The CFII ACS, Explained: Why Your Checkride Still Runs on a PTS

You searched for the CFII ACS and found a pile of documents that almost match: the CFI ACS, the instrument rating ACS, even an ACS for powered-lift instrument instructors. But no CFII ACS for airplanes or helicopters. That is not a research failure on your part. It does not exist.

The instrument flight instructor checkride still runs on a practical test standards document, FAA-S-8081-9E. Here is why, what is in it, and what that means for how you prepare.

What happened in the 2024 overhaul

On May 31, 2024, the FAA moved most instructor testing to the Airman Certification Standards format. The initial CFI checkride got FAA-S-ACS-25, which we broke down in our CFI ACS guide. Helicopter instructors got ACS-29. Even powered-lift instrument instructors got their own document, ACS-28.

The airplane and helicopter CFII test was left out of that conversion. Instead, the FAA revised the old PTS on the same effective date and published FAA-S-8081-9E, the Flight Instructor Instrument Practical Test Standards for Airplane Rating and Helicopter Rating. A CFII ACS will probably arrive in a future wave. It is not here yet, and your examiner is grading you against the PTS in the meantime.

What is inside FAA-S-8081-9E

The PTS is organized into ten Areas of Operation:

• Fundamentals of Instructing (7 tasks)
• Technical Subject Areas (4 tasks)
• Preflight Preparation (3 tasks)
• Preflight Lesson on a Maneuver to be Performed in Flight (1 task)
• Air Traffic Control Clearances and Procedures (2 tasks)
• Flight by Reference to Instruments (8 tasks)
• Navigation Aids (2 tasks)
• Instrument Approach Procedures (5 tasks)
• Emergency Operations (4 tasks)
• Postflight Procedures (1 task)

The examiner does not test every task, but the required picks are spelled out in the document. Fundamentals of Instructing must include Tasks E, F, and G plus one more. Technical Subject Areas must include Tasks A and D plus at least one other. Both Navigation Aids tasks are required, and instrument approaches must cover Tasks A and B combined with C, D, or E. Read that list again and notice the pattern: the teaching-heavy tasks are not optional.

Already hold a CFI? The FOI drops off

If you already hold a flight instructor certificate, the add-on path is friendlier. The PTS lets the examiner skip the Fundamentals of Instructing area entirely, along with portions of the technical and preflight areas. You still take the FII knowledge test, but the FOI oral is behind you.

If the CFII would be your first instructor certificate, everything is on the table, including all seven FOI tasks and the FOI knowledge test. Most people do not take that route, but it exists.

The twist: your students live in the ACS world

Here is the part that trips people up. You get tested under a PTS, but you teach to an ACS. Your instrument students take their checkride under the Instrument Rating ACS, FAA-S-ACS-8C, so every lesson you build as a CFII points at ACS-8C completion standards.

A sharp CFII applicant walks into the checkride knowing both documents: the PTS because it grades you, and the instrument ACS because it grades your students. Examiners notice when an applicant can move between the two without getting lost.

How to prepare

The skills are the ones that got you through the CFI initial: build a clear lesson and defend it in an oral. CFI lesson plans keyed to the PTS tasks, practice teaching flight by reference to instruments from the right seat, and mock orals that force you to explain approach procedures out loud instead of just flying them.

We are building a dedicated CFII course right now. It is not out yet, and we will not pretend otherwise. In the meantime, the teaching fundamentals in our CFI materials carry over directly, and the free demo shows how we teach. The email signup in the footer is the fastest way to hear when the CFII course goes live.

The bottom line

There is no CFII ACS for airplane or helicopter instructors. The checkride runs on FAA-S-8081-9E, revised in 2024 and very much current. Study the PTS, teach to the instrument ACS, and stop hunting for a document the FAA has not written yet.

If you are weighing the time and money against the return, here is what flight instructors actually earn once they are on the line.