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Brainteasers
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June 17, 2004

Brainteasers
Interactive 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.

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the questions as best you can, then click on the "Score my quiz answers" button to see your score and read the explanations. If you don't like your score the first time around, you can change some of your answers and resubmit. To get the most out of this quiz, we suggest you keep trying until you get a perfect score.

NOTE: When more than one answer is true, only the most complete, correct answer will be scored as correct. The answers are assumed to apply within the United States unless otherwise noted.

1. Imagine that you're headed to your vacation cabin at Lake Bauxite in central Minnesota. You'd called flight service for a briefing before leaving and were promised a smooth and uneventful trip. Once airborne, however, the unthinkable happens: The weather changes. Wind, rain, turbulence, and blowing locusts make the flight miserable. You call flight service to demand an apology and to report the rough ride. What are the four official turbulence intensity values?
a. Occasional, intermittent, continuous, steady.
b. Light, moderate, heavy, extreme.
c. Trace, light, moderate, severe.
d. Light, moderate, severe, extreme.
2. Nature isn't the only turbulence generator. As you approach your destination, the radar approach controller vectors you (IFR) for a visual approach to runway 27. The ceiling is broken at 2,000 feet and the visibility is 6 miles with light rain showers in the area. You report the runway in sight, but the controller says to report a "Heavy" Boeing 747 (controllers' nickname: "Whale") at your altitude on the ILS outside the final approach fix. (There's a casino on the lake and big jets regularly haul thousands of suckers in and out.) Until you see the 747 and agree to follow it to the runway, how much lateral separation must the radar controller apply between the "Heavy" 747 and your rather smallish Cessna 210? (Choose the best answer for this landing situation.)
a. Three miles.
b. Four miles.
c. Five miles.
d. Six miles.
3. But what if your small airplane is lined up on final for runway 27L and the heavy jet is on final for runway 27R? Parallel runways less than ( ___ ) feet apart are considered to be a single runway because of the possible effects of wake turbulence.
a. 1,500
b. 2,500
c. 3,000
d. 5,000
4. Another setup: You've followed a large transport jet on the approach to runway 27, and tower clears you to land with the usual boilerplate-don't-sue-us FAA warning, "Caution wake turbulence." The controller adds, "Wind ... hmm, how 'bout that? Wind 120 at 4." You find this a little disconcerting because you know that a light, quartering tailwind can cause the upwind vortex to linger on your runway longer than if the wind was calm.
a. True
b. False
5. Vacation's over and you want to depart VFR. The ground controller says, "Centurion Eight Two Lima, taxi to runway 27." The runway is 12,000 feet long, and after burning enough avgas in the taxi to keep a Cessna 150 aloft all morning, you request an intersection departure from taxiway Delta. The remaining runway length from there is 8,500 feet. As you switch to tower's frequency and say, "Ready to depart," a Boeing 727 (non-heavy, large aircraft) departs runway 27. The Boeing utilized the full runway length. Tower says to you, "Hold short for three-minute wake turbulence." You're in a hurry. Can you waive this delay? (You may wish to draw this out on a cocktail napkin.)
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Yes, but only if you request an early turn away from the turbulence.
d. No, unless tower first initiates an early turn away from wake turbulence.
6. Same scenario as above: In a small airplane you'll depart behind a large airplane, but this time from the same point on the runway. What will be the ATC wake turbulence delay for the small aircraft?
a. Two minutes that cannot be waived
b. Three minutes
c. Two minutes, but it can be waived by the pilot
d. No delay
7. Same scenario as the two above, in your Cessna 210 -- which is feeling smaller by the minute in the company of fat jets -- and you're next in line to depart from the same point on a runway (full length) behind one of those new Airbus Super-Haulers that weigh more than the Chrysler Building and hold 10,000 passengers in tiny crates ... OK, not that big, but the aircraft ahead of you is a heavy. What is the wake turbulence delay for small (under 12,500 pounds) airplane departing behind the heavy from the same takeoff point?
a. No delay
b. One minute
c. Two minutes
d. Three minutes
8. You call tower ready for takeoff at runway 27. Tower says, "Hold short for wake turbulence opposite direction heavy E-4 (military B747)," and then you hear the tower say to the E-4 pilot, "Air Force Two, cleared low approach runway 9." (Admit it: If you were V.P., wouldn't you take some of the cool airplanes out for touch-and-go's?) Since you will utilize the full length of runway 27, what is the wake turbulence departure delay, if any, for same runway, opposite direction heavy traffic that's shooting a low approach?
a. Two minutes, non-waivable.
b. Three minutes, non-waivable.
c. Two minutes, waivable.
d. Three minutes, waivable.
e. No delay.
9. Wake turbulence separation standards are only applied by ATC to IFR aircraft unless the VFR pilot specifically requests, "Wake turbulence separation service."
a. True
b. False
10. Only jet aircraft larger than 12,500 pounds produce wake turbulence.
a. True
b. False