, Ratings & Endorsements

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certification standards

Plain English Meaning

The FAA's official rulebook of what a student must know and be able to do to pass a checkride for a specific certificate or rating.

Full Definition

The official FAA-published documents that specify the knowledge areas, skills, and performance criteria an applicant must demonstrate to earn a pilot certificate or rating. These include the Airman Certification Standards (ACS) and Practical Test Standards (PTS), which examiners use as the basis for the practical (checkride) test.

Context Anchor

Seen when a flight instructor decides whether a student is ready for an endorsement, a practical test, or another required signoff.

certification standards

Next word: knowledge test →

Derivation

From 'certification' (the act of issuing an official certificate) and 'standards' (fixed measures of acceptable performance). Together they describe the fixed measures used to decide whether someone qualifies for an FAA certificate.

Why Pilots Care

They determine whether a pilot can legally exercise certain privileges after training.

Intuition Check

Do not read “standards” here as a general idea of doing good work. In this context, certification standards are specific FAA requirements used to judge whether a pilot qualification should be granted.

Example Sentence 1

Before signing the endorsement, the instructor confirmed the student had been trained to the certification standards for the private pilot practical test.

Example Sentence 2

Meeting the certification standards is required before a pilot can take the practical test.