14 CFR and Publications

• 14 CFR — regulation. Binding. Written in the negative ("no person may...") for a reason.
• Advisory Circular (AC) — non-regulatory guidance describing an acceptable means, but not the only means, of compliance. AC 61-65 states it plainly: its contents "do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way."
• InFO — Information for Operators: time-critical information of interest to operators.
• SAFO — Safety Alert for Operators: safety-critical information the FAA determines should be shared.

Teaching point for students: an AC becomes effectively mandatory when a regulation incorporates it by reference, or when you have nothing better to offer an inspector as your means of compliance.

Part 1 matters because arguments about regulations are almost always arguments about definitions. Night, flight time, cross-country, category, class, type, complex, high performance, large aircraft, VFR, operate, and pilot in command all have specific regulatory meanings, and they are the vocabulary the rest of the FAR is written in. Teach a student to look up a definition before arguing about a rule, and half of the hangar-lawyer misconceptions never take root.

The instructor's working set:

• 61.3 — required certificates and documents
• 61.23 — medical certificate requirements and duration
• 61.31 — additional training: complex, high performance, pressurized/high altitude, tailwheel
• 61.51 — logbooks and logging
• 61.56 — flight review
• 61.57 — recent flight experience (day/night passenger carrying, instrument)
• 61.87 / 61.93 / 61.95 — student solo, solo cross-country, Class B
• 61.113 — private pilot privileges and limitations
• 61.183 / 61.185 / 61.187 — CFI eligibility, knowledge areas, areas of operation
• 61.189 / 61.195 / 61.197 / 61.199 — instructor records, limitations, recent experience, reinstatement

Detail on the endorsement-related ones lives in Task II.K.

• 91.3 — the PIC is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of the aircraft; may deviate from any rule to the extent required to meet an in-flight emergency, and must send a written report if requested by the Administrator
• 91.7 — airworthiness; 91.103 — preflight action; 91.107 — seatbelts
• 91.111 / 91.113 — proximity and right-of-way; 91.117 — speed limits; 91.119 — minimum safe altitudes; 91.121 — altimeter settings
• 91.126 / 91.129 / 91.131 — operations in Class G, D, and B
• 91.151 — VFR fuel reserves; 91.155 — basic VFR weather minimums; 91.157 — special VFR; 91.159 — VFR cruising altitudes
• 91.203 / 91.205 / 91.207 / 91.209 / 91.213 — documents, required equipment, ELT, lights, inoperative equipment
• 91.403 / 91.409 — maintenance responsibility and inspections

• Aircraft accident — an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, between the time any person boards with the intention of flight until all such persons have disembarked, in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or the aircraft receives substantial damage.
• Incident — an occurrence other than an accident, associated with the operation of an aircraft, which affects or could affect the safety of operations.
• Fatal injury — an injury resulting in death within 30 days of the accident.
• Serious injury — hospitalization more than 48 hours commencing within 7 days; any bone fracture except simple fractures of fingers, toes, or nose; severe hemorrhages or nerve, muscle, or tendon damage; any internal organ injury; or second- or third-degree burns, or any burns affecting more than 5 percent of the body surface.
• Substantial damage — damage or failure that adversely affects structural strength, performance, or flight characteristics and would normally require major repair or replacement. Not substantial: failure or damage limited to a single engine, bent fairings or cowling, dented skin, small punctures, ground damage to propeller blades, and damage to landing gear, wheels, tires, flaps, engine accessories, brakes, or wingtips.

Immediately, by the most expeditious means available, notify the nearest NTSB office when an aircraft accident or any of these listed serious incidents occurs:

• Flight control system malfunction or failure
• Inability of any required flight crewmember to perform normal flight duties as a result of injury or illness
• Failure of an internal turbine engine component resulting in escape of debris other than out the exhaust path
• In-flight fire
• Aircraft collision in flight
• Damage to property other than the aircraft estimated to exceed $25,000 for repair or fair market value in the event of total loss, whichever is less

Additional items apply to large multiengine aircraft over 12,500 pounds, and to aircraft that are overdue and believed to have been involved in an accident.

The operator files a report on NTSB Form 6120.1/2 within 10 days after an accident, or after 7 days if an overdue aircraft is still missing. A report on an incident for which immediate notification was required is filed only when requested by an authorized representative of the Board. Each crewmember, if physically able, attaches a statement of the facts, conditions, and circumstances (830.15).

Teaching or flying against outdated facts — the risk is acting on information that has since changed. It is the only risk element listed for this Task, so expect it. Concrete failure modes to teach:

• An out-of-date sectional missing a new tower, obstruction, or airspace change
• A Chart Supplement with superseded runway lengths, frequencies, or field elevation
• A superseded ACS — you would be preparing an applicant to a standard that no longer exists
• A POH/AFM missing a supplement for installed avionics, so the limitations you are teaching are not the limitations that apply
• NOTAMs never checked, which 91.103 requires as part of preflight action for any flight

Teach the habit as a preflight item with a stated source and date, not as a vague intention.

The Aeronautical Information Manual is the FAA's official guide to basic flight information and ATC procedures, and it is not regulatory in itself. It explains how to comply with regulations and describes the procedures ATC expects you to fly — and much of it restates regulatory requirements. Teach students to use it as the "how," with 14 CFR as the "what," and to check the AIM's change dates like any other publication.

The FAA-approved Airplane Flight Manual — and the operating limitations in it — is binding: operating an aircraft without complying with its stated operating limitations is prohibited (91.9). The broader training principle is that the airplane manufacturer's guidance and procedures take precedence over any general recommendations made in the handbook (AFH ch. 13). So when a POH procedure conflicts with a handbook technique or with what you were taught, the POH wins — and that is a lesson worth teaching explicitly, because students inherit their instructors' habits.

The Airman Certification Standards is the testing standard: for each Task it lists the knowledge, risk management, and skill elements, and the objective the applicant must meet. The "importance of the ACS in aviation training curricula" is an explicit instructor knowledge element (FI.I.C.K3c).

Use it as a syllabus cross-check and as the source of completion standards for lesson plans (AIH ch. 4 on performance-based objectives). Teach the student to read the ACS early — not the night before the checkride — so training targets a published standard rather than the instructor's taste.

Do not lecture the FAR in order. Use problem-based instruction (AIH ch. 5): give the learner a realistic scenario and make them find the answer in the book.

A worked pattern:

1. Scenario: "You want to fly three friends to a beach airport 140 NM away, arriving at 8 p.m. in October."
2. The learner has to reach for 61.113 (privileges), 61.57(b) (night takeoff and landing currency), 91.151 (fuel reserve — 45 minutes at night at normal cruise), 91.155 and 91.157, 91.103 (preflight action), and the Chart Supplement for the destination.
3. Debrief on the process — which document answered which question — not just the answers.

The transferable skill is research. You cannot teach every rule, but you can teach a pilot who can find any rule, which is what AI.II.J.S1 is really asking you to demonstrate.

Give them the organizing logic instead of a list:

• Part 1 defines the words. Part 61 governs the person — certificates, ratings, currency, privileges. Part 91 governs the operation — where, when, and how you may fly. Part 43 governs maintenance, and 91.403/91.409 tie the owner's responsibility to it.
• Within part 91, the flow follows the flight: general (91.3, 91.7, 91.103), flight rules (91.111–91.159), equipment (91.203–91.215), special operations (91.303–91.319), maintenance (91.401–91.417).
• Most rules are written as prohibitions with exceptions. Teach the learner to read the exception first — it usually contains the operational meaning.

This is the "organization of material" element of the teaching process (AIH ch. 5): introduction, development, conclusion, with material sequenced past-to-present, simple-to-complex, or known-to-unknown.

• "The AC says I have to." ACs are not binding on their own (AC 61-65, opening paragraph). The endorsement texts in AC 61-65 Appendix A are recommended language; the underlying requirement comes from part 61.
• "Flight following means ATC is separating me." 91.113(b) requires vigilance to see and avoid regardless of whether the operation is under IFR or VFR.
• "91.3 lets me break rules whenever I want." The deviation authority in 91.3(b) applies to an in-flight emergency requiring immediate action, only to the extent required, and a written report may be required.
• "An engine failure is an accident." Damage limited to a single engine is expressly excluded from "substantial damage" (49 CFR 830.2). Whether it is an accident turns on injury or other damage.
• "The instructor is always PIC." Nothing in part 61 says so; who is PIC is determined by 91.3 and by who is acting as PIC for the flight. Logging PIC under 61.51(e)(3) is a separate question from acting as PIC.

Say so, then find it — with the applicant watching. Credibility is a core instructor responsibility (AIH ch. 8), and a confident wrong answer costs more than an admitted gap. Model the research: name the likely part, use the table of contents, read the rule out loud, then read the definitions the rule depends on.

The same behavior applies on your own checkride. "I don't have that memorized, here is where I would find it" — followed by finding it quickly — is a satisfactory demonstration for a Task whose skill element is teaching the publications.

Build one and be able to describe it, because "currency of publications" appears as a knowledge element in Task II.G as well:

• Subscribe to FAA rulemaking and guidance updates, and read new ACs, InFOs, and SAFOs as they publish
• Re-download the ACS at the start of each training cycle and diff it against your syllabus
• Check chart and Chart Supplement effective dates as a preflight item
• Track your own 61.197 recent experience end date, and your students' 90-day solo endorsement dates, on a calendar rather than in memory
• Note significant recent changes: the December 2024 instructor rule removed the expiration date from newly issued flight instructor certificates and replaced renewal with the 24-calendar-month recent experience framework in 61.197, with reinstatement under 61.199