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Wednesday 3rd December 2008
Brainteasers
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Sep. 4, 2008

Brainteasers
Interactive Quiz #137:
Twilight Zones

Submitted for your consideration: VFR and IFR procedures with one foot in the 1950s and the other in your 21st-century cockpit. Despite satnav bliss, the National Airspace System (NAS) clings to archaic items that you should know.

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. Cruising along IFR, 5000 feet above the ethanol plains of Northwest Iowa, all seems well. The glass panel shows exactly where you are, what's ahead and what's below as you slip into a solid cloud deck that reaches almost to the surface. No sweat, until the Center controller seems to go mad and reroutes you off your GPS direct route and onto a clunky, old, Victor airway that hasn't been resurfaced since the Ford Administration. You accept it, and reconfigure the GPS. But ATC isn't through with this time-warp reroute: "Radar service terminated," the controller says, with barely disguised glee. You've read about these IFR non-radar areas in IFR magazine and know you must make position reports over compulsory reporting points, which are easily identified on the IFR en route chart by what symbol?
a. Circle
b. Open triangle
c. Solid triangle
d. Lightning bolt
2. You're still on an IFR flight plan and still in a non-radar area, talking to Center. The controller needs to know when you're over a compulsory reporting point and expects the report in a certain format. Which report sequence is best (as per the AIM)?
a. Call sign, time, position, altitude, ETA and name of next reporting point, the name only of the next succeeding reporting point along the route of flight, and remarks
b. Call sign, position, time, altitude, ETE and name of next reporting point, the name only of the next succeeding reporting point along the route of flight, and remarks
c. Call sign, position, time, altitude, ETS (military only) and name of next reporting point, the name and ETA of the next succeeding reporting point along the route of flight, and remarks
d. Call sign, position, time, altitude, ETA and name of next reporting point, the name only of the next succeeding reporting point along the route of flight, and remarks
3. The term Airport Advisory Area isn't so common as it was a few decades ago, but it still appears on FAA written knowledge exams and in the Pilot/Controller Glossary. What is the definition of an Airport Advisory Area?
a. The area within 10 miles of an airport without a control tower or where the tower is not in operation, and on which a Flight Service Station (FSS) is located
b. The area within five miles of an airport with a control tower or where the tower is not in operation, or on which an FSS is located
c. The area within three miles of an airport without a control tower or where the tower is not in operation, and on which a UNICOM is located
d. The area within three miles of an airport without a control tower or where the tower is not in operation, and in which a CTAF is published
4. NDBs and VORs may be going the way of Hummers and free airline pretzels, but the ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) can still be used to find an NDB (Non-Directional Beacon) or AM radio station. Many VORs have an audio feature called HIWAS, which means:
a. High (altitude) Inroute Weather Advisory Service
b. Hazardous Inflight Weather Approach Service
c. Hazardous Inflight Weather Advisory Service
d. High (altitude) Inflight Weather Advisory System
5. An FSS has many ways to disseminate weather. One airborne method is through EFAS, which means En Route Flight Advisory Service (Yeah, that should be ERFAS, but the R is understood and ERFAS is even tougher to say than EFAS). On the radio, the pilot calls EFAS by the name (_____) on frequency (_____) MHz (VHF below 18,000 feet MSL). (Fill in the blanks with the best answers.)
a. Flight Watch, 122.0
b. Flight Watch, 122.2
c. Fright Watch, 122.0
d. Flight Service, 122.3
6. A Terminal Radar Service Area (TRSA) is a vexing bit of airspace surrounding some Class D airports where ATC radar service is provided. A TRSA is depicted on sectional charts by solid black lines. VFR pilots are required to participate in TRSA radar service within this airspace.
a. True
b. False
7. You're inbound VFR in a Cessna 210 to an airport located inside Class D airspace. The control tower is in operation. It's after sunset, and you've been told to "Make straight-in Runway 23, report crossing the river," which is a mile from the runway. As you cross the river, someone locks up the frequency with a stuck mic. Time to panic? Heck no. You see a steady red light from the control tower. What does steady red mean?
a. Stop
b. Cleared to land
c. Exercise extreme caution
d. Give way to other aircraft and continue circling
8. An under-utilized, and yet amazingly useful, phrase pilots can say to ATC is "Wilco." Wilco means, "I have received your message, understand it, and (_____)."
a. Will call
b. Will complain
c. Will comply
d. Will comprehend
9. In really bad flying movies (or in one really good one -- Airplane), you'll hear the goofy phraseology, "Roger Wilco." Real pilots should never say "Roger Wilco." Nor should they ever say, "Traffic in the area, please advise," but that's another issue (AIM 4-1-9). The term "Roger" has been around since pilots first added radios to the go/no-go decision making process. "Roger" means:
a. Affirmative
b. Affirmative and will comply
c. I have received all of your last transmission
d. I have received all of your last transmission and will comply
10. Time to navigate back to the 21st century, where GPS reigns, but you may find an old timer still contently flying behind a LORAN. What does the LORAN acronym mean?
a. Long-Ranger Navigation
b. Low-Range Navigation
c. Lorne Greene Navigation
d. Long-Range Navigation