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Brainteasers
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November 4, 2004

Brainteasers
Interactive Quiz #87:
Who Ya Gonna Call?

If anything can go wrong it will, and if not in flight at least on this quiz. See how you'd handle this string of stressful equipment failures without blowing your cool.

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. Modern aircraft avionics work with stunning reliability, some operating flawlessly well past the warranty expiration date. Still, radios can and do fail in flight for any number of reasons, causing air traffic controllers to label that aircraft No Radio. What is the official FAA abbreviation for No Radio?
a. NORAD
b. NORREC
c. NORDO
d. NOCOM
e. NINCOMPOOP
2. You've just outfitted your Mooney with an all-glass panel at a cost that could put a serious dent in the national debt, and as you depart IFR from Mooseliver Muni, Minn., one clear winter's evening (VMC -- visual meteorological conditions), everything seems in order when suddenly all your radios are dead. Silence from ATC confirms this: You are No Radio IFR. Staring at the twinkling lights below, you should change your transponder squawk to:
a. 7500
b. 7600
c. 7700
d. 7800
3. Same IFR flight as above, except let's give you a Cirrus SR22 with all the options. Your only problem is with your radios; both communications radios are dead and your handheld radio and cell phone are both safely locked in a suitcase well out of reach, something that right about now you're regretting having done. However, your IFR GPS works fine, as do your IFR VOR/ILS receivers. It's just those cheap, after-market comms you bought on eBay that quit. ATC cleared you IFR to Casper, Wy., via airways, which you are now on at 6,000 feet MSL, your assigned IFR altitude. Fuel is no issue; it's cheap and plentiful ... OK, plentiful. According to FAR 91.185 and the ATC handbook (FAA Order 7110.65), the Center controllers -- upon learning that your are No Radio -- will expect you to (choose the best answer):
a. Hit the silk because you're in a Cirrus.
b. Land VFR (VMC).
c. Continue via the route assigned in the last ATC clearance received and remain at 6,000 feet MSL.
d. Continue via the route assigned in the last ATC clearance received but climb to your filed altitude or MIA, whichever is higher.
4. With all the NOTAMs issued every day it's easy to miss one (issued under FAR 91.141) stating that the President of the United States (POTUS) is vacationing at the nuclear power plant three miles from your local airport. So, there you are, one pleasant afternoon, sightseeing VFR in your Comanche 250 with your radio turned off because you're listening to a Guy Lombardo CD, when two hungry fighters pull alongside you, and the lead fighter rocks its wings from a position slightly above and ahead of you. You wave and think, "Nice slow-flight demonstration, but that means something ... lucky I aced this question on Brainteaser." So, just what does that fighter expect you to do?
a. Go away and stay away.
b. Land immediately.
c. Follow the fighter.
d. Dogfight the fighter.
5. While monitoring an ATC frequency you hear two pilots call with varying degrees of problems. One pilot is in distress: Her engine is sputtering, oil is leaking over the windshield, and she can't hold altitude. Overall, you're thankful not to be her. The second aircraft's pilot transmits a sense of urgency: He's running low on fuel, can't find the airport, and regrets drinking all that free coffee at the last fuel stop. The pilot in distress has priority (FAR 91.113) and should begin a call for help with "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday," while the pilot with lesser urgent troubles should begin his call with:
a. "Mayday Lite, Mayday Lite, Mayday Lite."
b. "Urgent, Urgent, Urgent."
c. "Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan, Pan-Pan."
d. "Can-Can, Can-Can, Can-Can."
e. "Breaker, Breaker, Breaker."
6. On that same ATC frequency you hear a third pilot report that his vacuum pump has failed. He's on an IFR flight plan, inside the clouds, in a Cessna 172. You, on the other hand, are VFR in the clear and thankful that you have a backup vacuum. If, however, you were in the Cessna 172 (IFR in the clouds without a backup vacuum), would you declare an emergency and what of the following instruments would fail? (Choose the most complete answer.)
a. Yes. Attitude Indicator (a.k.a. Artificial Horizon).
b. Yes. Directional Gyro (a.k.a. Heading Indicator).
c. Yes. Attitude Indicator and VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator).
d. All of the above.
e. Both a and b.
7. If your vacuum pump should fail in flight, you can request "no-gyro vectors" from a radar controller. (Should it fail on the ground, stay there if you're planning any IFR flying.) When the radar controller vectors you toward the final approach course or toward known clear weather, you may hear the instruction, "Make all turns standard rate." What is a standard rate turn?
a. A turn with the ball centered.
b. A turn at three degrees per second.
c. A turn at 15 degrees of bank.
d. A turn at three degrees per nautical mile.
8. While cruising at 3,000 feet MSL on a cool (5 ºC), humid day you throttle your Cessna 150's 100-hp, non-fuel-injected engine back to a low power setting to save gas. (At today's prices, that seems smart and you can't be in too much of a hurry since you're flying a C-150.) You notice the RPMs drop, so you advance the throttle. The RPMs continue to drop. You may have:
a. Carburetor ice, so add carb heat to the next fuel load.
b. Carburetor ice, so add carb heat if RPMs drop below 2000.
c. Carburetor ice, so add carb heat now.
d. Carburetor ice, so switch fuel tanks.
9. Remember that ATC frequency mentioned a few questions back, the one with all the disasters happening? While it reads like a 1977 movie script starring George Kennedy, let's add one more panicky pilot who doesn't know the official phraseology for labeling the situation. The pilot is picking up structural ice, is low on fuel, has an erratic vacuum indication, and refuses to declare an emergency. Due to legal constraints from the controllers' handbook (7110.65), only the PIC can declare an emergency. ATC cannot initiate the request for priority handling.
a. True
b. False
10. Your analog ELT broadcasts on 121.5 MHz, which makes it possible for you to test it by tuning your handheld radio to 121.5 and pressing the test button on the ELT. "Cool," your passengers say. "Stop that," the tower controller in the nearby ATC facility that monitors 121.5/243 MHz thinks. To keep ELT tests from annoying everyone and masking real distress signals, when should analog ELTs (121.5/243 MHz) be tested, assuming no prior coordination with the authorities?
a. Only during the 5 minutes before any hour.
b. Only during the first 5 minutes after any hour.
c. Only during the first 15 minutes after any hour.
d. Only during the 15 minutes before any hour.