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Brainteasers
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Nov. 2, 2006

Brainteasers
Interactive Quiz #113:
Get Instrument Rated

It seems as though every pilot is either instrument-rated or working on an IFR ticket. Whatever your status, let's review the Part 61 requirements to legally cross swords with an ILS in the clag.

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 previous Brainteaser Quiz (#112) we prepped for the Commercial checkride, only to discover after cake-walking through chandelles and lazy-8s so lazy the examiner fell asleep, the Commercial certificate without an instrument rating is as useful as a parachute in a submarine. So, let's get IFR rated by rating your aeronautical airplane experience. According to FAR 61.65(d), in order to apply for an instrument rating you must have logged at least (_____) hours of cross-country flight time as pilot in command (PIC).
a. 20
b. 30
c. 40
d. 50
2. Any checkride involves demonstrating proficiency in numerous areas of operation as well as no small amount of obsequious attempts to curry favor with the examiner. One sure way to impress a DPE (other than the box of glazed doughnuts placed strategically on the FBO counter) is to have your logbook and FAA Form 8710 completed correctly. Before the practical exam, the private pilot or commercial candidate for an instrument rating must have logged a total of (_____) hours of actual or simulated instrument time on the areas of operation of FAR 61.65. Think airplane.
a. 10
b. 20
c. 30
d. 40
3. Of the total required logged instrument time (FAR 61, see the previous question), at least (_____) hours of instrument flight training must be from an authorized instructor in the aircraft category for which the instrument rating is sought.
a. 15
b. 25
c. 40
d. 50
4. According to FAR 61.65 the instrument candidate must have logged at least 3 hours of instrument training from an authorized instructor in preparation for the practical test within the 60 days preceding the date of the test. The airplane instrument candidate must also have flown and logged an IFR dual cross-country (in actual clag or under the hood) that consists of a distance of at least (_____) nautical miles along airways or ATC-directed routing, plus (_____)different kinds of approaches with the use of navigation systems. A visual approach can't be one of those approaches.
a. 150, 5
b. 250, 3
c. 300, 3
d. 200, 3
5. OK, the helicopter folks feel left out ... again. Sorry. For an instrument helicopter rating, you must fly/log at least one IFR cross-country flight in a helicopter. In this case, the total distance (required by FAR 61.65) must be at least (_____) nautical miles.
a. 30
b. 50
c. 100
d. 175
6. Instrument flight is easy. After all, you just follow the needles and don't go below MDA, right? Duck soup. It's the oral exam prior to the flight that taxes the brain, especially when you have to decipher IFR terms and acronyms. CFIT is a stinker. Too many fatal GA accidents are caused by CFIT. As much as you should avoid it, you still should be able to define CFIT. So, please, define CFIT.
a. Certificated Flight Instructor Training
b. Controlled Flight Into Terrain
c. Center Flight-Following IFR Tower
d. Careless Flight Instrument Termination
7. Using the Practical Test Standards (PTS) for the instrument checkride, the candidate must demonstrate at least two non-precision and one precision instrument approaches. Frankly, all of your flying is precise, so this doesn't mean you can fly two sloppy localizers and one smooth VOR approach. Instead, non-precision and precision have ... well ... precise meanings. Of the following, identify the precision approaches: VOR, NDB, GPS-A, LOC, LDA, SDF, ILS, GLS, MLS, PBS.
a. LDA, SDF, ILS
b. VOR, NDB, LOC
c. ILS, GLS, or MLS
d. GLS, MLS, PBS.
8. Upon entering the instrument world you'll learn all sorts of new and often bizarre terms such as "SID," "WAAS" and "GPO." SID is the name of the guy who invented the $100-hamburger, "WAAS!" is the wailing sound air traffic controllers emit when the frequency gets clogged by a stuck microphone just as they're about to vector a Lear onto the localizer. OK, SID really means Standard Instrument Departure, and WAAS is Wide Area Augmentation System. What does GPO mean?
a. Ground Position Offset
b. Global Positioning Operation
c. Government Printing Office
d. Global Positioning Offset (a.k.a., RAIM)
9. At the end of an exacting instrument checkride, you slide down the glideslope needle to DA. The examiner -- humbled by your panache -- says, "Take off the hood, land this puppy and allow me to be the first to congratulate you." You flew the ILS on an IFR ATC clearance through the clouds and were cleared to land by the control tower. The airport is in Class C airspace. To close your IFR flight plan, you should:
a. Do nothing.
b. Call AFSS.
c. Ask the tower to close it.
d. Call the approach control frequency to cancel.
e. Post a cancellation on MySpace.com.
10. With a temporary instrument ticket in your empty wallet you file IFR back home and launch into the clouds. An hour later -- still upright and on course -- you tune in the ATIS and learn that the weather is "... better than five thousand and five," meaning the ceiling is above 5000 feet and the visibility greater than 5 miles. The approach controller vectors you for a "visual approach" to Runway 25 and asks you to report it in sight at "one o'clock, one-five miles." You pop beneath the clouds, see the pavement and report it in sight. "Archer Six Four Five, cleared visual approach Runway 25, contact Tower 118.3." You are not for hire and you are:
a. Now VFR and may descend.
b. Still IFR and must follow the localizer to the runway but descend at your discretion.
c. Still IFR until you descend below MDA.
d. VFR once you read back the visual approach clearance.
e. Still IFR and may descend at your discretion.
11. Bonus Question. When speaking on a CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency), the phraseology, "Traffic in the area, please advise," is a recognized (by the FAA and/or AIM) self-announce or intention phrase.
a. True
b. False