Sport pilot checkrides and the new “B” test standards: what to ask before you schedule

You are getting ready for a sport pilot checkride, or you are training someone who is, and two dates keep showing up next to the new test standards: September 14, 2026 and October 14, 2026. Which edition will your examiner use? Here is what the standards are, what changed and why, and the one question the published FAA material does not settle, which is worth asking before you book.

What a practical test standard is

A practical test standards (PTS) document is the FAA’s published list of the tasks an applicant performs on a checkride and the standard for each. The airplane sport pilot PTS says that “aviation safety inspectors and pilot examiners shall conduct practical tests in compliance with these standards,” while instructors and applicants “should find these standards helpful” in preparing.

Part 61 ties the test to the document. Under section 61.43, the applicant performs the tasks in the areas of operation in the applicable Airman Certification Standards or PTS, which section 61.14 incorporates by reference. Material incorporated by reference has the same legal status as if it were printed in the regulations.

Why the standards changed with MOSAIC

The MOSAIC rule changed which aircraft sport pilots may fly. The performance limits and design requirements in section 61.316 expand the aircraft that sport pilots and flight instructors with a sport pilot rating may operate, and the old “light-sport aircraft” definition is removed from section 1.1 effective July 24, 2026. The FAA says sport pilot training and practical tests must be completed in an aircraft that meets section 61.316.

The PTS update lines the standards up with that change. The final rule describes it as “replacing references to ‘light-sport aircraft’ with ‘aircraft’ to encompass aircraft meeting the performance limits and design requirements in new section 61.316.” The FAA also says the updates are “not imposing new requirements.”

The three B editions

The rule updates three standards: FAA-S-8081-29B (airplane, gyroplane and glider), FAA-S-8081-30B (lighter-than-air) and FAA-S-8081-31B (powered parachute and weight-shift-control). One specific change: after a commenter said the existing figure carried increased risk, the FAA raised the minimum recovery altitude for stalls and slow flight in the airplane standards from 1,000 to 1,500 feet AGL. The airplane standards also list smaller edits, such as using “pilot examiner” in place of several examiner titles.

Two dates, kept apart

The final rule was published and took effect September 14, 2026, and the FAA’s PTS list shows the three B editions as effective that day. The rule separately states a compliance date of October 14, 2026.

What is not settled for a test in between

As of October 12, 2026, the rule text, the FAA’s PTS page and the FAA’s Airman Testing Community Advisories through the September 2026 special edition do not say what the October 14 compliance date requires in practice, or whether the A or B edition applies to a sport pilot test taken between September 14 and October 14. Other FAA channels, such as notices to examiners, may say more.

The nearest published guidance is the FAA’s August 2026 advisory. It said evaluators, instructors and applicants could keep using the A editions until the B editions “become effective,” while applying the part 61 changes that took effect October 22, 2025. That points toward the B editions from their effective date, but the advisory was issued before that date and does not mention October 14.

Who to ask: the examiner who will give your test, your training provider, and the FAA’s Testing Standards Section, which invites questions through its advisories.

Before you book

One item here is a stated FAA requirement; the rest are suggestions. The requirement: train and test in an aircraft that meets section 61.316.

The suggestions: ask the examiner which edition they will use for your test date and get the answer in writing. That confirms which FAA standard is being applied; it is not a way to pick a different one. Read the B edition for your category, starting with its list of changes. If you fly the airplane standards, consider practicing stalls and slow flight with recovery altitudes that meet the higher 1,500 feet AGL figure.

The takeaway: the B editions are in effect, but confirm with your examiner, before you schedule, which edition applies to your test date.