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ACS maneuver tolerances
Every numeric standard in the private pilot ACS, by Area of Operation, each carrying the element code a CFI and a DPE both cite. Written in the ACS's own notation — including the asymmetric ones, which are the point: slow flight is +10/-0 knots and emergency descent is +0/-10, opposite senses, one of each in the whole document.
1 · III — Airport Operations
1 task
FAA GUIDANCETraffic patternsPA.III.B.S5
±100 feet · ±10 knots
2 · IV — Takeoffs, Landings, and Go-Arounds
8 tasks
FAA GUIDANCENormal takeoff & climbPA.IV.A.S11, S13
Vᵧ +10/-5 knots
Normal approach & landingPA.IV.B.S7, S10
approach speed (or not more than 1.3 Vₛₒ) +10/-5 knots, gust factor applied · touch down within 400 feet beyond or on the specified point
Soft-field takeoff & climbPA.IV.C.S10, S12
Vₓ / Vᵧ +10/-5 knots
Soft-field approach & landingPA.IV.D.S7
+10/-5 knots, gust factor applied
CHECKRIDE TRAPTECHNIQUENo touchdown-distance standard. Sheets that print “within 200 feet” for soft-field are inventing it.Short-field takeoff & climbPA.IV.E.S9–S11, S13
Vₓ +10/-5 knots until the obstacle is cleared or until the airplane is 50 feet above the surface · then Vᵧ +10/-5 knots
Short-field approach & landingPA.IV.F.S7, S10
+10/-5 knots, gust factor applied · touch down within 200 feet beyond or on the specified point
Forward slip to a landingPA.IV.M.S8
touch down within 400 feet beyond or on the specified point
No airspeed standard.
Go-around / rejected landingPA.IV.N.S4, S7
Vₓ / Vᵧ +10/-5 knots
3 · V — Performance and Ground Reference Maneuvers
2 tasks
FAA GUIDANCESteep turnsPA.V.A.S3, S5
approximately a 45° bank · ±100 feet · ±10 knots · bank ±5° · roll out on the entry heading ±10°
Ground reference maneuversPA.V.B.S3a–c, S7
enter 600 to 1,000 feet AGL · ±100 feet · ±10 knots
4 · VI — Navigation
2 tasks
FAA GUIDANCEPilotage & dead reckoningPA.VI.A.S5, S6, S7
verify position within three nautical miles of the flight-planned route · arrive within five minutes of the ETA · ±200 feet · heading ±15°
Navigation systems · DiversionPA.VI.B.S7, PA.VI.C.S3
±200 feet · heading ±15°
5 · VII — Slow Flight and Stalls
3 tasks
FAA GUIDANCEManeuvering during slow flightPA.VII.A.S2, S5
complete no lower than 1,500 feet AGL · ±100 feet · heading ±10° · airspeed +10/-0 knots · bank ±10°
Power-off stallsPA.VII.B.S2, S6
complete no lower than 1,500 feet AGL · heading ±10° if straight · bank not to exceed 20°, ±10° if in turning flight
No altitude-loss standard for the recovery. ACS Appendix 3 says evaluation criteria “should not mandate a predetermined value for altitude loss”.
Power-on stallsPA.VII.C.S2, S4, S6
complete no lower than 1,500 feet AGL · no less than 65 percent power · heading ±10° if straight · bank not to exceed 20°, ±10° if in turning flight
6 · VIII — Basic Instrument Maneuvers
2 tasks
FAA GUIDANCEStraight-and-level · Constant-airspeed climbs · DescentsPA.VIII.A.S2, B.S3, C.S3
±200 feet · heading ±20° · ±10 knots
Turns to headingsPA.VIII.D.S1
±200 feet · standard rate turn · roll out on the assigned heading ±10° · ±10 knots
7 · IX — Emergency Operations
2 tasks
FAA GUIDANCEEmergency descentPA.IX.A.S4, S5
bank angle between 30° and 45° · airspeed +0/-10 knots · level off ±100 feet
Emergency approach & landing (simulated)PA.IX.B.S1
best glide airspeed ±10 knots
Three cells the cheat sheets get wrong
each one is a real, checkable difference
Instrument turns are ±10°, not ±20°. Straight-and-level, climbs and descents (VIII.A/B/C) allow heading ±20°. Turns to headings (VIII.D) is tighter: roll out on the assigned heading ±10°. The two are one page apart in the ACS and are routinely printed as one row.
PA.VIII.A.S2, B.S3, C.S3 vs PA.VIII.D.S1
+10/-0 and +0/-10 are opposite, and each appears exactly once. Slow flight allows airspeed +10/-0 knots — you may be fast, never slow. Emergency descent allows +0/-10 knots — you may be slow, never fast. Normalising either to ±10 inverts a real standard. Across the whole ACS there is one of each, plus 25 elements at +10/-5.
PA.VII.A.S5 vs PA.IX.A.S5
Steep turns is “approximately” 45°, and ±5° is the maintenance tolerance. S3 says establish approximately a 45° bank. S5 says maintain bank ±5°. Printing “45° ±5°” as the entry standard merges an instruction with a tolerance.
PA.V.A.S3 vs PA.V.A.S5
Numbers this sheet will not print
because the ACS does not contain them
- A touchdown distance for soft-field, glassy-water or rough-water landings. Four tasks carry one: normal (400 feet), short-field (200 feet), forward slip (400 feet), and — for seaplanes — confined area (200 feet).
- An altitude loss for stall recovery. ACS Appendix 3 affirmatively says evaluation criteria should not mandate a predetermined value for altitude loss.
- A crosswind number. The ACS states none; the limit is your POH's maximum demonstrated crosswind component, which is a demonstrated value, not a limitation.
- A takeoff-distance tolerance. No such standard exists in 6C.
A sheet that fills these in looks more useful and is less true. If a number matters to you and it is not here, it is because it is in your POH or in your instructor's judgement, not in the standard.
Fly the ones you can
- Ground reference maneuvers — fly the rectangular course, S-turns and turns around a point against the V.B standard
- Traffic pattern — the ±100 feet and ±10 knots of III.B, flown
- Instrument errors — what the Area VIII instruments actually do when you are not looking outside
- Mock-Oral Scorecard — the same 6C task codes, scored by a CFI
Badges.REGULATION quoted from 14 or 49 CFR.FAA GUIDANCE quoted from the AIM, an AC, or an FAA handbook — advice, not law.POH/AFM your aircraft’s own records govern.TECHNIQUE our voice — how to think about it.Text outside quotation marks is ours, whatever badge sits nearby.
Standard. FAA-S-ACS-6C, Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards, edition November 2023, effective May 31, 2024, incorporated by reference at 14 CFR 61.14(b)(3). Extracted from the FAA's own PDF, SHA-256 46ed6625723b0b7f…, re-downloaded and byte-compared against faa.gov on 2026-08-31.
Why that edition line is checkable. Because the ACS is incorporated by reference into 14 CFR 61.14, the FAA cannot revise it without a Federal Register rulemaking — so “is this still current?” is a question with a documentary answer rather than a guess. Verified 2026-08-31: no FAA-S-ACS-6D exists, and no rule has amended 61.14(b)(3).
This is a study aid, not the standard. The ACS itself is the standard and your DPE evaluates against it. Check the current revision before you rely on any number here.
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