Let's take a look now at Figure 12 in the FAA Figure Pages and talk about our surface aviation weather reports,
which is our hourly observations of weather at the various airports.
And let's take a look.
They give us some identifiers.
We've got five different reports here.
You do not have to know the names of the stations based on the three-letter identifiers
because they'll refer to the three-letter identifiers when they ask you the test questions.
So let's take a look at the information that they give us starting with the weather report for WINK INK.
The SA means that this is the hourly sequence report, the hourly weather observation.
If it says RS after the identifier, that means it is a record special.
In other words, the weather has changed quite a bit enough to make a special report.
But the R for record special means that it happened to occur right about the time they would take the normal hourly report,
taken every hour just before the beginning of the hour.
And you can tell that by the times that they show.
After WINK, they show, for instance, that this observation was taken at 1854.
One of them taken at 1852, 1856, and these times are all in Zulu time.
Now, after the times, you have a group of information that gives you the sky conditions and the visibility.
At INK, the first one, the weather observed is clear, CLR for clear, and the visibility is 15 miles.
Now, on the next one down, they're giving us 15,000 feet scattered for our observed weather.
You add two zeros to whatever number you see in front of the cloud abbreviation.
15,000 feet scattered, the visibility is 30 miles.
In the middle report, you have 700 feet scattered, 25,000 feet scattered, visibility is 6 miles.
The S stands for fog and the K stands for smoke.
The next to the bottom one, the dash X means we have a partial obscuration, maybe fog or something like that.
We'll find out.
The M is for a measured ceiling, 700 feet overcast.
Whenever they have observed a ceiling, they put a letter there to tell you how they determined it.
Did they measure it? Did they estimate it? Was it reported by a pilot?
How did they determine the ceiling? In this case, they measured the ceiling.
So you can also in an hourly weather observation recognize the ceiling because it's the cloud layer that has the letter in front of it.
Measure it 700 feet overcast.
The visibility is one and one half miles due to R plus, which is heavy rain, and F, which is fog.
Now, do not make the mistake of saying that that visibility is 11 variable to 2.
It's not, even though it might look that way on a quick glance.
It is one and one half miles visibility.
And in the bottom weather observation, the W means we have an indefinite ceiling.
You can't really measure it.
It's not a clear indefinite clear cut cloud layer, but you can see looking up into it 500 feet ceiling,
indefinite 500 feet obscured visibility, one half mile due to fog.
Pretty typical to have an indefinite ceiling when you've got fog because it's not a clear cut cloud layer.
The question is how far up into the fog can you see?
And in this case, you can only see up about 500 feet.
Now, the F.A. will ask you things like at M.D.W., what are the current weather conditions?
And M.D.W. is the next to the last one of our weather observations.
At M.D.W., we had a dash X for partial obscuration, measured ceiling, 700 feet overcast visibility,
one and one half miles with heavy rain and fog.
Now, another thing the F.A. is going to do on these weather observations is they're going to ask you out of all five of these stations,
which stations are reporting VFR weather conditions.
Now, to be VFR, you need to have at least a 1,000 foot ceiling or no ceiling at all and at least three miles visibility.
Maybe the weather will be good VFR, maybe it'll be marginal, but that's what you need,
at least a thousand foot ceiling and three miles visibility to have it be VFR.
So what we need to do is take a look at the sky conditions and the visibility for those stations.
Wink is clear in 15, Boise BOI is 15,000 scattered and 30 miles.
Los Angeles is 700 scattered, 25,000 scattered and six miles with fog and haze.
It's got a scattered layer at 700 feet, but is a scattered layer a ceiling?
No, it's not. So there is no ceiling at Los Angeles or Boise or at Wink.
We've got really good weather there as far as having good VFR weather.
MDW and JFK both have IFR weather.
We've got a measured 700 foot overcast ceiling at MDW and an indefinite ceiling, 500 obscured at JFK.
So only INK, BOI and LAX have VFR weather conditions.
Let's take a look at that JFK report and read the rest of it and see what we can learn from at the bottom one there.
We got the sky conditions and the visibility after the F for fog restriction to visibility.
We've got a 180 and that is the sea level pressure in millibars.
We don't have to worry about it. So you can ignore it.
Next, we've got the temperature and the dew point.
The temperature is 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
The dew point is 64 degrees Fahrenheit.
The four digit grouping in the hourly weather observation is the wind information.
The first two digits are the direction the wind is from and it's relative to true north.
And the last two digits are the wind velocity in knots.
So you take the first two digits and add a zero to get the complete wind direction.
The one eight means that the wind is from 180 degrees relative to true north.
And the zero four means that the velocity is four knots.
So the wind direction and velocity at JFK are from 180 degrees true at a velocity of four knots.
After the wind information, you've got the altimeter setting.
The three digits there are for the altimeter setting.
The zero zero six is for an altimeter setting of three zero point zero six.
And as far as the altimeter settings are concerned, they're normally going to range between roughly 29 inches of mercury
and roughly 31 inches of mercury.
So you put either a two or a three in front of the three digits in order to keep it within that range.
And in this case, you would put a three in front of it, three zero point zero six inches of mercury for the altimeter setting.
Let's take a look at the report for INK Wink and let's check out what the wind is at INK.
That's our top weather observation.
Come across to the four digit grouping, normally a four digit grouping, a little bit more here for our wind information.
The first two digits are the wind direction.
It is from what direction?
One hundred and ten degrees true at a velocity of 12 knots.
But we've got a little something extra going on here.
The wind is gusty at INK.
So the G in there tells us that the peak gusts on the wind are 18 knots.
The wind at INK is from one hundred and ten degrees true at 12 knots with peak gusts up to 18 knots.
Take a look at the M.D.W. report and let's take a look at the remarks at the very end.
The M.D.W. is the next to the last and look at the remarks after the altimeter setting.
It says RF2 and RB12.
The R stands for rain.
The F stands for fog.
And what it means is that rain and fog are obscuring two tenths of the sky.
When they have an obscuration, they tell you what part of the sky is covered.
And in this case, it's two tenths of the sky.
In the last part of the remarks, the R again stands for rain.
The B stands for began.
And what they're telling you is what time the rain began at M.D.W.
It began at 12 minutes after the previous hour.
They can't tell you about the future.
That hasn't happened yet.
So it has to be 12 minutes past the previous hour.
But the problem is they're going to ask you, OK, in terms of Zulu time, exactly when was that?
So what we have to do is check back to the left again
and verify what time this weather observation was taken.
The weather observation was taken at 1856.
Basically, it's a 1900 Zulu weather observation.
The rain started at 12 minutes after the previous hour.
So what time did the rain start?
The rain started at 1812 Zulu.
Whenever rain starts or stops during the hour when a weather observation has been taken,
they will let you know when it started or stopped because that can be useful information as far
as knowing what's going on at that airport.
Now, that's the actual weather observation.
But take a look at Figure 15.
Figure 15 is terminal forecast.
And what terminal forecasts are is the forecast conditions for a specific airport
and the area right around it.
And if they have a terminal forecast for your destination airport, that's the best place to go
to find out what the weather's supposed to be when you get there.
But not all airports have terminal forecast, and we'll talk about that later on.
Let's take a look at the forecast for OKC, which is Oklahoma City.
And we'll read that and see what kind of forecast they've got.
FT stands for terminal forecast.
A little bit backwards, but not too unlike the FAA.
Then they give us the effective time of the forecast.
It's valid on the first day of the month from 1500 Zulu to 1500 Zulu on the next day of the month.
It is a 24-hour forecast, and included in the 24 hours is a 6-hour outlook at the end of it.
OK, after the effective time, which is 1500 Zulu, they're forecasting a ceiling,
C for ceiling, of 1200 feet broken.
Add two zeros to the numbers you see there.
Now, they can't put an M in front of it for measured or an E for estimated
because the ceiling hasn't happened yet.
But they do put a C there to tell you that this is the forecast ceiling.
OK, reading on across, we've got another layer of clouds at 14,000 feet broken,
and then we've got the wind forecast.
The wind is from 180 degrees, true direction, at a velocity of 15 knots, but it's gusty.
So they're forecasting peak gusts up to 28 knots.
Taking a look from there on, it says that the lower broken layer will be variable to scattered.
So that broken layer may break up to a scattered layer,
and in which case it wouldn't be a ceiling anymore.
Now, we've got a period then, which means that that's the end of that information,
and we're going to start another time frame.
Whenever you see a new time, put the word by in front of it
because that's the way they interpret these times as far as reading the forecasts are concerned.
By 1800 Zulu, the weather should have changed to the following weather.
Now forecasting a ceiling of 3,000 feet broken, another layer of clouds at 25,000 feet broken,
and let's go back to the beginning of the second line.
The wind will be from 230 degrees, true, at 15 knots with peak gusts to 25 knots,
and again that lower broken layer will occasionally be scattered.
However, we have a chance of a ceiling 700 feet, sky obscured, visibility one-half mile
in thunderstorms and heavy rain showers, T for thunderstorms, Rw plus for heavy rain showers
with peak gusts to 40 knots.
That doesn't sound like that's too hot a weather, but it's only a chance.
And then we've got a period and we've got a new weather time that begins.
So by 2100 Zulu, the weather should have changed again.
Now one of the first questions the FA will ask you is what kind of conditions are forecast
from 1800 Zulu to 2100 Zulu, and that's the section that we just read.
Is it going to be VFR, marginal VFR, or IFR?
Well IFR is when you have a ceiling of less than 1000 feet and or visibilities
of less than three miles.
And if you take a look back on this second line, sure enough we've got a chance
of a ceiling 700 feet, sky obscured.
So with a 700 foot cloud layer or sky obscured, you would have IFR conditions
as a possibility as a chance in the forecast.
Now what's the difference between VFR and marginal VFR?
VFR is a ceiling of between 1000 and 3000 feet and or visibilities between three and five miles.
So if we're going to have a ceiling of better than 3000 feet and visibilities of better
than five miles, that would be VFR.
1000 to 3000 feet, visibilities of three to five miles, that would be marginal VFR.
And let's see what they're talking about on that.
When you look in the first line right after the 1800 Zulu, it says they're going
to have a ceiling of 3000 feet broken.
That would make the weather marginal VFR.
1000 to and including 3000 foot ceiling constitutes marginal VFR.
So we know that they're also forecasting marginal VFR.
But are they forecasting VFR conditions also?
Yes, they are and here's why.
In the second line, towards the beginning of the second line,
it says that the lower broken layer will occasionally be scattered.
If that 3000 foot broken layer goes to scattered, do you have a ceiling anymore?
No, you do not.
And now you have VFR weather conditions as opposed to marginal VFR.
So when they ask you the kind of conditions forecast between 1800 Z and 2100 Z,
they're forecasting all three groups.
They're forecasting marginal VFR, VFR and IFR weather conditions.
Okay, let's continue looking at our forecast and the 2100 time section.
So on the second line by 2100 Zulu, we should have CFP.
Now CFP stands for cold front passage.
It should pass through by 2100 Zulu.
There is a very tricky question on the test regarding this.
They have a wrong answer that says the cold front will pass between 1800 and 2100 Zulu.
That is not the correct answer.
The correct answer is the cold front will pass by 2100 Zulu
because that is the exact literal way that they express it in the aviation weather services.
That's the exact terminology they use.
And so that's the exact terminology the FAA is looking for.
By 2100, you'll have cold front passage.
What are we going to have after that?
The weather is then forecast to be 10,000 feet scattered with a ceiling of 25,000 feet broken.
And let's go back to the beginning of the third line, see what else is going to happen.
Well, it's going to be fairly windy.
The wind will be from 330 degrees true at a velocity of 15 knots with peak gusts of 25 knots.
But we'll have a chance of ceiling 3,000 feet broken, visibility 5 miles in thunderstorms,
T for thunderstorms and RW dash light rain showers.
Five miles visibility, thunderstorms and light rain showers.
And a period and that ends that timeframe.
After 02 Zulu by 02 Zulu, the weather is forecast to be 10,000 feet scattered, 25,000 feet scattered.
The wind still from 350 degrees at 15 knots with peak gusts to 25 knots.
And then there's a period and at the end at that point by 09 Zulu,
they're giving us just the categorical outlook.
24 hours in the future, they don't really know exactly what the weather is going to be.
They've got a pretty good idea, but they're not going to, they're not exact.
And so what they do is instead of telling you exact ceilings and visibilities and winds,
what they do is tell you by category whether it's going to be VFR, marginal VFR or IFR weather.
And they tell you whether you're expected to have wind or to not have wind.
After by 09 Zulu, they're expecting VFR weather conditions, meaning ceiling of better than 3,000 feet
and visibilities of better than five miles and they're expecting that it's going to be wind.
And wind means that the winds will be 25 knots or more, 25 knots or more.
Now let's take a look at the terminal forecast for Tulsa, T-U-L.
When you take a look at the terminal forecast for Tulsa, we want to look just at the wind information
because they're going to ask you when is the wind forecast to shift, by what time.
Okay, the beginning time on this is 1500 Zulu.
By 1500 Zulu or after 1500 Zulu, looking only at the wind information,
they're saying that the wind will be from 190 degrees true direction at a velocity of 15 knots
with peak gusts of 22.
Okay, that's the beginning wind.
When is it going to shift?
We read along, there's a period by 1900 Zulu, the wind is forecast to be
from 180 degrees true direction at 15 knots, peak gust to 25 knots.
Not really any significant change from 180 degrees to 190 degrees.
That really isn't very much different.
So let's keep looking and see if we get some kind of big change.
Period and then it says by 2300 Zulu, CFP and CFP stands for what?
Cold front passage.
That should be a good indication to you right there that that's likely
to be when the wind is going to shift by because the wind will normally change pretty dramatically
when you have a front go through.
To find out the wind after the front goes through, we need to take a look back
on the second line over at the beginning of it.
And looking at the wind, it says the wind will be from 320 degrees true direction
at 15 knots, peak gust to 25.
That is a big change in the wind.
It started out at 190, 180 degrees and here it is all the way around to 320.
So the wind will shift by what time?
By 2300 Zulu.
Take a look now at the outlook period for the TUL forecast.
The outlook beginning at 09 Zulu.
And the FA will ask you what is the outlook for TUL?
Well, it says it will be VFR weather conditions, VFR ceiling and visibility.
And it says wind.
And the wind means that the wind will be at least how much?
25 knots or more.
And do they tell us the direction?
No, they do not.
All we know with the word wind there is that the wind will be 25 knots or more,
but they do not forecast the direction.
Take a look now at the terminal forecast for MLC.
MLC and on the MLC forecast, all we want to take a look at is the outlook period
at the very end of that terminal forecast.
And in the outlook period, the FAA will ask us what is the forecast weather
in the outlook period?
Okay, we're forecasting marginal VFR weather conditions, ceiling and visibilities.
And ceilings, if they're marginal VFR, are going to be a ceiling of 1000 to 3000 feet.
That makes it marginal VFR or visibilities of 3 to 5 miles.
In the answer to the question, what they want to see is ceilings of 1000 to 3000 feet
because it says it's going to be marginal VFR due to ceilings.
CIG is an abbreviation for ceilings.
It's not the visibilities that are going to make it marginal VFR.
It's the ceilings that are going to make it marginal VFR.
And it's going to be marginal VFR with those ceilings due to TRW,
which stands for thunderstorms and rain showers.
So the outlook for MLC is ceilings of 1000 to 3000 feet with thunderstorms and rain showers.
Take a look now at PNC.
And at PNC, next to the bottom there, again, we want to look just
at the outlook period during the 6-hour categorical outlook.
What is the wind condition forecast to be?
Well, in the outlook period, it says we're going to have VFR, ceilings and visibilities, and wind.
And the actual word wind in the outlook period means a velocity of how much?
25 knots or stronger.
Take a look now at HBR, the terminal forecast for HBR.
And at HBR, the FAA will ask you at 1600 Zulu what wind conditions are forecast.
So what we're going to have to do is read through it until we find the time frame
that includes the time that they ask us about 1600 Zulu.
Okay, the beginning time of that forecast is 1500 Zulu, goes for 24 hours,
and ends at 1500 Zulu on the following day.
Looking only at the wind conditions there, let's come on across,
and let's actually find our next time because that's what we need to find.
Okay, here's a period, and the next time is 1700 Zulu.
So by 1700 Zulu, the weather is going to have changed.
Between 1500 Zulu when this begins and 1700 Zulu is going
to include the time the FAA ask about of 1600 Zulu.
So the wind will be the first wind information, the first wind forecast that we see.
The wind will be from what direction?
300 degrees true at a velocity of how many knots?
A velocity of 10 knots.
At 1600 Zulu, it'll be from 300 degrees at a velocity of 10 knots.
Take a look now at the terminal forecast for GAG, Gage, Oklahoma.
And the FAA will ask you what is the ceiling forecast to be between 1600 Zulu and 0100 Zulu.
So the first thing we need to do is find the time they ask about first, 1600 Zulu.
And moving across to the right on that first line about halfway over is 1600 Zulu.
By 1600 Zulu, they're forecasting a scattered layer of clouds at 6,000 feet.
Is a scattered layer a ceiling?
No, it's not.
So we don't worry about that layer.
That one's not relevant because they want to know about the ceiling.
But aha, here we have a letter C standing for ceiling.
They're forecasting the ceiling to be 10,000 broken.
You add two zeros there.
Okay, so we've got a forecast ceiling of 10,000 broken.
But what else are we going to get between there and 0100?
Let's take a look at it.
Coming on across, we have a chance of a ceiling of 5,000 feet broken.
So we've got a 10,000 foot broken ceiling with a chance of 5,000 broken.
Let's see what else we might run across.
So go back to the left and down to the next line.
And there's our period in the 01 Zulu.
So there's no other ceiling information.
Between the times of 1600 and 0100 Zulu, they're forecasting a ceiling
of first 10,000 feet broken and a chance of 5,000 feet broken.
Take a look now at figure 17, which is a chart giving us winds
and temperatures aloft forecast.
This is a forecast chart.
Now one of the things they're going to ask you about is not shown
on this particular winds aloft chart, although you will see it
from time to time in real life.
And that is how do they show it if the winds are light and variable
at a particular station, either actual or forecast to be.
And what they do is they put a code in there and the code that they use is 9900.
A code of 9900 means that the winds either are or are forecast
to be light and variable.
The only trick is you need to know for the test that light
and variable means the wind is less than 5 knots.
So if you see 9900, it means the wind is light
and variable meaning less than 5 knots of wind.
Let's take a look at our table again and let's take a look
at the winds aloft forecast for MKC.
MKC on the left-hand side is our identifier, second from the bottom.
Now they give us altitudes going across the top of this table.
And the first column here is for an altitude of 3,000 feet.
3,000, 6,000 and so on going up.
If they ask you what the winds and temperatures aloft are forecast to be
at MKC at 3,000 feet, you simply look in the first column.
Now the first two digits are the wind direction.
The next two digits are the wind velocity.
And in most cases, you will also have after that two digits with a plus
or minus sign that has the temperature.
But temperatures are not given when you are very close to the ground
as this 3,000 foot forecast is for MKC.
So the temperature is missing at MKC.
The wind direction is 050 degrees and the wind velocity is 7 knots
and the temperature is not given.
And that direction again is relative to true north.
All of the winds for weather purposes are relative to true north.
Wind aloft forecast, area forecast, surface weather observations,
unless you get it off of the ATIS specifically for takeoff or landing,
your winds for weather purposes are given to you for relative to true north.
Only the ATIS winds, the winds specifically for takeoff and landing are given
to you relative to magnetic north.
So our wind direction is 050 degrees true, our wind velocity is 7 knots
and the temperature is missing at MKC.
Take a look now at STL which is St. Louis, the bottom one.
And let's take a look at the wind forecast for St. Louis at 18,000 feet.
So coming across to the right, find the column for 18,000 feet
and it's the bottom entry in that column.
The wind direction is from what direction?
230 degrees, true or magnetic?
True direction at a velocity of how many knots?
56 knots.
And what's the temperature there?
It's minus 16 degrees and those temperatures are in degrees Celsius.
Your temperatures aloft are given to you in degrees Celsius.
So the temperature is minus 16 degrees C. Now take a look at Denver, DEN is Denver
and Denver is the third one from the top and the FA will ask you what the winds
and temperature aloft are at 30,000 feet.
So come across to the right to the column for 30,000 feet.
At 30,000 feet, the third entry down, first two digits are the wind direction,
middle two are the wind velocity and the last two are the temperature.
But what happened to our minus sign?
They do not bother to include the minus sign because temperatures are always going
to be negative up at that kind of altitude and they save a little space
on the transmission by leaving it out.
How do you know that?
You look at the note just above there in the information about the chart
and there's a note that says temperatures are negative above 24,000 feet.
Temperature is negative above 24,000 so put your own minus sign in.
Okay, back at Denver, what's our wind direction and velocity and our temperature?
The wind direction is from 230 degrees true.
The wind velocity is 53 knots and the temperature is minus 47C, minus 47C.
Put your own minus number in.
Now sometimes you have winds of over 100 knots
and that gives us a little bit of a problem
because the FA has only allowed two spaces in here for the wind velocity.
So if you get a wind of 100 knots or more, it presents them with a problem
and what they do is they kind of play around with the way they encode the wind
in order to tell you that it's more than 100 knots.
What they do is they add a 50 to the first two digits representing the wind direction
and they subtract 100 knots from the wind velocity and the net effect
of that is how they encode it.
So if the wind is more than 100 knots, what you do is you add 50 to the two digits
for the wind direction and you subtract 100 from the wind velocity
and that's how you put it into the table.
And if you will have the wind in the table and you want to find
out what it really is, you just go backwards from that.
So let's do that.
Let's take a look at 34,000 feet at St. Louis and that's going
to be the bottom entry in the 34,000 foot column.
34,000 feet St. Louis and they give us the wind as 730649 and the question is,
what is the wind direction and velocity forecast to be?
And you look at that and you say, 7,3, how in the world do we get a wind direction like that?
There is no such wind direction as that and that's your clue
that the wind velocity is stronger than it appears to be.
It shows as 06 which looks like 6 knots, that wouldn't be very much wind
for 34,000 feet anyway but it's actually 106 knots instead.
So here's what you do in order to decode that.
You take what they show on the table, 730649 and you break it apart
into the different components, wind direction, wind velocity and the temperature.
Temperature is easy.
It's 49 degrees and all you have to do is to remember to put your own minus sign in front
of it for a minus 49 degrees C for the temperature there.
Okay, the wind direction, they show you a 7,3.
No such wind direction is 730 degrees.
So what you do is subtract a 50 from it and that gives you 2,3 and the 2,3 stands
for wind direction of 230 degrees true.
Because you had to subtract a 50 from the wind direction in order
to get the correct direction, that tells you that you're going to have
to add a 100 to the apparent wind velocity in order to get the actual wind velocity.
So the 6 that's shown plus the 100 gives you a wind velocity of 106 knots,
230 degrees true at 106 knots and a temperature of minus 49 degrees C. Take a look now
at figure 16 and figure 16 is an area forecast.
Now what is an area forecast?
It gives you general weather information,
general forecast weather conditions over several states.
In other words, over a fairly big area.
So the area forecast is used to best determine general forecast weather
over an area of several states and it gives you things like freezing levels,
areas of probable icing, areas of turbulence and thunderstorms that are forecast.
Now if your destination has a terminal forecast, that's the best way to find
out about what the weather is going to be when you get there.
But what if it does not have a terminal forecast?
If your destination has no terminal forecast, then you want to use the area forecast here
as your primary source of information for your destination weather
at your estimated time of arrival.
Not as good as a terminal but it's the best you've got to go on.
Now there's a number of different sections in the area forecast.
Beginning at the very top, we've got a hazard section
and the hazard section will tell you what kind of flight precautions you've got.
Weather hazards that meet what they call the in-flight advisory criteria.
And it also tells you about thunderstorms that are forecast
to be scattered or more in coverage.
So the hazards flight precautions section is really about the first place to take a look
and see what's going on.
And when you take a look it says flight precautions,
it says you've got flight precautions for turbulence in Tennessee,
Alabama and the coastal waters.
And they're going to ask us some of that.
Now that doesn't give you much detail on the turbulence but it does at least tell you
to watch out for it and you can look at it in more detail in a minute which we're going to.
There are icing flight precautions in Tennessee and flight precautions for IFR in Texas.
So here in the hazards and flight precautions section you get a real quick look
at what's going on as far as problems.
Now as you go down this chart, let's see what else we've got on here.
We've got a synopsis.
Now the synopsis is simply the big picture that tells you what's happening with low
and high pressure areas, fronts and so on, kind of a big overview of what's going on in the weather.
Below that will be a paragraph on icing and the freezing level and it will tell you
where the freezing level is going to be and whether you've got any potential icing problems.
Below that is the paragraph on turbulence and that's what the FAA is going to ask you some about.
So let's see what it says about turbulence.
Forecasting turbulence in Tennessee, Alabama and the coastal waters.
That's the general geographic area that this section covers.
But now they're going to get a little bit more specific from
and now they start naming three-letter identifiers from SLK to FLO to 90 south of MOB to MEI
to BUF to SLK and back to the beginning on the next line,
they're forecasting occasional moderate, MDT for moderate turbulence
and the altitudes they're forecasting at are from 25,000 to 38,000 feet.
You add two zeros just like you do with cloud heights and the reason
that they're expecting turbulence there is due to the jet stream.
So the FAA wants you to know that in Tennessee, Alabama and the coastal waters,
they're forecasting moderate turbulence from 25 to 38,000 feet due to the jet stream.
Take a look now at the next paragraph which is the significant clouds and weather.
We want to talk for a minute about the times and notice
that the beginning time here is the fourth day of the month at 1040 Zulu.
This is going to be valid, this forecast will be valid from 1040 Zulu until the time they tell us.
So let's take a look at the time they tell us.
Coming across to the right, significant clouds
and weather forecast will be valid until 2300 Zulu and then there will be an outlook period,
a general by category casting of the weather from 2300 Zulu on to 0500 Zulu.
Now what the significant clouds and weather does is it gives you a summary of cloudiness
and weather that is significant to your flight operations and they break it down by states
or other relatively large geographical areas.
So let's take a look at what they're forecasting for us.
Beginning with Texas, they're forecasting IFR conditions for parts of Texas and we know
that already from the flight precautions section up at the top.
But where exactly in Texas, because that's a pretty big state, they tell us the detail here.
From SAT to FSX to BRO to MOV to SAT in that area they're forecasting visibilities below,
below three miles in fog until 1500 Zulu.
So that's the area that they expect to be IFR.
Now what about the rest of the area?
Well, in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama and the coastal waters here's what they're forecasting in that area.
Clouds at 8000 feet scattered to clear except visibilities below three miles in fog
until 1500 Zulu over portions of south central Texas which is the area
of Texas that they just gave us the detail on.
The outlook for that area is going to be VFR and then they give us some different weather
for Tennessee which we'll look at in a second.
Suppose they said to you on the test what are the sky conditions and the obstructions division
that are forecast between 1040 Zulu and 2300 Zulu for all of this area except Tennessee.
What they're asking you for is the forecast, the detail of it
because that's during the normal valid time not the outlook because the outlook is
for after 2300 Zulu and they want to know about everything except Tennessee.
Well, every place except Tennessee they're talking about clouds
at 8000 feet scattered variable to clear except that we've got that visibility below three miles
in fog over south central Texas so that's the weather that they're looking for.
Now, how about Tennessee?
Let's take a look at what's happening down in Tennessee.
Tennessee is forecasting ceilings.
CIG stands for ceilings and by the way when they give you altitudes, cloud bases or tops
in the area forecast they will always be above sea level unless they specifically call them a
ceiling like they did right here or unless they tell you specifically
that it is above ground level.
When you're talking about a four or five state area they can't really give you the height
of the clouds above the ground very easily because the ground elevation changes so much
so what they will do is give you the height of the clouds bases or tops above sea level unless they
use the abbreviation CIG for ceiling or specifically say AGL for above ground level.
Here they said ceilings so the ceilings are expected to be three to 5000 feet above the ground
and those are expected to be broken clouds and they're expected to have tops of 10,000 feet.
Now we know that that's the tops because it comes after the abbreviation BKN for the cloud layer.
Bases three to 5000, tops about 10,000.
Visibilities will occasionally be three to five miles in fog becoming clouds above ground level
four to five thousand feet scattered.
Now they can't call it a ceiling anymore because is a scattered layer a ceiling?
No it's not but they are telling you that it's above ground level four
to five thousand feet above ground level scattered clouds to clear so it'll be scattered to clear
by 1900 Zulu and the outlook for the Tennessee area is for VFR weather conditions,
VFR ceilings and visibility.
So the FAA may say to you on the test in the outlook period and the outlook period is
from 2300 Zulu through 0500 Zulu if it says that it's going to be VFR what weather conditions are
you going to have and VFR as opposed to marginal VFR means that you've got a ceiling of greater
than 3000 feet and visibility of more than five miles.
Ceiling of greater than 3000 feet, visibility of more than five miles.
Although on the test it stated just a little bit not quite right, pretty close
but they say 3000 feet or greater and visibility five miles or greater
and it's really more than 3000 and more than five miles but it's close enough to get the right answer.
Now the FAA may ask you what obstructions division if any are forecast from 2300 Zulu
to 0500 Zulu for the entire area?
Well the period from 2300 Zulu to 0500 Zulu our time frame told us is the outlook period.
So when we look just at the outlook periods here is the outlook it's VFR for most of the area
and for Tennessee which is the only other area they talk about it is also VFR.
So are there any significant restrictions to visibility?
No there are not because VFR is forecast for that entire area in the outlook period.
Take a look now at figure 18.
Figure 18 is a weather depiction chart.
The weather depiction chart is an actual chart and the purpose of it is
to determine general weather conditions at a glance to base your flight planning on
because what the weather depiction chart does is in a chart very quickly show you areas
that are VFR, areas that are marginal VFR and areas that are IFR where the observations were made.
And we're going to talk about them but you do have a legend available
in the lower right hand corner of the chart.
Any place where there's no lines around it like most of the western part of the country
that is an area of VFR weather conditions.
If you have an area that has lines around it but no shading inside that's an area
of observed marginal VFR weather conditions and if you have the lines and the shading,
the cross hatching inside it that's an area of observed IFR weather conditions and remember IFR
is when you have a ceiling of less than a thousand feet and or visibilities of less than three miles.
So the FAA may ask you take a look at central Arkansas.
You're going to take a flight and you're going to start in central Arkansas and you're going
to go down to southeast Alabama and they want to know what kind
of weather you're going to have on that flight.
Well let's take a look at the station circles, those little round circles on the flight.
Now if the station circle is solidly filled in like it is up in the north eastern corner
of Arkansas that means that you have overcast clouds.
If it's three quarters of the way shaded in you've got broken clouds and if it's one quarter
of the way shaded in like it is in Mississippi there that means that you've got scattered clouds.
The height of the clouds, the height of the cloud bases is underneath the station circle
and you add two zeros to it just like you would on an hourly weather observation.
So the clouds in central Arkansas are broken clouds at 25,000 feet.
In Mississippi that circle is only one quarter shaded in so those are scattered clouds.
We've got some more broken clouds in eastern Mississippi but when you get
into Alabama they go to scattered again.
So what you have on that route of flight is broken to scattered clouds
and they're all at 25,000 feet.
Let's take a look now in eastern Texas.
In eastern Texas we've got an area of IFR weather.
That solid line has slashes through it which means that it is observed IFR weather
and what they'll ask you is why is the weather IFR in eastern Texas?
Well this is the station symbol they're looking for.
The X inside it means that the sky is obscured.
Now ceiling heights go underneath there but visibilities go out to the left
and the visibility here is two miles visibility which is IFR visibility less than three
and the two little lines like an equal sign to the right of the two stand for fog.
So it is IFR in that area because the visibilities are low
and the visibilities are low due to fog not to rain or anything like that but due to fog
and we know it because of those two horizontal lines to the right of the two.
Now let's take a look at the front that goes across country from New Mexico to Indiana.
Great big long front starts in New Mexico and goes up into Indiana
and the FAA will ask you which way is that front moving?
Well when you come in and take a good close look at that front and you look
at the frontal symbols you find something interesting.
What you find is you've got two kinds of frontal symbols on opposite sides.
Here's our nice warm sunny looking half suns pointing to the north and northwest.
Here's our cold dangling icicles pointing down towards the south and the southeast
and they're pulling against each other and when they pull against each other
like that is the front going to go anywhere?
No it's not these are the symbols for a stationary front.
The front from New Mexico to Indiana is stationary.
Take a look now in southeast New Mexico.
In southeast New Mexico we have an area surrounded by a circle surrounded by a line
but it is not shaded in that means that it is marginal VFR.
Marginal VFR is a ceiling of a thousand to three thousand feet,
visibilities of three to five miles and the FAA will ask you why the weather is
marginal in that area.
Well we have overcast skies because the station circle is solidly filled in.
The height of the clouds you add two zeros to the number you see there
under the station circle is six thousand feet.
Does a six thousand foot ceiling make it marginal VFR?
No it does not.
It's much better than marginal VFR.
So let's check out the visibility.
The visibility out here is four miles and we do have some thunder showers there
but what they're asking for is do you recognize that it is the low visibility
and not the ceilings that are making this area marginal VFR.
Four miles is within three to five that does make it marginal VFR.
It's marginal due to low visibilities in southeast New Mexico.
Take a look now on the coast between Oregon and California out on the west coast.
We've got some IFR conditions there.
Again we have a line with a cross hatching in it to designate IFR.
Up in the Oregon area the IFR weather the ceilings are underneath the height
of the clouds is underneath the station circles.
We've got 300 foot clouds in overcast skies in the Oregon coast area.
Visibility out to the left is five miles and the two little comma things
after the five stand for drizzle.
In the Oregon area it's IFR but is it IFR due to the ceilings
or due to the visibilities?
Which one? Due to the ceilings.
A 300 foot ceiling is definitely IFR
but five miles visibility is marginal VFR visibility not IFR.
So it is IFR but because of the ceilings and not because of rain,
not because of heavy rain we just have a little bit of drizzle there.
Down in California the sky is obscured.
We have one mile visibility and we have some fog there.
That's what those horizontal lines stand for
and the ceilings are given underneath the station circle.
It's kind of hard to read but it's a 200 foot ceiling there.
So the reason that area is IFR for the whole area has to do with the ceilings.
The IFR conditions are caused by low ceilings not by heavy rain.
Take a look now at figure 20.
Figure 20 is a forecast chart, a set of four charts actually,
the low level prognostic charts.
And what these charts do, the significant weather
and prognostic charts is tell you where you've got areas of IFR
and marginal VFR weather, turbulence, freezing levels and so on.
And you the pilot use them in part to determine areas to avoid, freezing levels,
which would be a problem if you were in the clouds, turbulence and things like that.
The two left hand charts are 12 hour forecasts.
The two right hand charts are 24 hour forecasts.
The top charts talk about where the areas are of IFR and marginal VFR weather,
turbulence and freezing levels.
The bottom two charts show you where the fronts are, low pressure areas,
precipitation and what kind it is, that type of stuff.
And you've got a lot of that information in the legend right between the two top charts.
Notice that what they do is use a solid line for the IFR weather, a scalloped line
for the marginal VFR weather and they tell you what constitutes IFR and marginal VFR,
a dashed line for areas of moderate or greater turbulence and then a different kind
of dashed line, a little heavier one for the freezing level, its height above mean sea level
and a dotted line for the freezing level at the surface.
Okay, let's take a look at the lower left hand chart and let's assume
that the FAA has asked you what is the forecast weather for the Gulf Coast just ahead
of the cold front during the first 12 hours.
Because they ask about the first 12 hours, we take a look over on the left hand side.
We're going to have to look at both charts but we want to look at the bottom left first
because that's the only one that's got the front on it.
We got to find out first of all where the front is located.
So here's our front coming along here.
Now we want to look at the precipitation in front of it.
What we have is an area with kind of a dashed dot line that tells us
that the precipitation inside of there is going to be intermittent precipitation.
The R with the kind of arrow on the end of it stands for thunder showers and the triangle,
upside down triangle with the black dot on top of it stands for rain showers.
So in the area in front of the front, we're going to have intermittent
because of the dashed dot line, thunder showers and rain showers.
Now what about ceilings and visibilities?
Are we going to have IFR or marginal VFR or VFR weather?
Because you could have all of that along with those thunder showers and rain showers.
For that we have to look at the upper left hand chart.
The upper left hand chart in the Gulf Coast area just ahead
of the cold front has an area enclosed by a scalloped line.
That means that we're going to have marginal VFR weather conditions
and marginal VFR is a ceiling of a thousand to three thousand feet
and or visibilities three to five miles.
We don't know for sure which is making it marginal VFR but one or the other is.
So we'll have marginal VFR weather with intermittent thunder showers and rain showers
in front of that cold front for the next 12 hours.
Now the FAA will also ask you about the movement of a low pressure area
in the western states associated with a cold front.
And when you look around on the charts, the only one where you see a low shown
in the western states is this lower left hand 12 hour forecast.
That low is associated with a cold front and the FAA wants
to know which way it's moving and how fast.
Well the indicator for which way the low is moving
and how fast is this arrow coming out in front of it.
It's pointing east so the low pressure area is moving east and the 30 on the head
of it means it's moving east at 30 knots.
Now on the 12 hour charts the FAA will ask you to take a look at southern California
and tell them about turbulence.
So for that you need the upper of those two 12 hour charts, the upper left chart.
And in southern California we've got an area with a dash line around it
which means they are forecasting moderate turbulence or greater in that area.
It's moderate turbulence not severe turbulence.
This little mountain peak symbol is the symbol for moderate turbulence.
If it were severe turbulence there'd be a little V on top of it which it does not have.
As far as the altitude of the turbulence is concerned think of this line under the 180
as being the weather or the weather condition itself.
Any altitude on top of that line is the top of the weather, in this case the top
of the turbulence and it's 18,000 feet.
Add two zeros to it.
Whatever altitude if any is given under the line will be the base of the turbulence.
There's no altitude given under the line so where do you suppose the turbulence starts?
You got it.
It starts at the surface.
So the 12 hour chart is forecasting moderate turbulence from the surface
up to 18,000 feet in southern California.
Take a look now at the upper right hand panel.
That's the 24 hour chart.
The two right hand charts are 24 hour charts
but it's the right hand chart that shows us freezing levels
and the FA will ask you what is the freezing level in northeastern Oklahoma.
So let's take a look at Oklahoma and when we zero in on Oklahoma we look
for northeastern Oklahoma and here's a dashed line representing the freezing level going
through there and all we have to do is follow that dashed line until we get off
to the right hand edge of that chart and there is our freezing level
and that's 8,000 feet above sea level.
Add two zeros to it just like you do to cloud heights.
8,000 feet above sea level, the freezing level in northeastern Oklahoma.
Take a look now at figure 14 and let's talk about pilot reports.
These are the reports that pilots give to flight service or air traffic control
as they're flying in route about the weather that they've actually observed
and they're very valuable to us to let us know what's really happening
between the weather reporting stations.
They're divided into sections with flashes between the sections
and each section has a two letter label to identify the information it's talking about.
So let's take a look at what this pilot report tells us.
First of all you can tell it's a pilot report because it starts with the letters UA.
How does that come out to pilot report?
I don't know.
Maybe it's because the FAA is thinking in terms of unreliable airmen or possibly upper air
but regardless it's a pilot report.
Where was the pilot?
The abbreviation OB stands for over.
The pilot was over a route between OKC, Oklahoma City and TUL which is Tulsa.
TM stands for time.
The time the pilot report was made was 1800 Zulu.
FL stands for flight level or altitude.
The altitude of the aircraft was 12,000 feet.
What type of aircraft was it?
TP is type of aircraft.
It was a BE-90 which is a Beechcraft King Air.
Now as far as the sky conditions are concerned the pilot first of all reported bases of the
clouds at 1800 feet broken and tops of that broken layer at 5500 feet.
Now it's important to know that these bases and tops both of them are given to you above
sea level because that's how a pilot knows his altitude.
You look at your altimeter and your altimeter is telling you your height above sea level
and as you go into the clouds and out of the clouds or beside a layer you look at your
altimeter and say okay the bases are 1800 feet MSL the tops are 5500 feet MSL.
Now suppose the FAA said to you that the terrain elevation in that area is 1295 feet.
What would be they might ask the height above ground level of the base of the ceiling?
Well the base of the ceiling is the base of this broken layer which is 1800 feet MSL but
they want to know how high it is above ground level.
That's simple enough all you have to do is you take the height of the clouds above sea
level subtract the terrain elevation which is 1295 the difference between them will be
how high the clouds are above ground level.
1800 minus 1295 is 505 feet above ground level.
Okay let's see what else we have in the way of weather.
Looks like we're going to have another layer of clouds beginning on the second line.
We've got an overcast layer with bases at 7200 feet MSL and the tops of the overcast
layer at 8900 feet MSL.
Now after that it says it is clear above.
That's nice that's good weather for us.
Okay TA stands for temperature.
The temperature at that altitude which remember was 12,000 feet was minus 9 degrees and that's
degrees Celsius our temperatures aloft or in Celsius.
Now WV stands for wind velocity and direction.
The wind direction is from 090 degrees true direction and the velocity is 21 knots.
So the direction is from 90 degrees at a velocity of 21 knots and a temperature of minus 9 degrees
C.
Now what else does that pilot got to tell us.
Well TB stands for turbulence.
The pilot was reporting some MDT or moderate turbulence and what altitude did the pilot
get the turbulence between between 5500 feet and 7200 feet.
The next section IC stands for icing the pilot encountered some icing and he had light to
moderate icing.
Let's see if he tells us anything about the type or where he got it.
Light to moderate clear icing as opposed to rime icing and he got it between 7200 and
8900 feet.
Very valuable to know exactly what's happening between the weather reporting stations.
Now there are various ways to find out about precipitation particularly about thunderstorms.
One of them is a radar weather report.
A radar weather report like this which by the way you do not have to read on the test
you just have to know the concept and what it tells you is a teletype report that tells
you the location of precipitation along with what type it is.
Is it thunderstorms rain showers snow showers.
What type is it.
The intensity of it and the trend of it particularly important if there's thunderstorms out there
and you want to know how to avoid the thunderstorms.
But it's easier as opposed to reading weather radar weather reports to look at a chart that
gives you similar information.
So take a look at figure 19 which is the radar summary chart and what the radar summary chart
shows us is lines and cells of hazardous thunderstorms.
These are things that are not shown on other weather charts and the way it shows it is
because the weather radar gets an echo return off of precipitation not off the clouds but
off of precipitation and that lets it chart lines and cells of hazardous thunderstorms.
Let's take a look now at area A.
In area A what we want to take a look at is this arrow just to the right of the A. What
that arrow is doing is indicating the direction and speed of movement of this general area
of echo returns.
You've got it pointing to the east so that area is moving to the east.
Now how fast is it moving to the east.
Well a full feather on it represents 10 knots of movement a half a feather represents five
knots of movement.
So this area of echo returns is moving east at 10 plus five or 15 knots.
Now take a look at area D. In area D we've got some movement but this is not a general
area.
This is a specific cell so they show it a little bit differently.
In this area you've got an arrow but without feathers on the tail it's got a number at
the head of it instead.
So this area of precipitation is moving northeast because that's the direction that the arrow
is pointing at a velocity of 20 knots and that's an individual cell going northeast
as opposed to a generalized area.
Now take a look in area D. In area D we want to take a look at the tops of the precipitation
or the echo returns.
Whatever altitude that the radar is showing as the top of the echo return will be on top
of the line and you add two zeros to it so the three zero zero stands for 30,000 feet.
The top of the precipitation in area D is 30,000 feet.
If the radar showed them the basis of the precipitation it would be under the line instead.
Occasionally you see that but not very often.
Now take a look in area C.
In area C down in the Florida area we have an area of rain showers.
RW plus is our rain showers.
The level is the intensity of the precipitation is shown by contour levels.
So the more contour levels the more lines you've got inside an area the more serious
the more intense that area is going to be.
We basically have just one contour line here so it's not particularly heavy precipitation.
Now the trend of the precipitation whether it's getting stronger or getting weaker is
shown by a plus or minus after the precipitation symbol.
So to the left of the C we've got RW for rain showers.
The plus after it means that it is getting stronger.
Not that it is strong right now but that it is getting stronger so area C is experiencing
rain showers that are increasing in intensity.
If there were a minus after the RW it would mean that it was decreasing in intensity.
Now sometimes they have severe weather watch areas.
Areas where they've got very severe thunderstorms or tornadoes occurring or expected.
Take a look at area B.
That is a severe weather watch area.
It's shown on the radar summary chart by a rectangular area surrounded by a dashed line.
This dashed line rectangular area and that's how severe weather watch areas are shown on
the radar summary chart.
Now we've talked about all this wonderful weather information.
How to read it how to understand it but how do you get it in the first place?
Hello San Diego flight service.
Yes sir may I help you?
Well one way obviously is to call the local flight service station telephone for a weather
briefing.
When you do that there's some information you need to tell the briefer so that the briefer
can give you a good weather briefing and here's the information that you need to give the
briefer.
First of all tell the briefer that you're a pilot because other people do call for weather
information farmers and so on validly but it makes a difference in the briefing if the
briefer knows you're a pilot.
Also because they keep track of the briefings to know who's gotten them you need to give
either the aircraft identification or the pilots name.
You need to tell the briefer whether you intend to fly VFR only or whether you're able to
fly IFR.
It makes a difference in what kind of weather is significant to you.
Also tell the briefer your intended route what your destination airport is and the type
of aircraft because all of those are going to affect what kind of weather is significant
for you your aircraft and your particular flight.
Now there's three different kinds of briefings that you could get.
A standard briefing is the kind of briefing that you would request if you want to get
a complete weather briefing for the planned flight.
That assumes that you have gotten no preliminary weather information.
You've not watched the weather channel you've not watched AM weather you've not gotten any
preliminary weather and you need the whole ball of wax.
That's a standard briefing.
On the other hand if you have already gotten some weather information you could ask instead
for an abbreviated briefing.
An abbreviated briefing is what you request to as they say on the test supplement mass
disseminated data or to update a previous weather briefing.
By supplementing mass disseminated data they mean things like the weather channel AM weather
and stuff like that.
You already have a pretty good picture of what the weather is going to be but you need
some specific detail so you ask for an abbreviated briefing or you got a good briefing earlier
and you just need an update on a couple of points.
Now an outlook briefing the third type of briefing is the kind of briefing that you
should ask for if your flight is going to be six or more hours in the future.
If you're calling six or more hours in advance of your departure time they don't have a lot
of detail and they don't want to give you a lot of detail because you need to check as
you get closer but they can give you a general outlook to give you a general idea of what's
likely to happen there.
Now telephones are nice if you're on the ground but what if you're up in the air.
You can get the weather while you are in route.
In route weather advisories below 18,000 feet can be obtained from a flight service station
and the frequency you do it on is 122.0 if you're below 18,000 feet.
They have different frequencies for altitudes above there.
Now the in route flight advisory service or ethos is also called flight watch and the
whole purpose of flight watch is to give you actual weather and thunderstorm information
along your route of flight.
You do not want to file flight plans.
You do not want to get a lot of extraneous stuff just actual weather and thunderstorms
critical to your actual route of flight and the way you get it again is by calling flight
watch on what frequency?
122.0 and the coverage is pretty good all over the country as long as you've got a little
bit of altitude.
This is another way to get weather information.
A transcribed weather broadcast or tweet and what a tweet is is simply a continuous tape
recording of weather information.
A weather briefing for specific routes of flight and that weather briefing includes
the winds aloft and specific route forecast.
So how do you monitor the information on this continuous tape recording?
Well what you do is you tune your VHF receiver to an appropriate VOR frequency or tune your
ADF receiver to an appropriate NDB frequency depending on what type of navigation facility
a tweet transmission is available according to the chart in your particular area.
So let's take a look at a chart and take a look in the FAA figure pages at figure 22
and take a look in area one which is in the upper left area basically the Minot area and
we want to know what frequency you can get a transcribed weather broadcast on in that
area.
Take a look at the identification box for the Minot Vortac and you'll notice in the
lower right hand corner of it a dark blue square.
The legend that you have along with the private pilot test will tell you that that dark blue
square in the lower right hand corner means that you can receive the transcribed weather
broadcast that tape recorded weather information on this particular navigation station frequency.
Now the brand new charts that are just now coming out make it much easier to know when
you can get a tweet because they use the letter T for tweet and they put it in a dark blue
circle and they put it in the corner of that identification box.
But on this chart and according to the legend that you've got in the test book what you're
looking for is this little dark blue square in the lower right hand corner and that's
the way it is on most of the charts right now it will gradually be changed over in the
future.
All righty we know that you can get a tweet broadcast on the Minot Vortac frequency.
What is that frequency?
Well when you take a look over to the left side of the identification box there's the
frequency 117.1.
So in the vicinity of Minot all you have to do is tune your VOR receiver to 117.1 and
you'll be able to hear that tape recorded weather that tweet weather information.
And that wraps up the weather information that you need to know for a fun and safe flight.
Time now to talk about everybody's favorite late night reading material.
The Federal Aviation Regulations.
Now you'll notice as you look at your course notes on the regulations that we've included
the regulation numbers along with the notes.
Don't worry you do not have to know or memorize any of the regulation numbers they're just
in there for your own information.
Now let's talk about the documents that you as a pilot or flight crew member have to have
in your personal possession in the aircraft.
You have to have an appropriate pilot certificate and you also have to have an appropriate medical
certificate anytime you're either acting as pilot in command of the aircraft or as a required
pilot flight crew member.
A pilot certificate and a current medical certificate.
Now there are some people who have the right to ask you to see the pilot certificate or
medical certificate the right to inspect your pilot certificate or medical certificate.
And the people who have the right to ask to inspect them are the administrator meaning
the FAA administrator, the National Transportation Safety Board members or representatives or
any federal state or local law enforcement officer.
These people do have the right to ask to inspect your pilot certificate or medical certificate
and that's one of the reasons you need to make sure that you do have them on your person
when you're acting as pilot in command or as a required flight crew member.
Now as a private pilot you have to have either a first, second or third class medical certificate
and it doesn't make any difference which class of medical certificate you've got as long
as you do have a current one either first, second or third class medical.
Let's talk about the different classes of medical who has to have them and how long
they're good for.
A first class medical certificate is the kind of medical certificate that you have to have
if you're going to act as captain of a scheduled airliner.
The airline transport pilots who are actually acting as captains of scheduled airliners
have to have that first class medical.
Now for those operations it's valid until the end of the sixth calendar month after
it's issued, good for six calendar months after it's issued and what happens to it
then?
Then it downgrades and becomes a second class medical.
Now a second class medical certificate is the type of medical certificate that a commercial
pilot has to have.
Someone who's flying for hire but who's not acting as the captain of a scheduled airliner.
Second class medical certificate for commercial pilots and that is valid until the end of
the twelfth calendar month, end of twelfth calendar month after it's original issuance.
What happens to it then?
Then it downgrades and becomes a third class medical.
Now a third class medical certificate is all that you as a private pilot have to have in
the way of a medical certificate.
It's the lowest class medical with the lowest standards and it's all you have to have and
that's good until the end of the twenty-fourth calendar month after original issuance, good
for basically two years but the FAA always puts it in terms of months in the regulation
to the end of the twenty-fourth calendar month and it's good to the end of the month not
until the same day that the medical was issued.
So you get a few extra days there in most cases it's good until the end of the month
twenty-four months later.
Here are some examples that you'll see on the written exam.
The FAA will say to you that you got a first class medical certificate and it was issued
on October twenty-first of this year.
You don't have to have a first class medical because you're just doing private pilot operations
but you wanted to see if you could pass the medical standard so that's what you took.
How long will it be valid for, for private pilot operations?
Well for private pilot operations every medical certificate is valid for twenty-four calendar
months and that means it will expire on midnight on October thirty-first because it goes to
the last day of the month twenty-four months or two years later.
Regardless of the class of medical for private operations it's good for twenty-four months.
Then they'll come along and say okay this time you got a second class medical certificate,
second class medical what commercial pilots need to have.
You just wanted to see if you could pass the standards.
It was issued on July fifteenth of this year.
When will it expire for private pilot operations?
Well a medical for private pilot operations in a class is valid for how many months?
Twenty-four calendar months and so it's going to expire at midnight on July thirty-first
twenty-four months or two years later.
A common example is you got a third class medical certificate which is all you have
to have as a private pilot.
A third class medical certificate and it was issued on August tenth of this year and the
question is for private pilot operations when will it expire?
Well it's good for how many months?
Twenty-four calendar months and does it expire on the same day of the month or the last day
of the month?
Which one?
The last day of the month it's good until August thirty-first two years or twenty-four
months later.
Your pilot certificate is only valid for the category and class of aircraft in which you've
been rated.
So you need to know what we mean by category, what we mean by class.
Category of aircraft are the big subdivisions under aircraft.
Aircraft is anything that gets up in the air one way or another but it's subdivided into
the category of airplanes, the category of rotorcraft which includes helicopters and
gyro planes, the category of gliders and the category of lighter than air which is balloons,
blimps and things like that.
Four big subdivisions under the aircraft, the four subdivisions according to the overall
characteristics of the aircraft.
But they're further subdivided, categories are further subdivided into classes of aircraft.
For instance under airplanes we've got the class of single engine land, we've got the
class of single engine sea, we've got multi engine land, we've got multi engine sea.
Four classes, four subdivisions under the category of airplanes.
Now those are subdivided a little bit further into types.
Types are subclassifications under class and type refers to the make and model, the exact
make and model.
For instance a Cessna 152, a Cessna 210, a Mooney 201, the actual make and model of
the aircraft.
Now some aircraft such as this DC-3 you have to have a type rating to act as pilot and
command up.
And the reason for that is the regulations say that if the aircraft has a gross weight
of more than 12,500 pounds to act as pilot and command of that aircraft, you actually
have to be typed in that particular aircraft.
You have to be rated in that particular kind of aircraft.
And your license would actually say DC-3 on it.
Whichever aircraft that you take a check right in, well more than 12,500 pounds, gross weight
of more than 12,500, that type of aircraft will actually be put on your license and that's
what allows you to act as pilot and command of it.
For your own personal information, you'll also want to know that you also need a type
rating to act as pilot and command of any turbo jet powered aircraft.
But what they ask about on the test is aircraft that have a gross weight of more than 12,500
pounds and regardless of how they're powered, that weight, you have to have a type rating
in order to be pilot and command of it.
Now if you're going to do acrobatics like this, you want to make sure that the airplane
is built to take it.
Well aircraft have categories as far as the certification is concerned.
Finally the ones that you're going to be dealing with are normal, utility, and acrobatic.
Normal for your everyday normal airplane as it sounds.
Utility for aircraft that can do very, very limited maneuvers and aerobatics.
And acrobatic for fully acrobatic aircraft like this one.
Categories of aircraft determine what kind of stress they have to be built to take, what
kind of instruments and other equipment they have to have.
So the main categories you'll see are normal, utility, acrobatic.
There's also some other categories such as restricted and experimental we're going to
be talking about later on.
Now aircraft also have classes.
As far as certification of aircraft as opposed to pilots, the classes of aircraft are airplanes,
helicopters, gliders, and hot air balloons.
As the class of aircraft as far as the certification of aircraft as opposed to pilots is concerned.
Now just like the pilot has to have certain documents when he flies, the aircraft has
to have certain documents on board.
The documents that you have to have on the aircraft are first of all a valid airworthiness
certificate.
You also have to have a registration certificate and you have to have the operating limitations
of the aircraft.
Let's talk about them one by one.
First of all the airworthiness certificate.
The airworthiness certificate is like the birth certificate for the aircraft.
It comes with the aircraft from the manufacturer and it stays valid as long as the aircraft
is maintained and operated as required by the regulations.
The airworthiness certificate does not have any expiration date on it.
It's good as long as you keep the aircraft properly maintained.
First thing you have to have on board the aircraft is the registration certificate.
The registration certificate shows the owner of the aircraft.
Who is the registered owner of that aircraft?
You also have to have the operating limitations in the aircraft.
The operating limitations tell you about limiting speeds and various other limitations.
Where do you find them?
Well you can find them in the FAA approved flight manual, approved manual material of
one sort or another, and also in markings and placards on the instrument panel itself.
Any combination of those can constitute the operating limitations as far as the aircraft
is concerned.
Now here's an easy way to remember everything that has to be on board the aircraft.
Use the word arrow.
The word arrow will help you remember what you need.
The A stands for the airworthiness certificate.
One of the R stands for the registration certificate.
The second R stands for the radio station license.
The aircraft has to be licensed as a radio transmitting station.
That's actually a Federal Communications Commission FCC requirement, but it is one of the things,
the radio station license that has to be in the aircraft.
The O stands for the operating limitations, and actually part of the operating limitations
is the W which is the weight and balance information.
You need information in the aircraft that enables you to figure out if the weight and
balance are properly within limits.
So arrow, A-R-R-O-W, is what you have to have in the aircraft in terms of aircraft documents
for the aircraft to be legal.
Take a look now at this crop duster which is a restricted category aircraft.
What do we mean by a restricted category?
One that does some kind of work operation like a crop duster or a fire bomber, things
like that.
Restricted category aircraft normally cannot fly over a densely populated area.
They restrict where those aircraft can operate.
Basically, they restrict them to their normal work operation and the areas they have to
be in in order to do that.
So when you're operating a restricted category aircraft, flight over a densely populated
area is normally prohibited.
Now aircraft with experimental certificates are basically home-built.
Home-built, experimental-certificated aircraft cannot be operated along a congested airway
unless they've gotten specific authorization otherwise.
They don't want aircraft with experimental certificates to be operating in congested
areas along a congested airway unless they've specifically gotten authorization to do so.
As a private pilot, you've got some restrictions also.
One of them is suppose that you want to get involved in glider activities.
As a glider tow pilot, a private pilot can tow a glider but has got a restriction.
You can't act as pilot in command of an aircraft towing and glider unless you have a minimum
of 100 hours of pilot flight time in powered aircraft.
Before you're going to start doing things like towing a glider, they want to make sure
that you've got a little bit of experience and that experience, they specify, is a minimum
of 100 hours of flight time as pilot in command.
In addition to that, in the preceding 12 months, you have to have at least three actual or
simulated glider tows while accompanied by a qualified pilot.
If as a private pilot you're going to act as pilot in command of an aircraft towing
a glider, you not only need to have 100 hours pilot flight time in powered aircraft, you
also need three actual or simulated glider tows in the preceding how many months?
12 months while you're accompanied by a pilot who's already qualified to do those tows.
Some additional restrictions regarding high performance airplanes.
Let's assume that you want to fly a high performance airplane.
You have to have gotten flight instruction from an authorized flight instructor in high
performance aircraft and he will endorse your log book to show that he has indeed given
you that flight instruction that entitles you to fly a high performance airplane.
Now what's the definition of a high performance airplane?
There's actually two definitions.
First of all, any airplane that has retractable landing gear, flaps, and a controllable propeller,
if it has all three of those, it's a high performance airplane regardless of how much
horsepower the engine's got.
So definition number one is if the aircraft has retractable landing gear, flaps, and a
controllable propeller.
Definition number two is an airplane with more than 200 horsepower.
Regardless of whether it's got retractable landing gear or not, if the airplane has got
more than 200 horsepower, that also would make it a high performance airplane.
And you have to get flight instruction in each type of high performance airplane.
By each type I mean each definition of.
If you're going to fly an airplane with more than 200 horsepower, you have to have gotten
flight instruction in an airplane with more than 200 horsepower.
If you're going to fly an airplane with retractable landing gear, flaps, and a controllable propeller,
you have to have gotten instruction in an airplane with retractable landing gear, flaps,
and a controllable propeller.
Checking out in one does not have you checked out in the other definition of high performance
aircraft.
So they will say to you on the test, you want to act as pilot in command of an airplane
with more than 200 horsepower.
For instance, this Cessna 195.
They typically came with 300 horsepower engines.
One main configuration on them anyway.
You have to, if you want to act as pilot in command of that aircraft, you have to receive
flight instruction in an airplane that has more than 200 horsepower.
This is a high performance aircraft because of the engine horsepower, even though it does
not have retractable landing gear.
Now the reason you see this one guy reaching in his pocket here and pulling out his wallet
is not because he's paying for the flight, because as a private pilot, you're not a
allowed to charge for the flight.
However, you can share the operating expenses of a flight with your passengers.
A private pilot can share the operating expenses of a flight with the passengers.
Notice the emphasis and the regulation there on share.
They can't pay it all, but you can share the expenses.
And that sure makes a lot of traveling a lot more fun and more economical.
And the people that go with you are willing to chip in.
Now there's another case where a private pilot can be carrying passengers who have actually
paid for that flight, and that is a charitable airlift.
You can, as a private pilot, carry passengers who have made a donation to a charitable organization
for the flight.
So if it's a charitable airlift to get money for the charity, as a private pilot, you can
participate in that.
Let's talk now about what you need as a pilot to be legally current.
First of all, if you're going to act as pilot in command of an aircraft, regardless of whether
you have passengers with you or not, you have to have a logbook endorsement.
And what's that logbook endorsement going to say?
It's going to say that you have satisfactorily completed a flight review or a pilot proficiency
check, and you've done it within the preceding 24 calendar months.
This is what we call the biennial flight review.
You have to have done either a flight review or a pilot proficiency check within the preceding
24 calendar months.
And the fact that it's stated as calendar months means it goes to the last day of the
month.
The FAA test question asks about acting as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers.
Well, you have to have the biennial flight review regardless of whether or not you have
passengers with you or not.
So yes, if you're carrying passengers, you would also have to have this biennial flight
review or pilot proficiency check, and you need it within the preceding how many months?
24 calendar months.
Now that's to fly an airplane, period.
To fly it by yourself is not a lot of fun.
What if you want to carry passengers?
If you want to carry passengers in an aircraft, you need some takeoffs and landings.
What you need is three takeoffs and three landings in an aircraft of the same category,
class, and if a type rating is required of the same type, and you need it within the
preceding 90 days.
Now by category and class, category means airplanes as opposed to say rotorcraft, and
class means single engine versus twin engine.
Type you only have to do it in the same type of aircraft if a type rating is required,
and type ratings, remember, are required for large aircraft, those over 12,500 pounds,
or for turbojet powered aircraft.
So only if a type rating is required do you have to do it in the same type of aircraft,
but it has to be done within the preceding how many days?
90 days.
And unfortunately, the way it works, being current in a single or a twin makes you current
only in that class.
If you do your takeoffs and landings in a twin, you're current in a twin but not a single.
If you do them in a single, you're current in a single but not in a twin.
So you need your takeoffs and landings.
How many of them?
Three of them in the last how many days?
In the preceding 90 days.
Let's take a different kind of airplane though.
Let's assume you want to carry passengers in a tailwheel airplane.
If you're going to carry passengers in a tail dragger, you've got to do those three takeoffs
and landings in a tailwheel airplane, and you've got to do them to a full stop.
I guess the FAA figures, and rightly so, that it's a lot harder to get a tailwheel airplane
stopped with a tail still behind the nose instead of in front of it, and they want to
make sure that you can do that well.
So to carry passengers in a tailwheel airplane, those takeoffs and landings have to have been
done in a tailwheel airplane, and they have to be done to a full stop just to prove that
you can get it stopped with a tail still behind the nose where it belongs.
What if you'd like to carry passengers at night?
Well, the visual cues are somewhat different at night, particularly for the landings.
So if you want to carry passengers at night, those three takeoffs and landings that you
have to have in the last 90 days, they have to have been done at night, and they have
to have been done to a full stop.
Again, in the same category and class of aircraft, single engine land, multi-engine land, that
you're going to be using to carry the passengers.
Now by the way, if you don't go up and do your takeoffs and landings at night, your
night currency would count for daytime also, so that would be the quickest way to get current
for both daytime and nighttime as far as carrying passengers is concerned.
What is the definition of nighttime for the purpose of carrying passengers?
For this regulation, the definition of nighttime is from one hour after sunset to one hour
before sunrise.
It's different than the definition of night for a lot of other purposes, but for carrying
passengers one hour after sunset to one hour before sunrise is nighttime.
For example, the FAA might say to you that official sunset is at 1830.
You are not current for night flight.
You are not current to carry passengers at night.
So if sunset is at 1830, what is the latest time that you could carry passengers with
you?
And the latest time is 1929, because nighttime for the purpose of carrying passengers is
one hour after sunset.
Nighttime would start at 1930, and you couldn't carry passengers at nighttime if you aren't
current for night, which they say you're not, so the latest time you could carry passengers
is 1929, basically one hour after sunset.
That's the rule as far as nighttime for the purpose of carrying passengers.
But there is another definition of nighttime which applies in most regulations other than
this, and that official definition of nighttime is from the end of evening civil twilight
to the beginning of morning civil twilight.
The end of evening civil twilight to the beginning of morning civil twilight, but do not confuse
this normal definition of nighttime for other purposes with the definition of nighttime
as far as carrying passengers is concerned, which is an hour after sunset to an hour before
sunrise.
A lot easier to figure out than this definition is, and that's probably why they have it as
far as carrying passengers is concerned.
As the pilot in command of an aircraft, you are the final authority as to the operation
of that aircraft.
The pilot in command of an aircraft has the last word as far as the operation of the aircraft
is concerned, because you're the one in a position to know what's really going on in
that airplane and how serious any problem is that might develop.
Suppose you have an in-flight emergency.
Suppose that in-flight emergency requires immediate action.
You can, as pilot in command, deviate from any regulation to the extent you need to in
order to cope with that emergency.
That's part of your authority as pilot in command to do whatever you need to do, including
breaking the regulations if it's necessary in order to meet that emergency.
You do not have to make a written report unless the administrator, the FAA administrator,
or people he's delegated, request it.
Even if you deviate from a regulation because of an in-flight emergency, you still do not
have to make a written report unless they ask for it.
So never volunteer in this kind of case.
Wait and see if they do ask for it.
Now, when you're doing your pre-flighting and your pre-flight planning for a trip, before
every flight, there's certain pre-flight action that the regulations require you to do, and
that includes things like this.
Becoming familiar with all available information concerning the flight.
That's a lot of information, but you're supposed to do it.
Determining the runway lengths at the airports you intend to use and having an alternate
course of action if the flight cannot be, for some reason, completed as planned.
That just simply means have some backup ideas in case things go wrong and it doesn't turn
out quite the way you expected it to.
You have fuel requirements you have to plan for also.
The fuel requirements for day VFR flight, how much fuel you have to have on board are
enough to fly to the first point of intended landing, that means your destination in plain
English, and to fly after that for 30 minutes at normal cruising speed.
Not some super economical power setting, but normal cruise speed, and it's 30 minutes fuel
reserve for day VFR flight.
But what if you're flying at night?
Fuel requirements are a little bit more at night because it's harder at night to find
airports that are open that have fuel available.
So for night VFR flight, you've got to have enough fuel to get to your destination, your
first point of intended landing as the regulations say, and fly after that for 45 minutes at
normal cruising speed.
So a little bit more time as far as fuel reserve is concerned if you're going to be flying
at night VFR.
Now part of what you're supposed to be doing when you do the pre-flight as this pilot is,
is you're supposed to be checking to see if that aircraft is in condition for safe flight.
Because the responsibility for determining that an aircraft is truly safe to fly just
before you get in it and fly away is the pilot in command of the aircraft.
He's the one who's got the chance while he walks around and does the pre-flight to look
it over, see if there's anything missing like an aileron, a tail, something like that.
Otter things have happened when maintenance people have gotten involved.
So it's the pilot in command's responsibility before he gets in that airplane and takes
it up in the air to make sure that it is indeed in condition for safe flight.
But who is supposed to make sure that the airplane is maintained?
Aha, that's where the owner or operator of the aircraft comes into play.
It is the responsibility of the owner or operator of the aircraft to properly ensure that the
aircraft is maintained in an airworthy condition.
So the owner or operator is supposed to maintain the aircraft.
As part of that, it is the responsibility of the owner or operator to make sure that
the maintenance people make all the appropriate entries in the aircraft maintenance records.
Aircraft maintenance records is a fancy name for the log books.
But it is the owner or operator's responsibility to make sure that the appropriate log book
entries are made indicating whatever maintenance has been done on the aircraft and also indicating
that it has been approved for return to service.
Now aircraft have to have what you might call a medical also.
Aircraft have to be inspected every 12 calendar months.
So they get a checkup just like the pilots do to make sure that everything is working
right on the aircraft.
This is what we call the annual inspection on the aircraft.
And the annual inspection is good.
It expires not on the same day of the month, but on the end of the month, the end of the
12th calendar month.
Annual meaning once a year, it's good to the end of the 12th calendar month.
For example, they'll say to you that the aircraft had an annual inspection performed on July
12th of this year and when will the next annual inspection be due?
Well that annual is good for how many months?
12 months.
So it's going to be due next year.
And is it due on the same day of the month or the last day of the month?
Which one?
The last day of the month.
So if an annual was done on July 12th, the next annual inspection will be due on July
31st, the last day of July, the following year, 12 months later.
When the annual is completed, some stuff has to go in the aircraft maintenance records,
those log books, and the aircraft maintenance records have to show completion of the annual
inspection.
It has to show the date of the inspection and it has to show that the aircraft was returned
to service by whoever it was that did the annual inspection.
That's the information that has to be in the log books.
The annual has been completed, the date of the annual, and that the aircraft is returned
to service.
Otherwise, they wouldn't know for sure whether the annual was completed satisfactorily.
In addition to an annual inspection, you also have to have 100-hour inspections on some
aircraft.
The 100-hour inspections are required for rental aircraft that are used for flight instruction.
So rental aircraft that are also used for flight instruction have to have both the annual
inspection because all aircraft have to have that, plus they have to have the 100-hour
inspections also.
Example, let's assume an aircraft had a 100-hour inspection when the tachometer read 1259.6.
So the tach read 1259.6, when would the next 100-hour inspection be due?
Well, the next one's due 100 hours later, which would be at 1359.6, 100 hours later.
It's hard to hit that 100 hours exactly.
Can you exceed it at all?
A little bit.
The 100-hour limit can be exceeded, but not by more than 10 hours, if it's necessary to
reach a place where the inspection can be done on the aircraft.
Now that 10-hour that you can exceed it does not let you go flying around and doing whatever
you want to with the aircraft.
It does let you go over the 100-hour limit by not more than 10 hours if you have to do
it in order to get the aircraft someplace where the inspection can be done.
Now the thing is that that excess time gets deducted from the next 100 hours as far as
computing when the next 100-hour inspection is due.
You don't get to keep pushing back when the 100-hour inspection is due by going over your
time 10 hours every time.
It comes out of the next chunk of 100 hours.
For example, a 100-hour inspection was due at 3302.5 on the tach.
By the time they got the airplane someplace where it could be inspected, the inspection
was actually done at 3309.5.
When is the next 100-hour inspection due?
It's due 100 hours from when it was supposed to have been done, not from when you actually
got around to it.
So the next 100-hour inspection will be due at 3402.5, which is 100 hours from when it
was due at 3302.5.
You don't get to keep pushing the 100 hours along.
That 10 hours that you can go over comes out of the next 100-hour chunk.
Airworthiness directives are something that airplanes are kind of plagued with from time
to time.
Airworthiness directives are issued by the FAA to correct some kind of safety problem
with the aircraft.
And the FAA says you must do this or you must fix that or you must change this part in order
for the aircraft to be safe.
You have to do it.
It's mandatory.
And to show that you've done it, to show compliance with it, the owner or operator has to have
it recorded in the aircraft maintenance records in the log books so that a mechanic or a buyer
of the airplane or the FAA, if it gets down to that, can check and see whether a particular
airworthiness directive has indeed been complied with.
It has to be entered in the aircraft maintenance records in the log books.
In case you don't recognize this particular airplane, don't worry about it.
Nobody else will either.
This is a Cessna that's had a turboprop engine hung on the front of it.
That is a very major alteration and it will substantially affect that aircraft's operation
in flight.
Any alteration or repair that might substantially affect an aircraft's operation in flight,
if that's been done, the aircraft has to be test flown.
Who does it have to be test flown by?
An appropriately rated pilot and he has to approve it for return to service before passengers
are carried in that aircraft.
I guess the FAA figures it's not cricket to have passengers along on a test flight.
And what kind of certificate does the pilot have to have?
He's got to be at least a private pilot, private pilot certificate.
I guess the FAA is not too hot about having student pilots be test pilots.
So it's got to be test flown by an appropriately rated pilot and approved for return to service
before you carry passengers on board and the pilot's got to be at least a private pilot.
Some operations are a long way away from major maintenance.
They're simply preventive maintenance.
Now what's the FAA definition of preventive maintenance?
It's simple or preservation operations and the replacement of small standard parts that
do not involve any complex assembly operations and preventive maintenance pilots can do on
their own aircraft.
For example, one example of preventive maintenance would be servicing the landing gear wheel
bearings.
In addition to that, preventive maintenance would be replenishing hydraulic fluid.
Those would be considered to be preventive maintenance by the FAA and a pilot could do
it on his own aircraft.
Things that are not preventive maintenance, the FAA will be asking you about them on the
test but some of the things that are not preventive maintenance would be things like the alteration
of main seat support brackets, engine adjustments to let autogas be used, repair of landing
gear struts, repair of portions of the skin sheets by making additional seams.
Those would have to have a mechanic do them.
If you've done preventive maintenance on an aircraft, there's some paperwork you have
to do.
The job's not over until the paperwork is done.
You have to have your signature, certificate number and kind of certificate, a pilot certificate
if you've done your work on your own aircraft and a description of the work and you enter
that in the aircraft maintenance records.
The FAA basically says that if people are going to be working on the aircraft, whether
it's preventive maintenance or what kind of work it is, we want to know who did it and
we wanted to have a description of the work entered in the log books, the aircraft maintenance
records.
So the signature, certificate number and kind of certificate of the person who did or approved
the work and a description of the work has to go in those log books.
As you remember, the transponder is the device that makes the aircraft's radar return show
up very clear and easy on the controller's radar scope.
And the FAA will ask you on the test where is an operable 4096 code transponder with
an encoding altimeter, the altitude readout required.
And a partial list of where it's required is in Class A airspace, that's at and above
18,000 feet, Class B airspace, that's around our big busy airports and within 30 miles
of the Class B primary airport and also in Class C airspace, that's our congested airspace.
This is not a complete list but this is the way the FAA is going to give you the list
and ask you to pick it out on the written exam.
You know where you need an ATC transponder but the transponder cannot be used unless
it's been tested and inspected within a particular timeframe and that timeframe is within the
preceding 24 calendar months.
And calendar months means that that inspection and test goes to the last day of the month,
it does not expire on the same day of the month that you did it on.
So the FAA will ask you a question like this, trying to trick you.
They'll say to you that the maintenance records on the aircraft show that the last transponder
inspection was performed on September 1st, 1993 and they'll ask you when is the next
inspection due.
First part of it is no problem at all, you know that it's due 24 months later so it's
going to be September of 1995 but does it expire on the same day of the month or the
last day of the month.
It expires on the last day of the month so when's that next inspection going to be due?
It's going to be due no later than September 30th of 1995, 24 calendar months after it
was done.
This aircraft as you can see by the smoke it's trailing is obviously an aircraft in
distress.
As far as right of way is concerned, an aircraft in distress has the right of way over all
other air traffic.
He's got to get down on the ground in a hurry, he's got to get somewhere in a hurry because
he's got a major problem.
An aircraft in distress has got the right of way over everybody else in the sky.
But what if aircraft are not in distress?
If the aircraft are not in distress, let's assume you've got two aircraft approaching
each other head on.
How do they want to maneuver to avoid each other?
They should both give way to the right and it doesn't make any difference in this situation
what category the aircraft are.
If you've got two aircraft coming at each other head on, a head on collision is pretty
darn close and they both want to maneuver to avoid each other and the regulation says
give way to the right.
Standardized right of way procedures, the whole idea is so that the other aircraft will
know what you're going to do and so that the maneuvering that you do avoids each other
rather than ending up running into each other.
So when aircraft approach each other head on regardless of whether they're the same
category or different category, both aircraft evade, both aircraft give way to the right
and the right is the direction you go.
An example that they'll give you on the test, they'll say to you that a glider and an airplane
are approaching each other head on at the same altitude.
What should they do about it?
The fact that one's a glider and one's an airplane doesn't make any difference at all
if they're coming at each other exactly head on.
In that case, both of them should do what?
Both of them should give way to the right because of the fact they're coming head on
at each other.
What if aircraft are converging but they're not coming at each other head on?
Suppose two aircraft of the same category are converging but it's not head on.
If two aircraft of the same category converge, the aircraft on the left is the one that's
supposed to give way.
The way to remember that is the aircraft on the right has the right of way.
So here's two aircraft coming at each other, not head on but they are converging.
The aircraft on the right has the right of way.
The aircraft on the left is the one that has to give way and it gives way in this case
by maneuvering to the right to pass behind the aircraft that has the right of way.
The aircraft on the right has the right of way so the one on the left has to move aside
and give clear passage to that other aircraft.
That's if the aircraft are of the same category converging.
What if they are different categories?
If they are different categories, the least maneuverable category has right of way in
a conflict.
The least maneuverable category has the right of way in a conflict.
For instance, you've got an airplane and an airship converging.
You've got an airplane and an airship converging and who has the right of way if the airship
is on the left of the airplane's position?
Which one is the least maneuverable?
The airship is a lot less maneuverable than the airplane is so the airship, because it's
a less maneuverable category, the airship is going to have the right of way in a conflict
like that even though it's on the left as far as the airplane is concerned.
Because it's less maneuverable, it has the right of way.
Now you should know by the way that airplanes and helicopters are considered to be equally
maneuverable and airplanes and helicopters are the same as far as the right of way rules
are concerned.
Let's assume that you've got an aircraft that is towing or refueling another aircraft.
For instance, towing a glider or refueling another aircraft.
They have the right of way over all other engine driven aircraft.
Engine driven aircraft.
So if an aircraft is towing or refueling another aircraft, it would have the right of way over
an airship and it would have the right of way over a gyro plane because airships and
gyro planes are engine driven aircraft.
But let's assume that you've got an aircraft that is refueling another aircraft.
Would it have the right of way over a glider?
No it would not.
A glider is not an engine driven aircraft.
So a glider is going to have the right of way over aircraft that are refueling other
aircraft.
A glider would also have the right of way over an airship because an airship, a blimp,
has got an engine.
It's an engine powered aircraft and the glider is a lot less maneuverable.
So the glider would have right of way over both airships and aircraft that are refueling
other aircraft.