# AA.II.B — Powerplant Start — Airline Transport Pilot Airplane ACS

> AA.II.B from FAA-S-ACS-11A, including the official objective, references, notes, and 12 exact knowledge, risk-management, and skill descriptions.

Canonical HTML: [https://www.check-ride.ai/acs/airplane/airline-transport-pilot/aa-ii-b](https://www.check-ride.ai/acs/airplane/airline-transport-pilot/aa-ii-b)

Site reference: [https://www.check-ride.ai/llms.txt](https://www.check-ride.ai/llms.txt)

## Official Task context

- FAA document: Airline Transport Pilot and Type Rating for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards
- Identifier: FAA-S-ACS-11A
- Published source date: November 2023
- Aircraft category: Airplane
- Certificate or rating: Airline Transport Pilot
- Area of Operation: Area of Operation II. Preflight Procedures
- Task: Task B. Powerplant Start
- Task code prefix: AA.II.B
- Official references: AIM; FAA-H-8083-2, FAA-H-8083-3, FAA-H-8083-25; POH/AFM
- FAA source library: https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs

## Official Task objective

To determine the applicant exhibits satisfactory knowledge, risk management, and skills associated with powerplant start procedures.

## Knowledge elements

- **AA.II.B.K1** — Normal and abnormal powerplant start procedures and limitations, including the use of an auxiliary power unit (APU) or external power source, if applicable.
- **AA.II.B.K2** — Starting under various conditions.
- **AA.II.B.K3** — Malfunctions during powerplant start, procedures to address the malfunction, and any associated limitations.
- **AA.II.B.K4** — Coordinating and communicating with ground personnel for powerplant start, if applicable.

## Risk management elements

- **AA.II.B.R1** — Malfunctions during powerplant start.
- **AA.II.B.R2** — Propeller and turbine powerplant safety.
- **AA.II.B.R3** — Managing situations where specific instructions or checklist items are not published.
- **AA.II.B.R4** — Personnel, vehicles, vessels, foreign object debris, and other aircraft in the vicinity during powerplant start.

## Skills elements

- **AA.II.B.S1** — Ensure the ground safety procedures are followed during the before-start, start, and after-start phases.
- **AA.II.B.S2** — Use appropriate ground crew personnel during the start procedures (if applicable).
- **AA.II.B.S3** — Coordinate with crew, if applicable, and complete the appropriate checklist(s) prior to and after powerplant start.
- **AA.II.B.S4** — Respond appropriately to an abnormal start or malfunction.

## Difficulty methodology

Difficulty calibration is ongoing for this Task. Observed difficulty is a privacy-thresholded check-ride.ai mock-oral practice proxy, not an FAA practical-test pass or fail rate. Underlying sample sizes and the private reporting threshold are not published.

## Official Task notes

- See Appendix 3: Aircraft, Equipment, and Operational Requirements & Limitations for information related to this Task.

## Use in practice

A mock examiner can ask a pilot to explain the published elements, apply them to the configured aircraft and airport context, identify risks, and defend a decision. Practice prompts are not represented as actual FAA examiner scripts or predictions of the questions a candidate will receive.