Pre-solo knowledge test template

“A student pilot may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft:”

§ 61.89(a)

1. (1) “That is carrying a passenger;”
2. (2) “That is carrying property for compensation or hire;”
3. (3) “For compensation or hire;”
4. (4) “In furtherance of a business;”
5. (5) “On an international flight, except that a student pilot may make solo training flights from Haines, Gustavus, or Juneau, Alaska, to White Horse, Yukon, Canada, and return over the province of British Columbia;”
6. (6) “With a flight or surface visibility of less than 3 statute miles during daylight hours or 5 statute miles at night;”
7. (7) “When the flight cannot be made with visual reference to the surface; or”
8. (8) “In a manner contrary to any limitations placed in the pilot's logbook by an authorized instructor.”

1. 1. A friend wants to ride along on one of your solo flights. May you take them?

   “A student pilot may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft: (1) That is carrying a passenger;”

   § 61.89(a)(1)

   Replace with your school’s question:

2. 2. What is the lowest visibility in which you may fly solo during the day? At night?

   “A student pilot may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft: […] With a flight or surface visibility of less than 3 statute miles during daylight hours or 5 statute miles at night;”

   § 61.89(a)(6)

   Replace with your school’s question:

3. 3. A broken cloud layer is forming between you and the airport. May you keep flying solo on top of it?

   “A student pilot may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft: […] When the flight cannot be made with visual reference to the surface; or”

   § 61.89(a)(7)

   Replace with your school’s question:

4. 4. Your instructor wrote a wind limit in your logbook, and today's wind is above it. May you go anyway?

   “A student pilot may not act as pilot in command of an aircraft: […] In a manner contrary to any limitations placed in the pilot's logbook by an authorized instructor.”

   § 61.89(a)(8)

   Replace with your school’s question:

5. 5. How recent must the solo endorsement in your logbook be, and does it name the airplane?

   “A student pilot may not operate an aircraft in solo flight unless that student pilot has received an endorsement in the student's logbook for the specific make and model aircraft to be flown by an authorized instructor who gave the training within the 90 days preceding the date of the flight.”

   § 61.87(n)

   Replace with your school’s question:

6. 6. Before any flight, what must you become familiar with — and what more does a flight away from the airport require?

   “Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. This information must include— (a) For a flight under IFR or a flight not in the vicinity of an airport, weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed, and any known traffic delays of which the pilot in command has been advised by ATC; (b) For any flight, runway lengths at airports of intended use, and the following takeoff and landing distance information:”

   § 91.103

   Replace with your school’s question:

7. 7. How much fuel must be aboard before you begin a VFR flight — by day, and at night?

   “No person may begin a flight in an airplane under VFR conditions unless (considering wind and forecast weather conditions) there is enough fuel to fly to the first point of intended landing and, assuming normal cruising speed— (1) During the day, to fly after that for at least 30 minutes; or (2) At night, to fly after that for at least 45 minutes.”

   § 91.151(a)

   Replace with your school’s question:

8. 8. Another airplane is coming straight at you at your altitude. What do you do?

   “When aircraft are approaching each other head-on, or nearly so, each pilot of each aircraft shall alter course to the right.”

   § 91.113(e)

   Replace with your school’s question:

9. 9. Two airplanes are approaching the airport to land at different altitudes. Who has the right-of-way — and what may that pilot not do with it?

   “When two or more aircraft are approaching an airport for the purpose of landing, the aircraft at the lower altitude has the right-of-way, but it shall not take advantage of this rule to cut in front of another which is on final approach to land or to overtake that aircraft.”

   § 91.113(g)

   Replace with your school’s question:

10. 10. How low may you fly over a congested area? Over open fields?

    “Over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons, an altitude of 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft. […] An altitude of 500 feet above the surface, except over open water or sparsely populated areas. In those cases, the aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet to any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.”

    § 91.119(b)–(c)

    Replace with your school’s question:

11. 11. Beneath those numbers there is one altitude rule that applies everywhere. What must you always be able to do if the engine fails?

    “Except when necessary for takeoff or landing, no person may operate an aircraft below the following altitudes: […] An altitude allowing, if a power unit fails, an emergency landing without undue hazard to persons or property on the surface.”

    § 91.119(a)

    Replace with your school’s question:

12. 12. Flying solo, when must your safety belt be fastened — and your shoulder harness?

    “During takeoff and landing, and while en route, each required flight crewmember shall— […] Keep the safety belt fastened while at the crewmember station. (b) Each required flight crewmember of a U.S.-registered civil aircraft shall, during takeoff and landing, keep his or her shoulder harness fastened while at his or her assigned duty station. This paragraph does not apply if— (1) The seat at the crewmember's station is not equipped with a shoulder harness; or (2) The crewmember would be unable to perform required duties with the shoulder harness fastened.”

    § 91.105(a)–(b)

    Solo, you are the required flight crewmember, so this is your rule — § 91.107(b) excludes persons subject to § 91.105 from the everyone-aboard belt paragraph in § 91.107(a)(3). Both sections are frozen with this sheet.

    Replace with your school’s question:

13. 13. What are the basic VFR visibility and cloud-clearance minimums for the airspace where you will solo?

    “no person may operate an aircraft under VFR when the flight visibility is less, or at a distance from clouds that is less, than that prescribed for the corresponding altitude and class of airspace in the following table: […] Class D 3 statute miles 500 feet below. 1,000 feet above. 2,000 feet horizontal.”

    § 91.155(a)

    CHECKRIDE TRAPTECHNIQUEThe row quoted is Class D; your airport's class may differ — the airspace sheet has the whole table, cell for cell. And the solo visibility floor of § 61.89(a)(6), quoted above, applies on top of these — you fly to whichever number is higher.

    Replace with your school’s question:

14. 14. Approaching to land at an airport without an operating control tower — which way do you turn in the pattern, and what would tell you otherwise?

    “Each pilot of a powered fixed-wing aircraft must make all turns to the left unless the airport displays approved light signals or visual markings indicating that turns should be made to the right, in which case the pilot must make all turns to the right; and”

    § 91.126(b)(1)

    Replace with your school’s question:

15. 15. What must you establish before entering Class D airspace, and what must you keep doing while inside it?

    “Each person must establish two-way radio communications with the ATC facility (including foreign ATC in the case of foreign airspace designated in the United States) providing air traffic services prior to entering that airspace and thereafter maintain those communications while within that airspace.”

    § 91.129(c)(1)

    Replace with your school’s question:

16. 16. At a towered airport, what do you need before you taxi onto a runway, take off, or land?

    “No person may, at any airport with an operating control tower, operate an aircraft on a runway or taxiway, or take off or land an aircraft, unless an appropriate clearance is received from ATC.”

    § 91.129(i)

    Replace with your school’s question:

17. 17. Your radio quits in the pattern and the tower aims a steady green light at you — then later a steady red. What does each mean in flight?

    “Steady green Cleared for takeoff Cleared to land. […] Steady red Stop Give way to other aircraft and continue circling.”

    § 91.125

    The rule is a table; the reading order here is its own — signal, meaning on the surface, meaning in flight. The full six-row table is on the VFR quick reference.

    Replace with your school’s question:

18. 18. How long must you wait after drinking any alcohol before flying — and what else does the rule prohibit?

    “No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft— (1) Within 8 hours after the consumption of any alcoholic beverage; (2) While under the influence of alcohol; (3) While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety; or (4) While having an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater in a blood or breath specimen.”

    § 91.17(a)

    Replace with your school’s question:

“Airspace rules and procedures for the airport where the solo flight will be performed; and”

§ 61.87(b)(1)(ii)

Blank on purpose: the regulation points these two areas at your airport and your airplane, and nothing written centrally can cover them honestly. Write your own — from the current chart supplement and your airspace, and from the POH for the make and model your student will solo.

1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. 6.

“Flight characteristics and operational limitations for the make and model of aircraft to be flown.”

§ 61.87(b)(1)(iii)

1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. 6.