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Brainteasers
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Oct. 5, 2006

Brainteasers
Interactive Quiz #112:
Take a Commercial Break

The transition from Private to Commercial pilot begins when you give yourself an "F." Subpart F of FAR Part 61 clears you to fly for hire. So get your Lazy-8 off the couch and ace 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. In the United States an applicant for a Commercial Pilot Certificate is expected to have, like, you know, um, a, like, passing acquaintance with the, um, like, English language. The applicant for an airplane, single-engine rating must also be (_____) years old and -- under FAR 61.129 (Aeronautical Experience) -- have logged at least (disregard simulator time) (_____) hours of flight time as a pilot. (Please fill in the blanks.)
a. 17, 250
b. 18, 200
c. 18, 250
d. 21, 300
e. 23, 250
2. Once you've passed your commercial checkride -- and, dare we say, wowed the examiner -- as a commercial pilot you'll stand taller and see the world with clearer vision. FAR 61.133 grants the commercial pilot certain privileges not afforded mere mortals. The commercial pilot may carry passengers or property for compensation or hire. Of course, the FAR lists the inevitable "limitations." Chief among the limits is the need for an instrument rating. Without an instrument ticket, the newly minted commercial pilot (airplane) may not carry passengers for hire on cross-country flights in excess of (_____) miles or (_____).
a. 75, in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)
b. 50, in controlled airspace
c. 100, at or above FL180
d. 50, at night
3. Can't wait to build the time needed for a commercial pilot certificate in an airplane? Well, think balloons! Fun to say and fun to float across the landscape on autumn evenings, the commercial pilot applicant for lighter-than-air category and a balloon class rating must (according to 61.129) log at least how many hours as a pilot?
a. 25
b. 35
c. 125
d. 250
4. Let's get serious and go for the commercial ticket in a single-engine airplane and fly at the outside edges of your pilot skills. Steep turns are an excellent confidence-building maneuver, with the airplane banked between 45 and 60 degrees. As you enter the turn, you should increase bank angle and simultaneously -- and instinctively -- coordinate rudder. Because of the increased (_____) factor, you should add back pressure to the yoke or stick to increase the angle of (_____).
a. Load, attack
b. Load, incidence
c. P (P-factor or torque), repose
d. Stress, resistance
5. Long-winded setup here, so take a deep breath and visualize this carefully: steep spirals. For a while, the FAA removed this commercial maneuver from the CFI syllabus and PTS, but like a cousin just bailed out of county jail, it's back! And a good thing, too, because the steep spiral is a great way to combine the wind correction of the oh-so-familiar turns-around-a-point and the planning savvy of an emergency descent over a field, road, runway or orphanage playground. In short, steep spirals are a fun way to lose altitude while spiraling down to a dead-stick, spot-on landing. So, with all that wind-in-the-wires hyphenated glory blowing through your head, when you perform a steep spiral you're constantly gliding while changing heading and bank angle to compensate for wind -- wind which may change with altitude. To maintain a constant radius around your point you should be steepening your bank angle on upwind headings and shallowing bank angle on downwind headings.
a. True
b. False
6. Steep spirals are a three-dimensional, dynamic wonder, so no part of your pilot being is ever idle. You're always planning, adjusting, judging wind, scanning for traffic, thinking about how great it'll be someday when you're a CFI putting someone else through this, and you may be constantly adjusting pitch. Reflect upon your answer to the previous question. In general, in order to maintain constant airspeed throughout this spiraling glide, the steeper the bank angle, the lower the pitch attitude must be. And as bank angle shallows, the pitch angle must be increased.
a. True
b. False
7. English may be the official language of aviation, but the French-influenced "Chandelle" is one of the prettiest words and maneuvers in aviation. It combines grace, coordination and power while instilling in the pilot the ability to beat a hasty retreat from a nasty situation by performing a maximum-performance, climbing turn that results in a 180-degree reversal from the original heading. At the completion of the 180-degree turn the aircraft should be at what airspeed? (Choose best answer and visualize having just completed the turn.)
a. Maximum structural cruise airspeed
b. Maximum maneuvering airspeed
c. Minimum controllable airspeed
d. Minimum lift/drag coefficient airspeed
8. Stay with the Chandelle. The highest pitch attitude should be achieved by what point in the turn?
a. 30 degrees
b. 60 degrees
c. 90 degrees
d. 135 degrees
e. 180 degrees
9. As the airplane passes through about 160 degrees of turn in completing a Chandelle to the left, most American-made, single-engine airplanes will show a tendency to:
a. Yaw to the left
b. Yaw to the right
c. Roll to the left
d. Roll to the right
10. Lazy-8s may look lazy when viewed from above, but to the beginner pilot mastering the ability to carefully paint two perfectly sculpted 180-degree climbing and descending turns on the sky's canvas, the mind is anything but at rest. Bank, heading and pitch are in constant, controlled flux. It's pure aerial ballet ... without the tights. Maximum pitch-up attitude is achieved at what point in the Lazy-8?
a. 45 degrees
b. 90 degrees
c. 135 degrees
d. 180 degrees