CA.VII.E — Spin Awareness
CA.VII.E for the Commercial Pilot Airplane ACS: official objective, references, and 9 exact knowledge, risk-management, and skill descriptions.
FAA-S-ACS-7B, November 2023. This study page does not replace the current FAA publication or an examiner's plan of action.
Official task context
| Certificate or rating | Commercial Pilot |
|---|---|
| Aircraft category | Airplane |
| Area of operation | Area of Operation VII. Slow Flight and Stalls |
| Task | Task E. Spin Awareness |
| Task code prefix | CA.VII.E |
| Official references | AC 61-67; FAA-H-8083-2, FAA-H-8083-3, FAA-H-8083-25; POH/AFM |
| FAA document | FAA-S-ACS-7B — Commercial Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards |
| FAA source library | Open the official ACS library |
Official task objective
To determine the applicant exhibits satisfactory knowledge of the causes and procedures for recovery from unintentional spins and understands the risk associated with unintentional spins.
What the ACS code means
- CA identifies the ACS standard family used for this Commercial Pilot Airplane document.
- VII identifies Slow Flight and Stalls, the Area of Operation.
- E identifies Spin Awareness, the Task within that Area.
- K, R, and S identify knowledge, risk-management, and skill elements. The number selects the item; a trailing lowercase letter identifies a listed sub-element.
Knowledge elements
| ACS code | Official description | How a mock oral can probe it |
|---|---|---|
| CA.VII.E.K1 | Aerodynamics associated with spins in various airplane configurations, including the relationship between angle of attack, airspeed, load factor, power setting, airplane weight and center of gravity, airplane attitude, and yaw effects. | Explain the element, apply it to a scenario, and connect the answer to current references or aircraft information when relevant. |
| CA.VII.E.K2 | What causes a spin and how to identify the entry, incipient, and developed phases of a spin. | Explain the element, apply it to a scenario, and connect the answer to current references or aircraft information when relevant. |
| CA.VII.E.K3 | Spin recovery procedure. | Explain the element, apply it to a scenario, and connect the answer to current references or aircraft information when relevant. |
Risk management elements
| ACS code | Official description | How a mock oral can probe it |
|---|---|---|
| CA.VII.E.R1 | Factors and situations that could lead to inadvertent spin and loss of control. | Work through a scenario by identifying the hazard, evaluating the risk, and explaining a practical mitigation or decision. |
| CA.VII.E.R2 | Range and limitations of stall warning indicators (e.g., aircraft buffet, stall horn, etc.). | Work through a scenario by identifying the hazard, evaluating the risk, and explaining a practical mitigation or decision. |
| CA.VII.E.R3 | Spin recovery procedure. | Work through a scenario by identifying the hazard, evaluating the risk, and explaining a practical mitigation or decision. |
| CA.VII.E.R4 | Effect of environmental elements on airplane performance related to spins (e.g., turbulence, microbursts, and high-density altitude). | Work through a scenario by identifying the hazard, evaluating the risk, and explaining a practical mitigation or decision. |
| CA.VII.E.R5 | Collision hazards. | Work through a scenario by identifying the hazard, evaluating the risk, and explaining a practical mitigation or decision. |
| CA.VII.E.R6 | Distractions, task prioritization, loss of situational awareness, or disorientation. | Work through a scenario by identifying the hazard, evaluating the risk, and explaining a practical mitigation or decision. |
Difficulty data
Difficulty calibration is ongoing for this Task. A difficulty estimate is published only with a sufficiently large, privacy-preserving first directly recorded assessment sample. Any observed difficulty comes from Checkride AI mock-oral practice assessments and is a practice-data proxy, not an FAA practical-test pass or fail rate.
Difficulty calibration remains ongoing until an item clears the private reporting threshold. Percentages, when available, describe the share who needed review on their first directly recorded assessment. Underlying sample sizes are never published, and historical final states are not backfilled into this measure.
Official task notes
- See Appendix 2: Safety of Flight and Appendix 3: Aircraft, Equipment, and Operational Requirements & Limitations for information related to this Task.
How to use this in a mock oral
A mock examiner can ask you to explain the published elements, apply them to the configured aircraft and airport scenario, identify risks, and defend a decision. The prompts are practice scenarios; they are not claimed to be actual FAA examiner scripts or a prediction of the questions you will receive.
Related ACS tasks
- All Commercial Pilot Airplane ACS tasks
60 task-level resources from FAA-S-ACS-7B.
- CA.VII.D — Accelerated Stalls
Area of Operation VII. Slow Flight and Stalls
- CA.VIII.A — Supplemental Oxygen
Area of Operation VIII. High-Altitude Operations
- CA.VII.A — Maneuvering During Slow Flight
Area of Operation VII. Slow Flight and Stalls
- CA.VII.B — Power-Off Stalls
Area of Operation VII. Slow Flight and Stalls
- CA.VII.C — Power-On Stalls
Area of Operation VII. Slow Flight and Stalls