Checkride-ready
See how you measure up to FAA standards with these questions from the AOPA Pilot Information Center.
1. Where may an aircraft’s operating limitations be found?
A. In the aircraft airframe and engine logbooks.
B. In the current, FAA-approved flight manual, approved manual material, markings, and placards, or any combination thereof.
C. On the airworthiness certificate.
2. What is an important airspeed limitation that is not color-coded on airspeed indicators?
A. Maneuvering speed.
B. Never-exceed speed.
C. Maximum structural cruising speed.
3. To receive accurate indications from a heading indicator during flight, the instrument must be
A. periodically realigned with the magnetic compass as the gyro precesses.
B. set prior to flight on a known heading.
C. calibrated on a compass rose at regular intervals.
4. When should pilots decline a land and hold short (LAHSO) clearance?
A. When it will compromise safety.
B. Only when the tower operator concurs.
C. Pilots cannot decline a LAHSO clearance.
5. What minimum pilot certification is required for operation within Class B airspace?
A. Recreational pilot certificate.
B. Private pilot certificate or student pilot certificate with appropriate logbook endorsements.
C. Private pilot certificate with an instrument rating.
Ace
Can you correctly answer these questions from retired TWA captain and 28,000-hour pilot Barry Schiff?
6. True or false? There are times when the minimum visibility required for visual flight rules flight in Class G (uncontrolled) airspace below 10,000 feet msl is three statute miles.
7. When taking off in a conventional tricycle-gear airplane, which one or more of the following causes a left-turning tendency prior to rotation?
A. the propeller’s spiraling slipstream
B. gyroscopic precession
C. p-factor
D. torque
8. Banking an airplane results in a horizontal component of wing lift that, we are told, causes the airplane to turn. But such a component should only cause the airplane to move laterally (as in a sideslip). What causes the nose to yaw and, therefore, causes the airplane to turn?
9. True or false? A pilot wants to navigate along a military training route (MTR) designated on the sectional chart as IR3453 at an altitude of 2,500 feet agl. The pilot will be safely above all military aircraft using that route.
10. Every square inch on a terminal area chart (TAC) represents only one-fourth as much ground area as a square inch on a sectional aeronautical chart. Why, then, is it said that a TAC has a larger scale than a sectional?
Illustration by John Ueland
Answers
1. The correct answer is B. Operating limitations can be found in many places including the airplane flight manual, pilot’s operating handbook, manual supplements, checklists, panel placards, airspeed indicator and tachometer markings, and gauge markings, to name the most common. (FAR 91.9)
2. The correct answer is A. Maneuvering speed varies with weight and is not marked on the airspeed indicator. Never-exceed speed (red line) and maximum structural cruising speed (upper green arc limit) are noted on the airspeed indicator. (Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, chapter 8)
3. The correct answer is A. Setting the heading indicator prior to flight is a checklist item, but the instrument must be checked against the compass on a regular basis and adjusted as necessary during the course of a flight to ensure accurate heading indications for the duration of the flight. (Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, chapter 8)
4. The correct answer is A. If the pilot determines that the amount of runway available in a LAHSO clearance is insufficient for his aircraft, he or she should decline the clearance. This may result in a delay in landing, or a different runway assignment, but ATC will accommodate the request. (Aeronautical Information Manual 4-3-11)
5. The correct answer is B. Class B operations require a private pilot certificate, or a student pilot certificate with appropriate logbook endorsements. An instrument rating is not required, and a recreational pilot must also have an appropriate logbook endorsement. (FAR 91.131)
6. True. The minimum visibility in Class G airspace is one mile during daylight hours and three miles at night.
7. A and D. The spiraling slipstream pushes against the left side of the vertical fin, which causes a left yaw. Torque causes the aircraft to tend to roll left, which increases the downward force on the left tire. This increases the rolling friction created by that tire and, therefore, produces a tendency to yaw left.
8. As the airplane begins to move laterally, the relative wind begins to come from that side. The airplane is a large weathervane (the result of its stabilizers and aft fuselage); it automatically yaws into the wind the way a weathervane does.
9. True. A military training route with a four-numeral designation is entirely below 1,500 feet agl. If any segment of an MTR is at or above 1,500 feet agl, it will have a three-numeral designation.
10. The scale of a TAC is 1:250,000. This is twice as large a ratio as 1:500,000, the scale of a sectional. In other words, 1 divided by a quarter-million is a larger fraction—and, therefore, a larger scale—than 1 divided by a half-million.
Related Articles
