Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

The FAA has rolled out new airman certification standards (ACS) this week aimed at applicants for private pilot airplane certificates and instrument ratings. The ACSs replace practical test standards.&nbsp;The agency expects to make similar transitions for other certificates and ratings in the future.

 


Developed in collaboration with industry experts over the past five years, the ACSs are designed to provide pilots, instructors and evaluators a single-source set of “clear, logical standards that tell them what they need to know, consider and do to qualify and pass both the knowledge and practical tests for airman certification and ratings,” the agency said. The ACS incorporates aeronautical-knowledge and risk-management elements to support skills in the practical tests and includes “special emphasis” areas.

 


The FAA implemented the standards nationwide after a more limited prototype test in Florida and Washington State, said AOPA, which chairs the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee’s Airman Certification System working group. AOPA noted the ACSs were found to be comparable to existing standards in terms of difficulty, time and information required.

 


The FAA has established an <a href="http://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/">Airman Certification Standards</a> page with detailed information on the standards and is planning <a href="http://www.atec-amt.org/member-alerts/faa-webinar-acs-explained">a series of webinars</a> on June 25, July 1, July 9, July 18 and July 30 to discuss the changes.

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FAA Puts New Airman Cert Standards in Place

The new airman certification standards for private pilot certificates and instrument ratings replace the former practical test standards.

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In a Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit (CALS) roundtable on retention, an aviation staffing expert and flight department leaders traded hard-won lessons on money, culture, and knowing who you’re really competing with.

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