Interactive Quiz #73:
IFR Charts And Procedures For All Pilots

Rumor has it that some pilots fly inside clouds. Yikes! How can they see the interstate highways? VFR pilots should have at least a passing acquaintance with IFR procedures if only to know where IFR traffic might appear. All instrument-rated flyers could use the occasional brush-up on instrument terms and procedures.

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.

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1. What is a procedure turn (PT)?
a. Course reversal on instruments to avoid weather en route.
b. The correct way to navigate from one airway to the next.
c. Course reversal to establish the aircraft inbound on an intermediate or final approach course.
d. The initial turn after the missed approach.
e. Midlife crisis when a pilot quits a dull daytime job to hang around the airport and drink coffee.

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2. All instrument approach procedures (IAP) are confined to controlled airspace (Class A, B, C, D, or E).
a. True
b. False

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3. For VFR pilots: Nearing Chicago from the east the word MAPER appears on your VFR sectional. What is it? (See illustration below.)
a. Airway intersection
b. Minimum Altitude Prohibited En route Radar
c. Mandatory reporting point for VFR traffic over water
d. Missed Approach Procedure En route Phase

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4. ATC (Air Traffic Control) separates all IFR traffic from all VFR traffic within radar contact inside controlled airspace.
a. True.
b. False.

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5. Refer to the IAP (Instrument Approach Procedure) profile view for Watsonville, Calif. (see illustration below). Imagine that you're VFR in the pattern on a hazy morning when you should be at work. You're monitoring CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency) 122.8, and you hear a Cherokee pilot call, "... NALLS inbound on the Localizer Runway Two approach." That aircraft should be:
a. On the localizer at NALLS intersection, and tracking 195 degrees.
b. On the localizer, at NALLS intersection, and tracking 015 degrees.
c. On the localizer at NALLS intersection, and tracking 240 degrees.
d. On the localizer at NALLS intersection, and tracking 060 degrees.

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6. Same airport as the above question. There is no control tower at Watsonville, Calif. (except during the annual Memorial Day Fly-in), and ATC has cleared the IFR Cherokee flight like this: "Cherokee Eight Seven One, cleared Localizer Runway Two approach ... change to advisory frequency approved." The Cherokee is on an IFR clearance and so must land on runway 2. Pick the better answer.
a. True
b. False

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7. Not every pilot is on the west coast (although it seems like that at times), but every airport that has a published Instrument Approach Procedure (IAP) has been surveyed for a DP. What is a DP as it relates to an airport's instrument status?
a. Direct Planned. Free Flight Phase II. You can file a flight plan direct to this DP airport using GPS. No airways required.
b. Destination Profile. Using this DP, the IFR pilot expects a published standard profile arrival route to the active runways. Each DP will be individually named by for a runway or landmark. For example, "TORO Five Destination Profile," or "Salinas Runway 31 Destination Profile."
c. Descent Profile. This DP is used for high-altitude jet penetration. For example, the Big Sur Four Descent Profile into San Francisco begins at Big Sur VORTAC at flight level 180 (FL180).
d. Departure Procedure. This DP specifies route and altitudes, including any crossing restrictions, needed to depart an airport IFR when using the published Departure Procedure.

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8. If an airport has a published DP, the instrument pilot must file and fly that DP when using that airport.
a. True.
b. False.

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9. Decode this symbol (see illustration below):
a. Fly-by waypoint
b. Fly-over waypoint
c. Missed approach waypoint
d. Crop circle

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10. You're VFR in the pattern at Ailerona Airpark, S.D., when you hear a pilot report on the ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach. An ILS approach (when all components are operable) is considered a precision approach because (choose most complete answer):
a. It contains a glidepath giving it vertical guidance.
b. The localizer width is either 6 or 12 degrees.
c. The localizer width is 3 or 6 degrees.
d. It has REILs (Runway End Identifier Lights) and an outer marker (OM).
e. Only really good pilots get to fly it.

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