# IR.VII.A — Loss of Communications — Instrument Rating Airplane ACS

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

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

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 VII. Emergency Operations
- Task: Task A. Loss of Communications
- Task code prefix: IR.VII.A
- Official references: 14 CFR part 91; AIM; FAA-H-8083-2, FAA-H-8083-3, FAA-H-8083-15, FAA-H-8083-16, FAA-H-8083-25
- 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 loss of communications while operating solely by reference to instruments.

## Knowledge elements

- **IR.VII.A.K1** — Procedures to follow in the event of lost communication during various phases of flight, including techniques for reestablishing communications, when it is acceptable to deviate from an instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance, and when to begin an approach at the destination.

## Risk management elements

- **IR.VII.A.R1** — Possible reasons for loss of communication.
- **IR.VII.A.R2** — Deviation from procedures for lost communications.

## Skills elements

- **IR.VII.A.S1** — Recognize a simulated loss of communication.
- **IR.VII.A.S2** — Simulate actions to re-establish communication.
- **IR.VII.A.S3** — Determine whether to continue to flight plan destination or deviate.
- **IR.VII.A.S4** — Determine appropriate time to begin an approach.
- **IR.VII.A.S5** — Use single-pilot resource management (SRM) or crew resource management (CRM), as appropriate.

## 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.