Put your aviation knowledge to the test with these interactive quizzes.

Quiz #132: Peek Behind the ATC Curtain

The Pilot/Controller Glossary contains terms used on both sides of the NAS fence. Too often, pilots don't understand controller phrases, and controllers don't know the pilot stuff. You'll know it all by acing this quiz.

Quiz #131: Reflections On Short Final

When you're on final, aiming for the numbers, with passengers squawking, "Are we there yet?" there's little time to preplan. So, take a moment -- assuming you're not on final -- to test your approaches to landing.

Quiz #130: Weather or Not

Clouds, as Joni Mitchell warns, may get in your way, but knowing what's around you in the atmosphere turns weather challenges into clear skies. Well, maybe not, but it makes answering these questions much easier.

Quiz #129: Winter Sport Flying

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but ski-flying is so delightful. So long as you fly in Minnesota, let it snow, let it snow ..." Who're we kiddin'? Winter sucks. So hasten spring's arrival by smoking this quiz.

Quiz #128: Go Global

Some things old, some things new and a few things out of the blue make up the way we navigate. Answer the following questions correctly and you're cleared direct-to anywhere in the world, with your GPS.

Quiz #127: Ramp Check

Run away! Run away! No, it's not that scary. You can turn the tables on an FAA spot-inspection by having your paperwork in order and answering a few questions.

Quiz #126: Control Input

Ercoupe pilots, cover your ears. The rest of you, please get your feet off the floorboards and help us get a grip on a few questions about control surfaces. Proper input coordination is required.

Quiz #125: What's Up?

The sky's the limit of infinite possibilities when you don't let terminology and regulations hold you down. Let's dissect a few loftier ones to answer questions that have teased aeronautical brains since before Pratt met Whitney.

Quiz #124: Back To School Quiz

Shoes shined and hair slicked down, let's see what you remember after the long summer's break. Those who don't score well on this quiz will be forced to spend more time at the airport.

Quiz #123: IFR Update

Home from Oshkosh, your head is filled with Sean Tucker acrobatics in the fourth dimension. But darkening skies delay your dreams of air-show stardom as you pause to demonstrate your IFR savvy with a quiz.

Quiz #122: Welcome To Brainteaser Refresher Camp

Camp Wannaflybettah is open to pilots who obey a few camp rules: Don't drink from the seaplane pond, believe anything in the pilots' lounge or swallow the occasional red herring in the following questions.

Quiz #121: Stress -- Deal With It

Stress accompanies flight -- Don't Panic! Some stress is good, some not so. Recently, while checking out in a stubby-winged Thorp T-18, the Brainteaser author stressed himself and the airplane. Share the humiliation and test your stress limits.

Quiz #120: Something Old, Something New

As the tsunami of change washes over the FAA, leaving it groping for a user-fee lifeline, pilots know to surf the crest, riding old terms, new ways and hope into aviation's future.

Quiz #119: Those Who Can -- Teach

As a pilot racks up aerial experience, thoughts turn to passing along that largess. Let the quest for the flight instructor's ticket begin. And, there will be a quiz. All FAR questions, here, are based on Part 61.

Quiz #118: Cleared ILS Approach

"Four from the marker, maintain 2000 until established on the localizer, cleared ILS 22 approach." Readback correct. In a GPS world, the ground-based Instrument Landing System still breathes. See if you can keep the needles crossed.

Quiz #117: Why Make Bad Landings?

Would you rather bounce in a quiz or on real pavement? Let's turn base leg to final to see how well you recognize a bum approach. Caution: Subjective opinions included.

Quiz #116: Along the Airways

Before you can truly appreciate the ease and convenience of the modern sat/nav world, the pilot should master the pre-Columbian world of federal airways. See what you know about these ancient routes between ground-based navaids.

Quiz #115: Beyond Fixed Wing

We've taken it on the chin for not quizzing much outside the fixed-wing realm. The Brainteaser's response: "You can fly without fixed wings -- who knew?" See what you knew about things that go whump-whump-whump in the night.

Quiz #114: Aerodynamically Speaking

When airfoils slam into enough innocent air molecules at just the right speed, lift results. Seems like magic, but there is a little science involved. So let's explore a few basic tenets of aerodynamics.

Quiz #113: Get Instrument Rated

It seems as though every pilot is either instrument-rated or working on an IFR ticket. Whatever your status, let's review the Part 61 requirements to legally cross swords with an ILS in the clag.

Quiz #112: Take a Commercial Break

The transition from Private to Commercial pilot begins when you give yourself an "F." Subpart F of FAR Part 61 clears you to fly for hire. So get your Lazy-8 off the couch and ace this quiz.

Quiz #111: Flapped, Foiled and Dragged

The Earth's atmosphere is composed of 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen, leaving only one percent for airplanes. Let's see what we can force into that airspace with a few aerodynamic questions and controversies.

Quiz #110: Turn Sour Notes Into Sweet Approaches

Whether you're a Jepp fan or sing NACO's praises, instrument approach procedures are full of tidbits you need to know before entering the clag. Test your interpretative mettle in this musical IFR trip.

Quiz #109: Instrument Failure Is An Option

Flying on the gauges is easy. Instructors make it seem hard by covering up instruments with sticky notes. They're not being jerks but, instead, are simulating instrument failures. Show that you're prepared for failure by acing this quiz.

Quiz #108: Pre-Solo Prep

It's time to leave your Citation, Cirrus or Citabria and forget everything you thought you knew about flight, because you're going aloft, again, for your first solo. Let's begin with the mandatory pre-solo quiz as per FAR 61.87.

Quiz #107: SIGMET/AIRMET Savvy

Slam into a developing thunderstorm that shakes your dentures loose and you'll appreciate the significance of a good weather briefing. Or you can circumnavigate that learning step and test your severe weather planning skills here.

Quiz #106: Fly Raw Cross-Country

Long before GPS, pilots navigated with compass, plotter, and E6-B computer. Lindbergh found his way to Paris using a cheese sandwich. You, too, can dead-reckon like an aviation pioneer by testing a few basic skills

Quiz #105: Think Clearly

Flying instruments is not particularly difficult. It's figuring out what Air Traffic Control expects that fogs the brain. Learning the hidden powers of IFR and VFR clearances launches any pilot on a direct route to success.

Quiz #104: Preflight This

No person shall begin a flight without ensuring that most of the aircraft parts are attached in an airworthy fashion. That inspection requires more than a laminated checklist, so let's preflight the logbook, fuel, and pilot's airworthiness.

Quiz #103: More Power To Ya

If power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then many pilots strive for the ultimate in degradation by strapping on bigger engines to reach beyond our grasp of powerplant knowledge. Let's see how power-hungry you absolutely are.

Quiz #102: Smooth Maneuvers

No, the title doesn't reflect our moves on the dance floor. Instead, it refers to your pilot skills in something other than straight-and-level flight. Being cool, you'll coordinate your mind and feet to answer the following questions.

Quiz #101: Risk Analysis

Flight involves risk. ATC and AFSS supply information, but only the pilot-in-command can analyze potential threats and make the go/no-go call. Winter offers lots of decision-making material, some of which might stick to your pitot.

Quiz #100 -- New Stuff, Old Stuff

In this -- the 100th Brainteaser quiz -- we cast a net across the vast sea of aviation knowledge to snag what's old, new, and even a little blue while challenging your crosswind technique.

Quiz #99 -- Step Up To Twins

Congratulations, Mrs. Hollow, it's twins. Twice the power at four times the expense lures the single-minded pilot into the multi-engine PIC seat with a multitude of multi-faceted questions. So grab a fistful of throttles and answer away.

Quiz #98 -- Foggy Nights and Pretty Approach Lights

Nighttime on an airport is a wondrous time splashed with sparkling lights, beckoning stars, and more than a few regulations and silly ways to embarrass yourself, unless you know the answers to the following questions.

Quiz #97 -- Unscramble Your Head

When your brain is unfairly teased in flight, how well you score on this quiz may determine your ability to handle unusual aeromedical factors, attitudes, and illusions.

Quiz #96 -- More To Flight Than Wings and Wheels

Fixed-wing, land airplanes can be so restricting. So shuck those tires and bolt on some floats -- or trade your old airfoils for rotors -- to fly seaplanes and helicopters. First, though, a few terms.

Quiz #95 -- A New Sport Pilot

Welcome, Sport Pilots, to aviation -- an exclusive club open to anyone who dreams far above the madding crowd's ignoble ground life. Before you touch the heavens, however, review some old- and new-school terms.

Quiz #94 -- Call Me A Taxi

You may think you understood ATC's instructions, but what you thought you heard might not be what the air traffic controller meant to say. Confused? Then verify your clearance in this quiz before you taxi.

Quiz #93 -- Thundering Questions

What can be taller than Mount Everest, wetter than a sloppy kiss, and meaner than a tax audit? Yes, thunderstorms. ATC offers some help around these gorgeous beasts, but successful circumnavigation depends on you.

Quiz #92 -- Load Factors and Fictions

If the airplane has four seats, you can cram in four people, right? Perhaps not. The PIC must not only figure how much weight is being carried but how that load affects safety. Are you balanced?

Quiz #91 -- Lots To See and Avoid

On a recent episode of the hit reality show, "This Old Control Tower," the host dodged weather, scanned for traffic, and wrestled a live TRSA. See how you'd handle reality on this flight.

Quiz #90 -- Decode VIP, AP, LOM

From the edge of outer space to the low-life missed approach environment, all pilots should be able to spit out obscure aviation terminology and know how to apply the info for safer flight.

Quiz #89 -- A Little Off The Airway

A pilot's brain can atrophy in the direct-anywhere GPS world, so let's wander about the airways reviving your knowledge of IFR and VFR symbols, contractions, and other needling minutiae -- including how much your VOR needle can move.

Quiz #88 -- Can You Get There From Here?

Flying from point A to point B can involve a seemingly pointless exercise in dissecting regulatory minutiae. Since the Brainteaser writer leads a pointless existence, let's get to the point and see what you know.

Quiz #87 -- Who Ya Gonna Call?

If anything can go wrong it will, and if not in flight at least on this quiz. See how you'd handle this string of stressful equipment failures without blowing your cool.

Quiz #86 -- Restrictions and Procedures

There are three reasons for getting the instrument rating: safer flying, lower insurance rates, and swaggering rights in the pilot's lounge. To retain the right to preen, you need to review a few IFR procedures.

Quiz #85 -- Got Speed? Got 'Chute?

Airspeed control is essential to safe flight. Without it, a good parachute might be advisable. Let's see what you know about good airspeed and good parachute management. Cirrus pilots may wonder what the difference is.

Quiz #84 -- Special VFR

Want to feel special inside controlled airspace? Request a Special VFR clearance. While your VFR buddies scratch their headsets, you'll scud-run with FAA approval. Let's review the SVFR rules to see how special you really are.

Quiz #83 -- Oh No, LAHSO

LAHSO means Land And Hold Short Operations, and it's the FAA's controversial way to squeeze more air traffic onto the same old runways. Your task is to, well, land and hold short of other traffic. Got LAHSO? Hope so.

Quiz #82 -- Navigate Through Turbulent Times

Smooth skies are the stuff flying dreams are made of, but bouncing past a thunderstorm or trailing in the wake of a low-flying whale can shake you awake. Cinch your seatbelts and see how you'd rate these turbulence encounters.

Quiz #81 -- Know Your Limits

The freedom of flight is only limited by your imagination and a few thousand federal regulations. Let's navigate down to the regulatory minimums without slipping too many surly FAR bonds.

Quiz #80 -- Radar Contact

Don't you love that cozy feeling you get when an air traffic controller whispers, "Radar contact," in your headset? But what service attaches to these words? Whether IFR or VFR it helps to know your radar vs. non-radar terms and expectations.

Quiz #79 -- Let's Be Clear On This

The bedrock of air traffic control is the word "clear." Whether cleared for takeoff or cleared for an instrument approach, understanding the forces that this word unleashes clearly puts you in the accomplished pilot's seat.

Quiz #78 -- Equipment Check

Your accountant figured out how to deduct your flying lessons from your federal return. So, you buy a Cessna 172, and want to get in at least one flight before the IRS audits your dream. First, however, you need to see if the airplane will pass an FAA audit.

Quiz #77 -- We Want Information

What do you know and when should you know it? Information changes on any flight. Ceilings drop, winds shift, and -- sadly -- special use airspace (SUA) pops up on short notice. Let's take off and see what information is available.

Quiz #76 -- The Weather Outside Is Frightful

In the age of Stormscopes, Doppler radar, and data uplink you'd think the weather would get the message and behave. But no, pilots still need to analyze the skies for themselves, with a little free help from flight service. See how you weather these questions.

More Brainteasers »