# CA.I.I — Water and Seaplane Characteristics, Seaplane Bases, Maritime Rules, and Aids to Marine Navigation (ASES, AMES) — Commercial Pilot Airplane ACS

> CA.I.I from FAA-S-ACS-7B, including the official objective, references, notes, and 28 exact knowledge, risk-management, and skill descriptions.

Canonical HTML: [https://www.check-ride.ai/acs/airplane/commercial-pilot/ca-i-i](https://www.check-ride.ai/acs/airplane/commercial-pilot/ca-i-i)

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

## Official Task context

- FAA document: Commercial Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards
- Identifier: FAA-S-ACS-7B
- Published source date: November 2023
- Aircraft category: Airplane
- Certificate or rating: Commercial Pilot
- Area of Operation: Area of Operation I. Preflight Preparation
- Task: Task I. Water and Seaplane Characteristics, Seaplane Bases, Maritime Rules, and Aids to Marine Navigation (ASES, AMES)
- Task code prefix: CA.I.I
- Official references: AIM; Chart Supplements; FAA-H-8083-2, FAA-H-8083-3, FAA-H-8083-23, FAA-H-8083-25; POH/AFM; USCG Navigation Rules
- 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 water and seaplane characteristics, seaplane bases, maritime rules, and aids to marine navigation.

## Knowledge elements

- **CA.I.I.K1** — The characteristics of a water surface as affected by features, such as:
- **CA.I.I.K1a** — a. Size and location
- **CA.I.I.K1b** — b. Protected and unprotected areas
- **CA.I.I.K1c** — c. Surface wind
- **CA.I.I.K1d** — d. Direction and strength of water current
- **CA.I.I.K1e** — e. Floating and partially submerged debris
- **CA.I.I.K1f** — f. Sandbars, islands, and shoals
- **CA.I.I.K1g** — g. Vessel traffic and wakes
- **CA.I.I.K1h** — h. Other characteristics specific to the area
- **CA.I.I.K1i** — i. Direction and height of waves
- **CA.I.I.K2** — Float and hull construction, and its effect on seaplane performance.
- **CA.I.I.K3** — Causes of porpoising and skipping, and the pilot action needed to prevent or correct these occurrences.
- **CA.I.I.K4** — How to locate and identify seaplane bases on charts or in directories.
- **CA.I.I.K5** — Operating restrictions at various bases.
- **CA.I.I.K6** — Right-of-way, steering, and sailing rules pertinent to seaplane operation.
- **CA.I.I.K7** — Marine navigation aids, such as buoys, beacons, lights, sound signals, and range markers.
- **CA.I.I.K8** — Naval vessel protection zones.
- **CA.I.I.K9** — No wake zones.

## Risk management elements

- **CA.I.I.R1** — Local conditions.
- **CA.I.I.R2** — Impact of marine traffic.
- **CA.I.I.R3** — Right-of-way and sailing rules pertinent to seaplane operations.
- **CA.I.I.R4** — Limited services and assistance available at seaplane bases.

## Skills elements

- **CA.I.I.S1** — Assess the water surface characteristics for the proposed flight.
- **CA.I.I.S2** — Identify restrictions at local seaplane bases.
- **CA.I.I.S3** — Identify marine navigation aids.
- **CA.I.I.S4** — Describe correct right-of-way, steering, and sailing operations.
- **CA.I.I.S5** — Explain how float and hull construction can affect seaplane performance.
- **CA.I.I.S6** — Describe how to correct for porpoising and skipping.

## 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.

## 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.