ACS Alignment

FAA-S-ACS-29 — Flight Instructor, Rotorcraft–Helicopter · Area of Operation II. Technical Subject Areas · Task: H, I & J — National Airspace System; Navigation Systems & Radar Services; Navigation & Cross-Country Planning

HI.II.H.K1 — airspace classes, entry & equipment requirements HI.II.I.K1 — VOR/GPS & ATC radar services HI.II.J.K1 — pilotage, dead reckoning & XC planning HI.II.H.R1 — teaching airspace & TFR awareness

⚑ FLAG (Walter): combines Technical Tasks H, I, J — confirm HI. codes against the current FAA-S-ACS-29.

Airspace, Navigation Systems & Cross-Country Planning

Teach where you can fly, how the boxes and services work, and how to plan a cross-country a student can actually fly.

By the end of this lesson you can:

Teach the airspace classes and their entry/equipment (transponder/ADS-B) requirements, plus special-use airspace.
Teach navigation systems (VOR, GPS/RNAV) and ATC radar/flight-following services.
Teach cross-country planning: pilotage, dead reckoning, fuel, performance, and currency of charts/NOTAMs.
Build airspace and TFR awareness into the student’s habits.

1 · Airspace

Teach Classes B/C/D/E/G and their requirements (clearance for B; communication for C/D; helicopter-specific VFR-minimum allowances — verify), plus special-use airspace (prohibited, restricted, MOA, warning, alert) and how to check status. Use the student’s real planned routes to make it concrete.

2 · Navigation systems & services

Teach VOR (tune-ident-orient) and GPS/RNAV (waypoints, cross-track, database currency) at a working level, and the value of ATC radar services / VFR flight following. Stress cross-checking the GPS against chart and clock.

3 · Cross-country planning

Teach a full plan: route/checkpoints, headings/groundspeed/time, fuel with reserves (short helicopter endurance — plan refuels), weight & balance, and high-DA performance for stops. Require current charts and a NOTAM/TFR check just before departure.

4 · Watch

Curated reference clip — “CFI Oral Exam: Navigation, Airspace & Cross-Country Planning” · FLY8MA Flight Training (YouTube), verified via oEmbed. Embedded with the creator’s player; we don’t host or alter it.

5 · Reference sources

Use the authoritative references

📄 Pilot’s Handbook (FAA-H-8083-25) — Airspace & Navigation 📄 AIM — Airspace & Services (Chapters 3 & 4)

Your aircraft: navigation equipment fit and fuel/endurance are aircraft-specific — teach from the R44’s installed equipment and POH fuel figures.

✍️ Fill in for the aircraft you fly the R44’s installed nav equipment and fuel/endurance you teach students to plan around — look these up in the POH/avionics supplement and confirm with your CFII.

⚑ FLAG (Walter): the R44 is VFR-certificated; confirm any aircraft-specific values you teach from the current R44 POH, and confirm all endorsement wording against AC 61-65 and 14 CFR Part 61.

Risk management (the “Consider”): the teaching risk is airspace/TFR surprises and over-reliance on the GPS. Teach students to know exactly where airspace boundaries are, to re-check NOTAMs/TFRs before departure, and to cross-check the magenta line against chart and clock.