The Instrument Written Is Changing October 27: Here's What It Means for You

If you've got the instrument written sitting on your to-do list, this affects you directly.

On October 27, 2026, the FAA is changing the Instrument Rating (IRA) knowledge test and on the same day, the UAG test (Part 107, drone) too. The passing score isn't changing. The number of questions isn't changing. What's changing is something much more fundamental: how figures, charts, and approach plates are presented to you inside the exam itself.

What's Actually Changing

Here's how the instrument written has worked for decades: when you arrive at the testing center, you're handed the Airman Knowledge Testing Supplement.

Every chart, plate, and performance graph you'll need is in there, numbered. The question says "refer to Figure 24," you flip to Figure 24, you answer.

That supplement is public. It's free to download from the FAA's website, which is exactly why every ground school, every app, and every test prep provider on the market has built its entire product around those same exact figures.

Starting October 27, IRA test questions will include images embedded directly in the question, images that are not in the supplement. The FAA is pulling them from current sectionals, current instrument approach charts, and current low-altitude enroute charts: sharper, more current, and something you've never seen before.

Important: the printed supplement isn't being fully withdrawn on day one. The change is that some questions will now carry images that simply aren't in that book.

Why This Matters So Much for Students

Most people pass the instrument written today by running a question bank: two thousand questions, over and over, until the shape of the question becomes familiar, without really interpreting the chart. "Oh, this is the Lincoln VOR one, the answer's the 4,000-foot MSA." That's pattern recognition, not chart interpretation.

That's exactly the crutch this change removes. You'll get an approach plate you've never laid eyes on, with a question about the missed approach segment, the minimum safe altitude, or a step-down fix. You either know how to read the plate or you don't, there's no figure number to jog a memorized answer.

This isn't the FAA being difficult for its own sake. Since the FAA renewed its testing contract with PSI, one of the stated goals was to shut down question harvesting. If prep providers can't know the real questions, memorizing stops working. That's been the direction of travel for years; October 27 is just when it becomes visible.

To be fair, though: nobody outside the FAA and PSI knows for certain how difficult these new items will be. It might turn out to be a non-event for well-prepared applicants. But if that assumption is wrong, the person who finds out is the one testing on the 28th.

What Students Should Do Now

1. If you have a pending written, take it now. Not in November, not "after the holidays." If you're prepared, get it scheduled before October 27 and take it

under the format you actually studied for.

2. This matters most if you're missing the instrument. If you're mid-instrument training, if you've been putting off the written while building cross-country time, or you're a commercial or CFI candidate who never knocked out the instrument written, this change is aimed squarely at you.

3. Know what a pass buys you. A passing knowledge test is valid for 24 calendar months from the end of the month you take it. Pass it in October 2026 and you're covered through October 2028. That's a lot of runway, and there's no reason to sit on an unfinished written with that kind of protection available on the other side of one test appointment.

4. Don't take a test you're not ready for. This matters just as much as urgency does: a fail goes on your record, you pay again, you need a new endorsement, and you lose weeks. If you're consistently scoring in the high 80s or better on full-length practice exams, go. If you're at 60%, you don't have a deadline problem, you have a preparation problem, and rushing won't fix it. Book your appointment two or three weeks out and use that time to prepare, because testing centers are going to get busy as word spreads.

It Doesn't Stop at the Instrument

IRA and UAG are the first two tests to go through this change, but the FAA's stated direction is to embed figures directly into questions and move away from printed supplements across the board, not just instrument. IRA and UAG are the pilot program because they're chart-heavy and high volume.

That puts Commercial, CFI, and especially the ATP written (the ATM) squarely in the path. The ATM is the most figure-dependent written the FAA gives:

performance charts, takeoff and landing data, weight and balance, holding, ILS.

To be clear: the FAA has not published a date for the ATP multiengine written converting to this format. We're not going to invent one. What's public is the direction of the change and that IRA/UAG are going first, the reasonable assumption is that for the ATM it's a matter of when, not if.

If you're anywhere near ATP eligibility, the math favors acting now: the ATM written requires the CTP course (Certification Training Program) first, and that's not cheap or quick roughly $4,000–$5,000 and a full week, with prices trending upward. But the payoff is real: a passing ATM written is valid for 60 calendar months, five years, not the 24 months most other writtens get. It's one of the best values in the entire FAA testing system, and it's available right now under a format you can actually prepare for.

For Instructors

After October 27, ground syllabi need to change. Teaching to the figure book is over. Students need to be able to open any approach plate cold and identify the minimums, the missed approach, the MSA, required equipment, and step-down fixes, same with sectionals and low enroute charts. Honestly, that's the actual skill used in the cockpit at 200 feet, but it takes longer to teach than a question bank, and if lessons aren't adjusted now, pass rates will tell the story later.

Watch the Airman Testing Community Advisory, published monthly by the FAA, it's the only official channel where these changes surface before they hit a testing center.

Bottom Line

October 27, 2026: the Instrument (IRA) and Part 107 (UAG) writtens change, with embedded images not found in the supplement. Every prep product on the market is about to be a step behind. And more tests are coming, including the ATP.

If you have a pending written and you're prepared, take it now, the instrument first. And if the ATP is anywhere on your horizon, get the CTP scheduled and get that written done while it's still the test you studied for.

Nobody has ever regretted having a written already done. Plenty of people are about to regret waiting.

For more information, read the official FAA guidance here: https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/June_2026_Edition.pdf