# CA.II.E — Taxiing and Sailing (ASES, AMES) — Commercial Pilot Airplane ACS

> CA.II.E from FAA-S-ACS-7B, including the official objective, references, notes, and 23 exact knowledge, risk-management, and skill descriptions.

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

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 II. Preflight Procedures
- Task: Task E. Taxiing and Sailing (ASES, AMES)
- Task code prefix: CA.II.E
- Official references: AC 91-73; AIM; Chart Supplements; 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 taxiing and sailing operations, including runway incursion avoidance.

## Knowledge elements

- **CA.II.E.K1** — Airport information resources, including Chart Supplements, airport diagram, and appropriate references.
- **CA.II.E.K2** — Taxi instructions/clearances.
- **CA.II.E.K3** — Airport/seaplane base markings, signs, and lights.
- **CA.II.E.K4** — Visual indicators for wind.
- **CA.II.E.K5** — Airplane lighting.
- **CA.II.E.K6** — Procedures for:
- **CA.II.E.K6a** — a. Appropriate flight deck activities during taxiing or sailing
- **CA.II.E.K6b** — b. Radio communications at towered and nontowered seaplane bases

## Risk management elements

- **CA.II.E.R1** — Activities and distractions.
- **CA.II.E.R2** — Porpoising and skipping.
- **CA.II.E.R3** — Low visibility taxi and sailing operations.
- **CA.II.E.R4** — Other aircraft, vessels, and hazards.
- **CA.II.E.R5** — Confirmation or expectation bias as related to taxi instructions.

## Skills elements

- **CA.II.E.S1** — Receive and correctly read back clearances/instructions, if applicable.
- **CA.II.E.S2** — Use an appropriate airport diagram or taxi chart, if published.
- **CA.II.E.S3** — Comply with seaplane base/airport/taxiway markings, signals, and signs.
- **CA.II.E.S4** — Depart the dock/mooring buoy or beach/ramp in a safe manner, considering wind, current, traffic, and hazards.
- **CA.II.E.S5** — Complete the appropriate checklist(s).
- **CA.II.E.S6** — Position the flight controls, flaps, doors, water rudders, and power correctly for the existing conditions to follow the desired course while sailing and to prevent or correct for porpoising and skipping during step taxi.
- **CA.II.E.S7** — Exhibit procedures for steering and maneuvering while maintaining proper situational awareness and desired orientation, path, and position while taxiing using idle, plow, or step taxi technique, as appropriate.
- **CA.II.E.S8** — Plan and follow the most favorable taxi or sailing course for current conditions.
- **CA.II.E.S9** — Abide by right-of-way rules, maintain positive airplane control, proper speed, and separation between other aircraft, vessels, and persons.
- **CA.II.E.S10** — Comply with applicable taxi elements in Task D if the practical test is conducted in an amphibious airplane.

## 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.