Has the FAA Changed Standards During Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations?

 As far as I can tell, there have been two major updates to FAA standards during the Obama, Trump, Biden administrations.

1.      2016- replace Practical Test Standards (PTS) With Airmen Certification Standards (ACS).  Airman Certification Standards.  Please note this is not called Airpersons Certification Standards.

2.      2024 – Mandated that air traffic controllers increase their mandatory minimum rest hours to 10 hours before they can work again.  That is, it was increased to 10 hours between shifts.

 

The differences between the PTS and the replacement ACS are: Under PTS, pilots could pass by performing mechanical maneuvers.  With ACS, pilots also have to pass scenarios with risk to see how well they apply the aviation theory they also have to know.  So it is not just mechanical movements, but scenario-based testing to see how pilots handle potentially dangerous situations.  The other main difference is that pilots were memorizing answers probably on internet dumps with PTS, so ACS integrates flying with the written exams.  I dealt with the same issue with IT.  It was also felt the PTS hadn’t been updated in years so did not reflect modern aircraft.  In 2024, the ACS was updated further to make sure the tests remained in line with modern aircraft.

 

It should be noted that at no time during Trump’s first administration did he demand a reversion back to PTS.  Trump did not uplift the ACS standards.  Trump did not mandate increased rest hours between shifts.  Trump did not issue any new qualitative standards.  Trump claims he raised standards that Obama lowered and if he did what he claims, then he would have made changes to the ACS.

 

The move to ACS happened under Obama.  The increase in rest hours happened under Biden.