Advisory Circular (AC)

The Advisory Circular system was established by the FAA in 1962 as a structured framework for issuing non-regulatory guidance to the aviation community. The legal status of an AC is fundamentally different from that of a regulation: an AC is not binding on certificate holders, applicants, or the public, and a method other than the AC-described method may be used to demonstrate compliance with the underlying regulation, provided the alternative method actually achieves compliance. The FAA's published policy is that following an AC is one acceptable means of compliance — sometimes the only practical means — but that ACs do not themselves create requirements. This distinction is operationally important: when a regulation says "the operator shall demonstrate adequate training", an AC may describe a specific training programme structure that would be deemed adequate, but the operator may also propose an alternative structure to its assigned inspector and have it accepted.

FAA Advisory Circulars are numbered using a system that aligns the AC number with the regulatory subject area. The first digits of the AC number correspond to the underlying FAR Part or topic area: AC 23-XX series addresses Part 23 (small airplane certification), AC 25-XX addresses Part 25 (transport category certification), AC 60-XX addresses general topics (such as AC 60-22 Aeronautical Decision Making), AC 61-XX addresses Part 61 (airman certification), AC 90-XX addresses general operating and flight rules, AC 91-XX addresses Part 91, AC 120-XX addresses Part 121 and air carrier topics, AC 121-XX, AC 135-XX, and AC 141-XX address their respective Parts, AC 145-XX addresses Part 145, AC 150-XX addresses airports and the Part 139 / airport certification topic area, and AC 183-XX addresses representatives of the Administrator (DPEs, DERs, DARs, etc.). The full AC catalogue includes hundreds of active circulars; the FAA maintains a searchable database of current ACs and the FAA Advisory Circular Information Service publishes change notices when ACs are revised, cancelled, or superseded.

The EASA equivalent of the FAA AC system is the Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) and Guidance Material (GM) framework. EASA regulations (the Basic Regulation and the implementing rules under Commission Regulations such as 965/2012 for air operations, 1178/2011 for aircrew, 748/2012 for airworthiness) are published in Official Journal format, with associated AMC and GM published as separate Executive Director Decisions that interpret and provide acceptable compliance methods. The AMC has somewhat stronger regulatory weight than an FAA AC: EASA AMC describes "acceptable" means of compliance such that following the AMC creates a presumption of compliance, while an operator deviating from the AMC must demonstrate to the competent authority that the alternative means achieves equivalent compliance. GM provides explanatory and interpretive guidance without the compliance-presumption effect. Other regulators (UK CAA, Transport Canada, CASA Australia, CAA New Zealand) have their own AC or AMC-style frameworks, generally aligned with either the FAA or the EASA model depending on their regulatory heritage.

For flight schools and operators, ACs and AMCs are the practical interpretive layer that converts the bare regulation into operational guidance. The regulation states the standard; the AC or AMC describes a method of meeting it. Schools that rely solely on the underlying regulations frequently encounter situations where their assigned inspector cites an AC describing the expected method — for example, AC 141-1 describes the documentation expected for Part 141 training course outlines, AC 120-71 describes the elements of a FOQA programme, AC 60-22 describes Aeronautical Decision Making content the FAA expects in training. Effective compliance requires schools to be aware of the AC and AMC catalogue relevant to their operations and to either follow the AC's described methods or be prepared to defend an alternative.

For a Part 141 school's Chief Instructor or Director of Training, monitoring the Advisory Circular catalogue for changes affecting the school's operations is a recurring task. The FAA's ongoing AC revision schedule frequently introduces updated training expectations — new Aeronautical Decision Making content, updated risk management framework, revised training course outline expectations, evolved guidance on instructor qualifications — that the school must integrate into its programmes either through formal POI-approved revisions or through internal practice adoption. Schools that monitor AC updates proactively typically incorporate changes during routine syllabus revisions; schools that are surprised by AC changes during POI surveillance typically face accelerated revision timelines and tighter inspector scrutiny.

The practical operational pattern across regulatory frameworks is similar. EASA AMC revisions follow a public consultation process (Notice of Proposed Amendment, then Opinion, then Decision) that gives operators visibility into upcoming changes; FAA AC drafts circulate for public comment before publication; UK CAA CAPs follow a comparable process. Operators with active engagement in industry comment processes (through associations like NATA, AOPA, NBAA, IATA, or the national equivalents in other jurisdictions) typically have early visibility into AC/AMC changes and can plan integration into operations during the consultation phase rather than the post-publication phase.

Aviatize's compliance and auditing module supports a per-operator AC and AMC monitoring framework. The school or operator can maintain a catalogue of ACs and AMCs relevant to its operations, with each AC linked to the operational areas it affects (training programmes, maintenance procedures, dispatch processes, safety management). When an AC is revised, the platform flags affected operational areas for review and provides a structured workflow for the school's quality manager to document the impact assessment and any resulting programme revisions.

The training management module integrates AC-cited content references into the syllabus structure: when a lesson plan cites AC 60-22 for ADM content, AC 120-51 for CRM content, or AC 61-65 for endorsement language, the citation is captured in the lesson plan record so that future AC revisions can be traced to affected lesson plans through the platform's search. This audit-trail capability is particularly valuable during POI surveillance when the school must demonstrate that its current programmes reflect current AC guidance.