After doing a mock checkride examination (flight proficiency demonstration) with another instructor last weekend (phase 1) and doing very well on it, I went ahead with my written examination last night. This is a computerized test administered under video surveillance and has its questions downloaded for each student from a large bank of questions at some distant headquarters. It was 62 questions long and you get two and a half hours to complete it. Here are some examples.
If the empty weight of a plane is 1800lbs, you have 380 lbs of people and 30 gallons fuel with the listed arms for each, how far aft of datum is the aircraft’s center of gravity, and is it within specifications?
You are flying from airport A to airport B on the attached sectional chart, which is 45 nautical miles at a 224 degree heading. Winds aloft at 3000ft are 030 at 22 knots and the true airspeed of your plane is 95 knots. Measure the distance and calculate how long it will take, assuming 2 minutes for climb-out.
You are flying to an airport with runways 8 and 26 with calm winds. The airport facility directory for this airport states that when the winds are calm, a left traffic pattern to runway 8 is the standard approach. There are no other aircraft in the area and a thunderstorm is 6 miles to the west of the airport in the mature stage, with light rain beginning at the airport. Which runway would you choose?
When an unstable air mass is forced upward, what types of clouds and meteorological activity can you expect?
If the gross weight of your aircraft is 2800lbs, the airport elevation is 10,000 feet, temperature is 15C, and altimeter is 29.81, calculate the landing distance required.
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After two hours of that I’d had enough. I went back over all my answers and double-checked the ones I wasn’t sure about, and finished it up. I went downstairs to hear my fate.
I saw the indicator on the screen that said I’d passed, which was the relief part, but then on the printout it showed my score: 92%. That was the elation part. I guess taking all those practice tests really paid off. Whew!