# AA.II.E — Before Takeoff Checks — Airline Transport Pilot Airplane ACS

> AA.II.E from FAA-S-ACS-11A, including the official objective, references, notes, and 20 exact knowledge, risk-management, and skill descriptions.

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

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 E. Before Takeoff Checks
- Task code prefix: AA.II.E
- Official references: FAA-H-8083-2, FAA-H-8083-3, FAA-H-8083-23, 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 before takeoff checks.

## Knowledge elements

- **AA.II.E.K1** — Purpose of pre-takeoff checklist items, including:
- **AA.II.E.K1a** — a. Reasons for checking each item
- **AA.II.E.K1b** — b. Detecting malfunctions
- **AA.II.E.K1c** — c. Ensuring the aircraft is in safe operating condition
- **AA.II.E.K2** — Deicing and anti-icing procedures, holdover times, and pre-takeoff contamination check.
- **AA.II.E.K3** — Adverse weather considerations for performance on takeoff (e.g., snow, ice, gusting crosswinds, lowvisibility).
- **AA.II.E.K4** — Items to be included in a before takeoff briefing.

## Risk management elements

- **AA.II.E.R1** — Division of attention while conducting before takeoff checks.
- **AA.II.E.R2** — An unexpected change in the runway to be used for departure.
- **AA.II.E.R3** — Using performance data to set airspeeds and flight instruments for actual conditions and the departure runway.
- **AA.II.E.R4** — Setting navigation and communication equipment for departure.
- **AA.II.E.R5** — Configuring autopilot and flight director for departure.
- **AA.II.E.R6** — Adverse weather conditions prior to takeoff (e.g., snow, ice, gusting crosswinds, low-visibility).
- **AA.II.E.R7** — Potential powerplant failure during takeoff or other malfunction considering operational factors such as airplane characteristics, runway/takeoff path length, surface conditions, environmental conditions, and obstructions.

## Skills elements

- **AA.II.E.S1** — Determine the airplane’s takeoff performance for actual conditions and planned departure runway or waterway.
- **AA.II.E.S2** — Coordinate with crew, if applicable, and complete the appropriate checklist(s) prior to takeoff in a timely manner.
- **AA.II.E.S3** — Determine all systems checked are within an acceptable operating range and are safe for the proposed flight. During the checks, explain at the request of the evaluator, any system operating characteristic or limitation and any corrective action for a malfunction.
- **AA.II.E.S4** — Determine airspeeds/V-speeds and set flight instruments appropriately, configure flight director, autopilot, and navigation and communication equipment for the current flight conditions and takeoff and departure clearances.
- **AA.II.E.S5** — Conduct a briefing that includes procedures for emergency and abnormal situations (e.g., powerplant failure, windshear), which may be encountered during takeoff, and state the planned action if they were to occur.
- **AA.II.E.S6** — Obtain and correctly interpret the takeoff and departure clearance.

## 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.