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Friday 4th July 2008
Brainteasers
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Brainteasers Interactive Quiz #66:
Just How Current Are You?

While sorting your laundry, a pilot certificate slips from your Dockers' pocket. "Nice pants," you think and then notice your name on the certificate. You decide to go flying, but before rolling the Turbo-Ercoupe out of the hangar, you should preflight your pilot paperwork.

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.

1. You hold a commercial pilot certificate with these ratings printed on the back: AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND. How does this break down into category and class?
a. AIRPLANE is category. SINGLE ENGINE LAND is class.
b. SINGLE ENGINE LAND is category. AIRPLANE is class.
c. AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND is category only. Class would include additional ratings such as AIRPLANE SEA.
d. AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND is class. Category only applies to instrument ratings.
2. You passed an initial checkride for a flight instructor's certificate 61 days ago. Bloody miserable experience that, and even though you can't afford to both teach and eat, at least getting the CFI certificate counts as a Flight Review (a.k.a. BFR).
a. True.
b. False.
3. You're instrument-rated, and in the past six months you've logged the following: Six instrument approaches in IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) to published minimums, one holding procedure, and interception and tracking of courses through the use of a VOR. You only have five hours of actual instrument time logged in that period and no simulated (hood) time. Can you file an IFR flight plan?
a. No. You must have logged six hours of actual or hood time.
b. Yes, but only if three of the six approaches were precision (ILS) approaches.
c. Yes, but only if the weather is VMC (Visual Meteorological Conditions).
d. Yes. Anyone can file.
4. Same set-up as #3 above, except you've only logged two landings to a full stop within the past 90 days, both in a tricycle-gear Cessna 182RG, both at night. You have also logged five touch-and-go's in a tailwheel Cessna 170 at night within 90 days. Can you act as PIC (Pilot In Command) on an IFR flight, carrying passengers, in the Cessna 170 (for which you're qualified) in daytime?
a. Yes. All you need is five tough-and-go's or full stop landings for daytime operations.
b. Yes. But another pilot must make the landing.
c. No. You must log three full-stop landings within 90 days for tailwheel currency.
d. Yes. Provided the flight -- IFR or VFR -- is daytime only.
5. Two instrument-rated private pilots go aloft in a 300-horsepower, retractable-gear, single-engine airplane for some IFR practice in VMC. Both pilots are qualified and current in the airplane. Both passed IPCs (Instrument Proficiency Checks) two weeks earlier. Before donning his Foggles, the left seat pilot says, "Stanley, I'm PIC, and you're the safety pilot. Watch for traffic, and don't touch anything." Stanley nods and replies, "I certainly won't. But, Ollie, my medical certificate expired yesterday." Ollie says, "Don't you worry. I have a current medical, and that's why I'm Pilot-In-Command." Can Stanley be safety pilot while Ollie wears a view-limiting device such as Foggles?
a. Yes. Stanley doesn't need a current medical if Ollie is PIC.
b. Yes. Provided they remain in VMC.
c. No. The safety pilot must have a current medical certificate.
d. Yes, but Stanley cannot log the time.
6. Same crew as #5 above, but the airplane is equipped with a single throw-over control yoke (controlling elevators and ailerons). Common in Bonanzas, one yoke can be swung to either pilot, but both pilots cannot manipulate the controls simultaneously. Ollie, who's under the hood and PIC, has the yoke. Stanley, who's not a flight instructor, is yokeless in the right seat. He does have rudder pedals and can reach the throttle. Assuming he's qualified in all other ways (he passed his medical exam), this is a legitimate safety pilot operation.
a. True.
b. False.
7. A private pilot with single engine land ratings owns a Piper J-5 Cub (tailwheel). She's current and qualified in the Cub but has never flown a tricycle-gear airplane. She requests a BFR at the local FBO, which only has a tricycle-gear Cessna 150. The instructor says that he's not tailwheel qualified so cannot give the BFR in the Cub and adds that a BFR in the 150 won't allow the Cub owner to fly her Cub. Is the instructor correct?
a. Yes. A flight review must be in the same category, class, and gear configuration (fixed, retract, tailwheel) for which the pilot is rated.
b. Half right. A BFR counts provided it's in an aircraft for which that pilot is rated and given by an authorized instructor.
c. No. The BFR can be done in the Cub provided the instructor is not PIC.
d. Half right. She can complete the BFR in the Cessna 150 but must later demonstrate landing proficiency in a tailwheel airplane to a qualified tailwheel instructor.
8. A private pilot last had a flight review 25 months ago and since then has had no other training or checkrides. He has however, logged five full-stop landings within the past 90 days in make and model and holds a current medical certificate. He can fly one-way to an airport within 50 nautical miles to receive a BFR provided the flight is conducted VFR, between sunrise and sunset, outside controlled airspace, and no passengers are carried.
a. True
b. False
9. Oil is discovered beneath your Arkansas emu farm, so you sell out, and with cash in hand, you load up the Cessna Caravan and move to Beverly -- Hills that is. California. Swimming pools and permanent change of address. Despite your newfound wealth, you'll lose all pilot privileges if you don't notify the FAA of the address change -- in writing -- within how many days of the change?
a. 120.
b. 90.
c. 60.
d. 30.
10. You're instrument-rated and current. You completed a BFR two weeks ago just one day after passing your second-class medical exam. Your wallet is full of certificates, and your logbook is so up-to-date that you almost hope to get ramp-checked. And you do. After landing from an IFR flight that concluded with an VOR approach in IMC, a FSDO inspector politely asks to see your VOR log. Opening it, you spot the latest entry -- signed by your airplane partner -- stating that the two VORs were checked (airborne) against each other 31 days prior, and the bearing error between the two receivers (same antenna) was one stinkin' degree. You're legal, so the FSDO inspector smiles and says, "Have a nice day."
a. True
b. False