# IR.I.C — Cross-Country Flight Planning — Instrument Rating Airplane ACS

> IR.I.C from FAA-S-ACS-8C, including the official objective, references, notes, and 29 exact knowledge, risk-management, and skill descriptions.

Canonical HTML: [https://www.check-ride.ai/acs/airplane/instrument-rating/ir-i-c](https://www.check-ride.ai/acs/airplane/instrument-rating/ir-i-c)

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

## Official Task context

- FAA document: Instrument Rating – Airplane Airman Certification Standards
- Identifier: FAA-S-ACS-8C
- Published source date: November 2023
- Aircraft category: Airplane
- Certificate or rating: Instrument Rating
- Area of Operation: Area of Operation I. Preflight Preparation
- Task: Task C. Cross-Country Flight Planning
- Task code prefix: IR.I.C
- Official references: 14 CFR part 91; AIM; Chart Supplements; FAA-H-8083-2, FAA-H-8083-3, FAA-H-8083-15, FAA-H-8083-16, FAA-H-8083-25; IFR Enroute Charts; NOTAMS; IFR Navigation Charts
- 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 planning an IFR cross-country and filing an IFR flight plan.

## Knowledge elements

- **IR.I.C.K1** — Route planning, including consideration of:
- **IR.I.C.K1a** — a. Available navigational facilities
- **IR.I.C.K1b** — b. Special use airspace
- **IR.I.C.K1c** — c. Preferred routes
- **IR.I.C.K1d** — d. Primary and alternate airports
- **IR.I.C.K1e** — e. Enroute charts
- **IR.I.C.K1f** — f. Chart Supplements
- **IR.I.C.K1g** — g. NOTAMS
- **IR.I.C.K1h** — h. Terminal Procedures Publications (TPP)
- **IR.I.C.K2** — Altitude selection accounting for terrain and obstacles, glide distance of airplane, IFR cruising altitudes, effect of wind, and oxygen requirements.
- **IR.I.C.K3** — Calculating:
- **IR.I.C.K3a** — a. Time, climb and descent rates, course, distance, heading, true airspeed, and groundspeed
- **IR.I.C.K3b** — b. Estimated time of arrival, including conversion to universal coordinated time (UTC)
- **IR.I.C.K3c** — c. Fuel requirements, including reserve
- **IR.I.C.K4** — Elements of an IFR flight plan.
- **IR.I.C.K5** — Procedures for activating and closing an IFR flight plan in controlled and uncontrolled airspace.

## Risk management elements

- **IR.I.C.R1** — Pilot.
- **IR.I.C.R2** — Aircraft.
- **IR.I.C.R3** — Environment (e.g., weather, airports, airspace, terrain, obstacles).
- **IR.I.C.R4** — External pressures.
- **IR.I.C.R5** — Limitations of air traffic control (ATC) services.
- **IR.I.C.R6** — Limitations of electronic planning applications and programs.
- **IR.I.C.R7** — Fuel planning.

## Skills elements

- **IR.I.C.S1** — Prepare, present, and explain a cross-country flight plan assigned by the evaluator including a risk analysis based on real time weather, which includes calculating time en route and fuel considering factors such as power settings, operating altitude, wind, fuel reserve requirements, and weight and balance requirements.
- **IR.I.C.S2** — Recalculate fuel reserves based on a scenario provided by the evaluator.
- **IR.I.C.S3** — Create a navigation plan and simulate filing an IFR flight plan.
- **IR.I.C.S4** — Interpret departure, arrival, en route, and approach procedures with reference to appropriate and current charts.
- **IR.I.C.S5** — Recognize simulated wing contamination due to airframe icing and demonstrate knowledge of the adverse effects of airframe icing during pre-takeoff, takeoff, cruise, and landing phases of flight as well as the corrective actions.
- **IR.I.C.S6** — Apply pertinent information from appropriate and current aeronautical charts, Chart Supplements; Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMs) relative to airport, runway and taxiway closures; and other flight publications.

## 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.