April 20, 2006

Interactive 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

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.

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1. The Earth is a lumpy sphere crisscrossed with lines called latitude and longitude (lat/long). In the days before Ferdinand Magellan discovered the Direct To button, navigators could plot any point on the planet by the intersection of lat/long. The (_____) of latitude are measured from the Equator and the (_____) of longitude are measured from the Prime Meridian.
a. Courses, Headings
b. Deviations, Variations
c. Isometrics, Igonics
d. Parallels, Meridians

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2. Let's plot an escape from Lawrence, Kan., to Butler, Mo., a distance of 60 nm, navigating by the wet compass in your 1940 Taylorcraft BL-65, plus a sectional chart and plotter. You draw a line across the chart and with your plotter determine that the angle between the pencil line and an intersecting longitude line (measured clockwise) is 136 degrees. Your compass is good through 360 degrees, so this trip will be a snap provided you understand that 136 degrees represents your (_____), which is measured as an angle from the longitude line passing through (_____).
a. True course, True north
b. True heading, Magnetic north
c. Magnetic course, Magnetic north
d. Magnetic heading, True north

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3. You're leaving Kansas, Dorothy, and the wind aloft at 6,000 feet blows from the northeast (040 degrees) at 20 knots. Your true airspeed will be 120 knots. Ignore any magnetic vagaries for the moment, and let's say that your intended track across the ground is 150 degrees. Using your E6-B computer, wind triangle on a piece of paper or even an educated hunch, you determine that you will need to crab to the (_____) and your groundspeed will be approximately (_____) knots.
a. Right, 130
b. Left, 125
c. Left, 115
d. Right, 110

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4. Three-part follow-up question: After you've figured your wind correction angle (WCA) you notice that midway along your plotted route there's a magenta dashed line (on the map, not on the ground) with "9° E" written on it (see graphic below). The magenta, isogonic line runs roughly north to south, passing just east of your departure airport. That isogonic line connects points of equal magnetic (_____) between True and Magnetic North, and with "9° E" you would (_____) the nine degrees from your wind-corrected course (not its technical name) to compute your magnetic (_____).

a. Variation, Subtract, Heading
b. Deviation, Subtract, Course
c. Variation, Add, Course
d. Deviation, Add, Heading

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5. How to win trivia contests in the Pilots' Lounge: The line on the sectional chart that indicates where there is no difference between Magnetic and True North is called the:
a. Isotonic line
b. Isobar line
c. Agonic line
d. Atonic line

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6. OK, pencils and plotters away. Grab the Garmin 396 GPS and instead of a short trip let's cover 500 miles from the western side of the Rocky Mountains to an airport east of the range, and let's climb to 17,500 feet in our Turbo RV-8. (Whose fantasy flight is this, anyhow?) The weather is mostly high cirrus with some mid-level clouds, great visibility and a smooth and surprisingly rapid climb on the windward side of the mountains up to your cruise altitude. The winds aloft are out of the west, exceeding 30 knots, ideal for your groundspeed. As you approach the range, you see lenticular clouds ("lennies," as your glider buddies call them) flowing in pretty undulations for many miles downstream of the mountains. There is no cumulus activity in the area and no precipitation. After you cross a relatively sharp ridge, you encounter severe turbulence beginning with a strong downdraft. It's not wake turbulence from a passing B-52. The severe turbulence is fairly close to the mountain ridge, but the undulating clouds extend for hundred miles to the east. Of the choices below what might this turbulent weather phenomenon be?
a. Microburst
b. Virga
c. Low-level wind shear
d. Mountain wave

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7. You've survived the turbulence encounter in the previous question, and on your return trip (east-to-west) you take a different route where it might be smoother. The turbulence risk remains as you approach the mountains from the downwind (leeward) side. The winds aloft have weakened but still exceed 20 knots from the west, and you approach the potential turbulence area with snug seatbelts and a game plan. Yes, retreat is part of that plan, but let's not panic. Instead, follow the AIM recommendation to approach the ridge:
a. At approximately a 90-degree angle
b. As fast as possible (not to exceed V_NE)
c. At approximately a 45-degree angle
d. With gear and/or flaps extended
e. Both (a) and (b) to minimize exposure

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8. Stay with the wind scenario in the previous two questions. While turbulence can and does exist miles downstream from the leeward side of a mountain ridge, the area close to the ridge usually has the worst turbulence. Areas of "overturning air" are marked by long bands of stratocumulus clouds that are also called:
a. Rotary clouds
b. Rotor clouds
c. Cumulonimbus clouds
d. Squall-line clouds

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9. It's not all gloom and sky monsters when the winds aloft blow strong across mountain ridges. High-flying glider pilots (with supplemental oxygen and warm clothing) set altitude and distant records riding these winds. Most vertically active weather occurs in the Troposphere. Super-high flyers cruise the generally smooth air of the stratosphere. The layer between them is called:
a. Tropopause
b. Torpogesic
c. Stratopause
d. Mesopause
e. Refreshespause

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10. Before you launch to apply your navigational and wind skills, let's review your most recent flight review to avoid FAA turbulence. Two months ago you completed a biennial flight review as per FAR 61.56. You received 0.8 hours of dual flight instruction and 1.1 hours of ground instruction from a CFI. Your flying skills were flawless -- of course -- and the CFI used the Private Pilot PTS (Practical Test Standards) as a guide for the flight review. Some tasks were combined. The instructor endorsed your logbook, and now you're ready to take a cross-country, VFR, Part 91 trip. According to FAR 61.56, and given the above information (don't read too much into this) all of your flight review requirements were met.
a. True
b. False

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