Sample checkride oral exam questions

Practice prompts from FAA-S-ACS-6C, FAA-S-ACS-8C, FAA-S-ACS-7B, and FAA-S-ACS-25. The line under the question is the section to open. The evaluator samples and includes knowledge-test misses. Answer out loud, then check the book in RegBrief.

Preflight preparation

What has to be true before you act as pilot in command on a VFR day flight with a friend? 14 CFR 61.3, 61.23, and 61.56. The flight review, with the exceptions in 61.56, has to fall since the beginning of the 24th calendar month before the month of the flight. The airplane side is 91.203 and 91.7.

Your passenger wants to split the cost. What can you each pay? 14 CFR 61.113(c): not less than the pro rata share, and only fuel, oil, airport expenditures, or rental fees. Paragraph (a) bars passengers or property for hire, and bars acting as pilot in command for hire, except as 61.113 allows.

It is 90 minutes after sunset. You landed twice last week at noon. Can your friend ride along? 14 CFR 61.57(b): at least three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop, at night, within the preceding 90 days, during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise, as sole manipulator. Day landings do not count. Day passengers are 61.57(a).

How much fuel do you need for a VFR airplane trip? 14 CFR 91.151: to the first point of intended landing, then 30 minutes by day or 45 minutes at night, at normal cruise, considering wind and forecast weather. 14 CFR 91.103 is why the wind was part of the math.

Airspace and the airport

You are VFR, inbound to a Class B primary airport. What do you need before you enter? AIM 3-2-3 and 14 CFR 91.131: an ATC clearance, and a two-way radio unless ATC authorizes otherwise. AIM 3-2-3 states VFR cloud clearance as clear of clouds. The visibility table is 14 CFR 91.155.

The radio dies while you taxi at a towered airport. What are you looking for? AIM 4-3-13. The tower uses a light gun. Acknowledge in daylight by moving the ailerons or rudder, and at night by blinking the landing light or the navigation lights.

How do you pick a VFR cruise altitude? AIM 3-1-5. The table uses magnetic course (ground track), more than 3,000 feet above the surface and below 18,000 feet MSL: odd thousands plus 500 on a course of 0 through 179, even thousands plus 500 on 180 through 359. FAA-S-ACS-6C also wants terrain, obstacles, and wind in that choice.

Instrument rating

Do you have to file an alternate? 14 CFR 91.169(b): no, for an airplane, when the destination has an approach and the weather from one hour before to one hour after ETA is at least 2,000 feet and 3 miles. If no alternate minimums are published, 91.169(c) uses 600 feet and 2 miles for precision, 800 feet and 2 miles for nonprecision.

How much fuel does that IFR flight need? 14 CFR 91.167: to the destination, then to the alternate, then 45 minutes at normal cruise. The alternate leg drops only under 91.167(b), the same 1-2-3 condition. Destination plus 45 minutes remains.

You lose the radios in IMC. What route and altitude do you fly? 14 CFR 91.185 and AIM 6-4-1. Route, in order: assigned, direct out of a vector, expected, then filed. Altitude is the highest of assigned, the minimum for that segment, and expected. In VFR, land as soon as practicable. AIM 6-4-1 says that is not as soon as possible. AIM 6-4-2: code 7600.

You are at decision altitude. What lets you continue? 14 CFR 91.175(c): normal descent, published flight visibility, and one listed visual reference. Approach lights alone stop you at 100 feet above the touchdown zone elevation unless the red terminating bars or red side row bars are also visible. Otherwise fly the missed approach, 91.175(e).

Are you instrument current? 14 CFR 61.57(c): in the 6 calendar months before the month of the flight, six approaches, holding, and intercepting and tracking. Actual or simulated in the airplane, or a qualified training device that represents the category, including a mix.

ATC clears you to hold at a fix that is not on the chart. What did you copy? AIM 5-3-8: direction from the fix, the fix, the radial or course, leg length in miles if DME or RNAV is used, left turns if nonstandard, and an expect-further-clearance time. Standard turns are to the right.

Commercial pilot

Someone offers to pay you to fly them to a wedding. You just passed the commercial ride. 14 CFR 61.133(a) allows carriage for hire only when you also meet the parts that govern that operation. 14 CFR 119.1(e) lists what does not need a part 119 certificate. A point-to-point passenger trip for hire is not on that list.

You will cruise at 13,000 feet for an hour. Who needs oxygen? 14 CFR 91.211(a). Crew oxygen for more than 30 minutes above 12,500 through 14,000 feet cabin altitude, the whole time above 14,000, and each occupant above 15,000. FAA-S-ACS-7B Area VIII.

What medical do you need to exercise commercial privileges in an airplane? 14 CFR 61.23(a)(2). At least a second-class medical, other than the balloon and glider cases that paragraph spells out.

Flight instructor

An initial CFI applicant asks which fundamentals tasks they cannot skip. FAA-S-ACS-25 Area I. The evaluator must select Task E, Task F, and at least one other fundamentals task. The handbook those tasks cite is the Aviation Instructor's Handbook, FAA-H-8083-9B.

Which Area II tasks should you be ready to teach on an initial airplane CFI ride? FAA-S-ACS-25 requires Task C, Task K, and at least one other task. Multiengine applicants also get Task P. Prepare two endorsements using AC 61-65K. Solo and cross-country rules are 14 CFR 61.87 and 61.93. The flight review is 61.56.

How many hours of flight training can you give today? 14 CFR 61.195(a): not more than 8 hours in any 24 consecutive hours.

Do you have to spin the airplane on the CFI practical test? 14 CFR 61.183(i) requires the spin-training endorsement and a demonstration of instructional proficiency. An examiner may accept the endorsement, except on a retest for a failure of those instructional items. That retest is in an airplane certificated for spins.

Say them into the app

Pick that exam in Checkride.bot and answer by voice. One task is free to try, Task A on most exams: a full voice session and a debrief, no account and no payment. The debrief cites what to read next. Clearance readback is what WilcoAI practices.

Checkride.bot is a self-study practice tool, not an FAA-approved training program.