The FAA and PSI are modernizing how airman knowledge tests are delivered — embedding chart images inside the questions themselves and moving to a paperless testing portal. Your exam content and the standard you're held to are not changing. How you'll read and answer the questions is.
Updated for the FAA's August 2026 advisory, which corrected the key date to October 26, 2026 (previously published as the 27th), added the CFI and ATP exams to the embedded-image list, and confirmed that Q400 questions are leaving the ATP multiengine test.
From this date, the Instrument Rating Airplane (IRA) and Unmanned Aircraft General–Small (UAG) tests will include image-based questions whose images do not appear in the printed test supplement. The images are pulled from current VFR sectional charts, instrument approach charts, and IFR low altitude enroute charts, so they're cleaner and more up to date than the supplement versions.
Check the date. The FAA's June advisory said October 27. The August 2026 edition published a correction: it is October 26. Anywhere you still see the 27th quoted, including an earlier version of this page, that date has been superseded.
The FAA has added Flight Instructor and Airline Transport Pilot to the exams featuring questions with images built into the question. For our students that means the CFI Airplane (FIA) and the ATP tests (ATM and ATS). They're joining a format already in use on the Private, Commercial, Sport, Instrument, Unmanned, mechanic, Parachute Rigger and Flight Engineer exams.
Test questions covering the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 are being removed from the ATM knowledge test, and from that date the FAA will no longer test applicants on the aircraft. The change came out of a public inquiry: the ATM test is built on 14 CFR part 121, and turboprops are no longer flown by part 121 air carriers. Bombardier CRJ900 questions stay, because the CRJ900 is still a common entry-level type for new part 121 pilots.
PSI is moving its certification exams onto a new Test Taker Portal, built around a fully paperless experience with streamlined scheduling and check-in. The FAA has been explicit that exam content, standards, oversight, and security are unchanged by this transition. The August 2026 advisory restates that the transition is happening but gives no completion date, so treat any timeline you see elsewhere as unofficial.
This is the change most people ask about, and it hasn't happened yet. The FAA has not set a date for removing supplements from testing centers, and has committed to giving the public ample notice beforehand. Until that day, you'll continue to receive the supplement for your exam.
Instead of flipping to a figure number in a separate printed booklet, you'll see the chart excerpt on screen as part of the question itself. The FAA's stated goal is to eventually remove the need for printed supplements altogether.
The FAA lists Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot, Sport Pilot, Instrument Rating, Unmanned Aircraft, Aviation Maintenance Technician (General, Airframe and Powerplant), Parachute Rigger, and Flight Engineer as exams featuring questions with embedded images.
New in August 2026: Flight Instructor and Airline Transport Pilot are added to that list on October 26, 2026.
Once an image is embedded in a live test question it becomes part of that question, so the FAA won't publish the specific images used. Releasing them would compromise exam integrity. That applies to everyone, including us. No test prep provider can legitimately show you the actual embedded images.
The FAA does publish worked samples. The August 2026 advisory carries five: three Instrument questions (a minimum crossing altitude at a VORTAC on V21, an MRA flag at an intersection, and identifying a military training route) and two drone questions (airspace and authorization at a towered field, and which frequency serves as CTAF when the tower is closed). All five are ordinary chart-reading questions in a new wrapper.
PSI is running standards-compliance assessments on the Flight Instructor Airplane (FIA), Flight Instructor Helicopter (FRH), Fundamentals of Instructing (FOI) and the three mechanic tests (AMG, AMA, AMP). The FAA states plainly that this does not change question content and that every question stays aligned to its ACS codes and references. Any resulting modifications are anticipated in 2027, so nothing here affects a test you sit this year.
Some chart questions need a plotter or similar tool. The FAA has acknowledged this and says applicants will be given what they need to answer accurately. How on-screen tools will look and work hasn't been published yet, and the FAA has promised advance notice of anything significant.
Nothing about the subject matter, the passing score, or the standards has changed. If you can read a sectional and interpret an enroute chart, you can answer these questions — the chart is simply on the screen rather than in a booklet.
Memorizing "Figure 24" won't transfer. Genuinely understanding how to extract information from a chart will. That's a healthier way to prepare anyway, and it's what your examiner will probe on the oral.
The FAA encourages candidates to check PSI's True Talent site regularly for sample questions and to get comfortable with the new presentation before test day.
PSI also publishes Candidate Information Bulletins covering registration, scheduling, check-in and test content. They're available for PAR, CAX, CRH, IRA, IRH, ATM/ATS, UAG and Private Pilot Helicopter, with more to come, plus a new resource page for mechanic applicants.
Sitting the ATM before October 26? Q400 questions can still appear, so don't skip that material. Testing on or after the 26th? Those questions are gone, and your time is better spent on the CRJ900, which the FAA is keeping.
If your Instrument, drone, CFI or ATP test is booked before October 26, 2026, none of these changes apply to your sitting. Supplements are also still in use at test centers today, and no date has been set for their removal.
We read every FAA Airman Testing Community Advisory as it's published, and our question bank is updated several times a month based on FAA revisions and real test-taker feedback. As the FAA publishes more detail about embedded images and on-screen tools, we'll adapt our explanations and practice material accordingly.
Current students get these updates as dashboard alerts, so you'll hear about anything that affects your exam while you're studying for it.
No. The FAA has stated that exam content, standards, oversight, and security remain unchanged. What's changing is delivery — images embedded into questions, and a move to a paperless portal.
Yes, for now. The FAA has not set a date for removing supplements from testing centers and has said the public will get ample notice first. Until then, you'll continue to have access to the supplement for your exam.
Not the live ones. Once an image is embedded in an active test question it becomes part of that question, so the FAA won't publish it. Samples are a different matter: the August 2026 advisory includes five fully worked examples, three Instrument and two drone, and the FAA encourages candidates to check PSI's True Talent site for sample questions.
Private Pilot and Commercial Pilot are both on the FAA's list of exams featuring questions with embedded images, and have been for some time. The separate October 26, 2026 milestone, questions whose images aren't in the supplement at all, applies to the Instrument Rating (IRA) and small drone (UAG) tests.
October 26, 2026. The FAA's June advisory said the 27th and the August edition corrected it to the 26th. The correction is marked in the advisory itself, so the 26th is the date to work to.
Two things, both on October 26, 2026. Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 questions are removed from the ATP multiengine (ATM) test, since turboprops are no longer flown by part 121 air carriers and the ATM test is based on part 121 operations. CRJ900 questions remain. Separately, the ATP exams join the list of tests featuring questions with embedded images.
The Flight Instructor exams are added to the embedded-image list on October 26, 2026. Beyond that, FIA, FRH and FOI are among six exams undergoing standards-compliance assessments run by PSI. Those assessments do not change question content, and anything that comes out of them is expected in 2027.
There's no need to. The knowledge being tested is the same, and the FAA is providing the tools needed for chart questions. Test when you're prepared, not against an arbitrary deadline.
Sources and currency: the information on this page is drawn from the FAA's Airman Testing Community Advisory (August 2026 edition, which supersedes the June edition and corrects the IRA/UAG date to October 26) and the FAA Airman Knowledge Testing Matrix. Dates described as targets are the FAA's own targets and may move. We update this page as new advisories are published, but for anything affecting your specific test, always confirm with the
FAA's airman testing pages or your testing center.
Last reviewed: August 31, 2026, against the August 2026 Airman Testing Community Advisory.