ACR/PCR Replaces ACN/PCN, cutting through the confusion.

On November 28, 2024, ICAO retired the ACN-PCN pavement strength method most working pilots trained on and made ACR-PCR, adopted under Annex 14 Amendment 15, the applicable standard worldwide. The FAA had already moved with Advisory Circular 150/5335-5D, published in April 2022, which put the new method into US guidance and gave every Part 139 certificated airport with a runway serving air carrier service until November 28, 2025 to publish PCR and gross weight data.

Both deadlines have passed, and the second one reaches only as far as Part 139 does. Part 139 covers certificated air carrier airports, while many of the general aviation fields and smaller charter destinations that Part 91 and Part 135 crews use sit outside it. Some of those airports still publish legacy pavement data, in a few cases in formats that predate ACN-PCN, so a crew working airport suitability today will meet more than one reporting convention depending on which airport page is open.

The planning consequence is a single check before any performance number gets pulled from an airport page: “which system did this airport publish, and is the aircraft figure being compared against it from the same system?” There is no conversion factor between ACN and ACR, so reading an ACR against a PCN, or the reverse, gives a load comparison the pavement was never rated for.

We added new pages to our Part 91 and Part 135 Aircraft Performance courses to help sort out the inevitable confusion. They teach the ACR round-up-to-the-nearest-ten rule and the comparison rule: an ACR is checked against a PCR, and a legacy rating printed on the same line belongs to a different system and stays out of the comparison.

We know this is a tricky planning problem, because we’ve run into it ourselves. We added testing in our courseware built around the mixed-systems trap, so your crews don’t get tripped up the next time they’re planning a trip to an unfamiliar field. The primary reference is FAA Advisory Circular 150/5335-5D, Standardized Method of Reporting Airport Pavement Strength - PCR. If you’re curious to learn more, email support@aircrewacademy.com. We’re happy to help.