AVweb Quiz #173: Call Me A Taxi

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July 2, 2012

Interactive Quiz #173:
Call Me A Taxi

Inside a big sky, little mistakes are easily masked before ATC calls a foul. But on the ground, the margin for error shrinks, and one slip across a hold-short line could ruin your day. Save that day by acing this quiz.

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. When operating IFR or VFR at an airport with a control tower, you need to know the pilot/controller (P/C) lingo. Imagine you've been holding short of Runway 30, ready for departure. The Tower controller wants you to move onto the runway, come to a complete stop and await your takeoff clearance. Complete this ATC instruction with the FAA/ICAO-approved phraseology: "Cherokee 871, runway 30 ..."
a. Taxi into position and hold.
b. Taxi onto the runway and hold.
c. Taxi into position and wait.
d. Line up and wait.
e. Line up on the runway and wait.

2. Using the correct phraseology from the previous question, the ATC manual (7110.65) permits a tower controller to direct aircraft onto the active runway "behind landing traffic" provided the ceiling is greater than 1500 feet, visibility is greater than 5 miles, and the pilot in the aircraft holding short has the landing traffic in sight.
a. True
b. False

3. Refer to the graphic below to help explain this scenario: You're holding short of Runway 16 at intersection B1, and you call the Tower ready to depart. The controller has no conflicting traffic. The weather is severe clear, calm wind. After the controller scans the runway, verifying that it's clear, you're issued a takeoff clearance. Which ATC clearance phraseology is preferred?

a. "Marquart 645, Runway 16, cleared for takeoff."
b. "Marquart 645, Runway 16, at Bravo 1, cleared for takeoff."
c. "Marquart 645, Runway 16, at Bravo 1, cleared for departure."
d. "Marquart 645, Runway 16, cleared for departure."

4. Because mistakes happen, pilots misunderstand ATC or ATC gets confused, the AIM strongly suggests that pilots read back all taxi instructions. Tower controllers are required to request a readback of any:
a. Takeoff clearance
b. Landing clearance
c. Go-around instruction
d. Runway hold-short assignment

5. (FAA management personnel should avert their eyes for this one.) Pilots, forget the regs and the AIM for a minute. Using common sense. [I know, I know, government regulations and common sense don't always coexist, but hear me out.] Imagine you're on the runway, holding for a takeoff clearance -- IFR or VFR -- the frequency seems awfully quite, so you call the Tower to gently remind the controller that you're sitting on a hot runway with a bulls-eye painted on your empennage. You receive no response. Using common sense, you should:
a. Clear the runway.
b. Look for light-gun signal.
c. Scan for traffic.
d. Be very, very afraid.
e. Do all of the above, perhaps simultaneously.

6. Answer b in the previous question mentioned a light-gun signal. What color or color combination indicate(s) "Taxi clear of the runway in use."
a. Flashing green
b. Steady green
c. Flashing red
d. Steady red
e. Alternating burnt umber and puce

7. Helicopters don't always avoid taxi issues at the airport. Select the P/C Glossary term that best describes this helicopter taxi procedure: "... helicopter/VTOL aircraft movement conducted above the surface and in ground effect at airspeeds less than approximately 20 knots."
a. Air taxi
b. Hoover taxi
c. Hover taxi
d. Big yellow taxi

8. There's little that's more fun than getting a seaplane rating on a northern lake in summer, so you find yourself at Uncle Ricky's Seaplane Academy on Lake Cadillac in Michigan, where the examiner asks you to identify the term that describes taxiing a float plane at full power or high RPM when most of the seaplane's weight is supported by hydrodynamic lift rather than the buoyancy of the floats.
a. Step taxi
b. Water taxi
c. Plow taxi
d. Keel taxi

9. Fill in the hyphenated blank from this P/C Glossary definition: (_____)-(_____) is a "term used by air traffic controllers to taxi an aircraft on the runway opposite to the traffic flow."
a. Down-taxi
b. Taxi-back
c. Reverse-taxi
d. Back-taxi

10. Refer again to the figure in Question 3 above. You're parked on the FBO apron (what we used to call the ramp but never a tarmac) and inform ground control that you're ready to taxi. The ATIS reports Runway 16 in use, winds 150 degrees at 12 knots. Runway 6/24 is NOTAM'd closed. Complete this ATC clearance with the best FAA-approved phraseology: "Tri-Pacer 1245P, Ailerona Ground, ..."
a. "Taxi to Runway 16."
b. "Taxi to Runway 16 via Alpha Bravo."
c. "Runway 16, taxi via Alpha, Bravo, cross Runway 6."
d. "Runway 16, taxi via Alpha, Bravo."

If you enjoyed taking this interactive quiz and would like to see more like it, go to the AVweb Brainteaser page. And if you thought it was unfair, confusing, or a waste of time, we'd like you to tell us that, too. And if you have an idea for a subject that you think would make a good future Brainteaser quiz, be sure to let us know.

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Interactive Quiz #173:Call Me A Taxi

Interactive Quiz #173:
Call Me A Taxi