Question bank
Checkride questions, answered and verified
Real oral-exam questions with answers checked against the current FAA source — and the citation shown, so you can look it up yourself. Try each one before you peek.
Airspace
- Class G Night VFR Weather Minimums (Below 1,200 AGL)
What VFR visibility and cloud clearance do you need in Class G airspace at night below 1,200 feet AGL? The 14 CFR 91.155 answer — and the day-rule trap most students fall for.
- VFR Cloud Clearance in Class C, D, and E Airspace
The 500-below, 1,000-above, 2,000-horizontal rule: which airspace classes share it and where it comes from in 14 CFR 91.155.
- Class B Airspace Entry Requirements
What exactly do you need to enter Class B airspace — and is a clearance different from radio contact? Verified against 14 CFR 91.131.
Regulations
- Private Pilot Cost Sharing: What Expenses Can You Split?
Private pilots can share flight expenses with passengers — but only specific ones, and only pro rata. The 14 CFR 61.113 rule, verified.
- Night Passenger Currency: the 90-Day Rule
How recent do your night takeoffs and landings have to be before you can carry passengers at night? The 14 CFR 61.57(b) requirement, verified.
- How Often Is an Annual Inspection Required?
The annual inspection interval, what 'calendar months' actually means, and where 14 CFR 91.409 says it.
- When Can You Get a Special Flight Permit (Ferry Permit)?
An aircraft that's out of annual can still legally fly — under a special flight permit. What 14 CFR 21.197 allows, verified.
- VFR Day Fuel Reserve Requirements
How much fuel must you have beyond your destination for day VFR? The 14 CFR 91.151 minimum, verified — and why it's a floor, not a plan.
- VFR Night Fuel Reserve Requirements
Night VFR requires a bigger fuel cushion than day. The 14 CFR 91.151 night minimum, verified.
Human Factors
- Night Vision for Pilots: the Off-Center Viewing Technique
Why looking directly at an object at night makes it disappear, and the off-center viewing angle the FAA actually teaches (it's smaller than most quizzes claim).
- Hazardous Attitudes and Their Antidotes: Anti-Authority
The FAA's five hazardous attitudes each have a memorized antidote. The anti-authority antidote, verified against PHAK Chapter 2.
Weather
- The Three Ingredients of Thunderstorm Formation
Every thunderstorm needs the same three ingredients. What they are and where the Aviation Weather Handbook says it — a favorite oral exam question.
- Clear Ice vs. Rime Ice: Which Is More Dangerous?
Why clear (glaze) ice is considered the more hazardous structural icing type, verified against the current Aviation Weather Handbook.
- Flying High to Low: What Your Altimeter Really Reads
“High to low, look out below” — what actually happens to your indicated altitude when you fly into lower pressure without updating the altimeter setting.
- How High Density Altitude Reduces Aircraft Performance
The three ways high density altitude quietly robs your airplane of performance — engine, propeller, and wings — with the verified FAA source.
Airport Operations
- ATC Light Gun Signals: Steady Green on the Ground
Radio out at a towered field — what does a steady green light from the tower mean on the ground? Verified against the AIM light-gun table.
- Aircraft Right-of-Way Hierarchy Explained
Balloon, glider, airship, airplane — the full 14 CFR 91.113 right-of-way order after an aircraft in distress, verified.
Seventeen questions is a warm-up. Take the free Readiness Test — 24 questions drawn from a 97-question verified bank, scored by knowledge area.