IFR Checkride WX Questions

I consider the ADDS graphics to be official, and so does the FAA. Gotta
admit that I look at Unisys and a lot of similar sources.

Bob Gardner

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 2, 10:55 am, "Bob Gardner" wrote:
Those black-and-white charts, beloved of the test writers in OKC, are
slowly
going away. They are hard to find on the ADDS page as it is. Good
riddance.
The color charts are much easier to read.

Those charts probably made sense in the days of walking into the FSS
and looking at B&W printouts. Nowadays with computers we have less
official products that are so much better.

-Robert

On 2 Feb 2007 09:36:48 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote:

On Feb 1, 10:37 pm, "Jim Macklin"
wrote:
Know how to interpret the material from on-line sources.
The key is, can you draw a crude picture of the weather
[verbally or with a pencil] and then apply that to the FAR
as to whether the weather, currently and forecast, will
allow the operation.

Partly, but every DE I've ever worked with required the applicant to
show up with the classic charts and exhibit knowledge of the symbols
(i.e. carry a secret decoder ring). Once rated, few pilots every use
these old style charts.

They didn't even have me look at weather charts or even the old style
codes and this was a few years back. Of course the weather was so bad
it bout beat the snot out of me flying up there to take the test. I
told him I almost canceled, but decided to head up and see "how it
went". He asked me about the forecast and if it was deteriorating,
getting better or as forecast. I also had everything he asked for, in
a note book and _in_order_. After he asked for the second document and
I just flipped a page, he said, "let me see that". Looked through it,
asked me a few questions on weather, flight planning, aircraft
performance, and a few other things I've now forgotten and he sent me
out to preflight the Deb.

It's been a while, but "as I recall" the whole oral part of the exam
was on the order of a half hour, give or take a bit. Thing is, being
*thoroughly* organized at least made it look like I knew what I was
doing. :-)) He told me later that he usually expects to take at least
twice as long on that part and it was rare to have any one come in
with the *stuff* in a binder, let alone organized.

Most of it was done as casual conversation, but I knew what he was
after with each question. If I didn't know the answer I was able to
tell him right where it was and could find it in the FARs or AIM.
When it came to the requirements to be able to drop below DH on an ILS
I proudly rattled them right off only to be greeted by a blank stare
as if he were waiting for something. Then he said, there's one more.
I went through them three times but always came up short. Finally I
looked at him, held out my hand and asked if "I could use the book".
:-))

The conversation seems casual, but make a mistake and you can expect
more questions on the same subject. Miss another one or two on the
same subject and you may spend quite a while covering that particular
segment and you WILL know (and remember) the answer afterwards, or the
test will be over.


-Robert, CFII
Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

I would agree on that, organization. When I was training at
Spartan [Tulsa] for my CFI ratings, the "word" was that the
FSDO was very tough on CFII applicants.
I showed up with my own, name embossed Jep bag with a full
set of IFR charts and the J-AID. After a few questions,
maybe an hour or so, we went flying.
But students who showed up with the school supplied charts
were being grilled half a day or even longer, because the
inspectors wanted to know that the student really knew the
material.

It did not hurt that I usually began an answer to a question
with, "That's FAR 91.85, paragraph 2, ..."



"Roger" wrote in message
...
| On 2 Feb 2007 09:36:48 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"

| wrote:
|
| On Feb 1, 10:37 pm, "Jim Macklin"
| wrote:
| Know how to interpret the material from on-line
sources.
| The key is, can you draw a crude picture of the weather
| [verbally or with a pencil] and then apply that to the
FAR
| as to whether the weather, currently and forecast, will
| allow the operation.
|
| Partly, but every DE I've ever worked with required the
applicant to
| show up with the classic charts and exhibit knowledge of
the symbols
| (i.e. carry a secret decoder ring). Once rated, few
pilots every use
| these old style charts.
|
| They didn't even have me look at weather charts or even
the old style
| codes and this was a few years back. Of course the
weather was so bad
| it bout beat the snot out of me flying up there to take
the test. I
| told him I almost canceled, but decided to head up and see
"how it
| went". He asked me about the forecast and if it was
deteriorating,
| getting better or as forecast. I also had everything he
asked for, in
| a note book and _in_order_. After he asked for the second
document and
| I just flipped a page, he said, "let me see that". Looked
through it,
| asked me a few questions on weather, flight planning,
aircraft
| performance, and a few other things I've now forgotten and
he sent me
| out to preflight the Deb.
|
| It's been a while, but "as I recall" the whole oral part
of the exam
| was on the order of a half hour, give or take a bit.
Thing is, being
| *thoroughly* organized at least made it look like I knew
what I was
| doing. :-)) He told me later that he usually expects to
take at least
| twice as long on that part and it was rare to have any one
come in
| with the *stuff* in a binder, let alone organized.
|
| Most of it was done as casual conversation, but I knew
what he was
| after with each question. If I didn't know the answer I
was able to
| tell him right where it was and could find it in the FARs
or AIM.
| When it came to the requirements to be able to drop below
DH on an ILS
| I proudly rattled them right off only to be greeted by a
blank stare
| as if he were waiting for something. Then he said,
there's one more.
| I went through them three times but always came up short.
Finally I
| looked at him, held out my hand and asked if "I could use
the book".
| :-))
|
| The conversation seems casual, but make a mistake and you
can expect
| more questions on the same subject. Miss another one or
two on the
| same subject and you may spend quite a while covering that
particular
| segment and you WILL know (and remember) the answer
afterwards, or the
| test will be over.
|
|
| -Robert, CFII
| Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
| (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
| www.rogerhalstead.com

Robert M. Gary wrote:
Partly, but every DE I've ever worked with required the applicant to
show up with the classic charts and exhibit knowledge of the symbols
(i.e. carry a secret decoder ring).

Wow. The FAA written exams love them to death, but during some fairly
large number of checkride orals I've never been asked a word about them;
it's all been practical stuff.

Once rated, few pilots every use these old style charts.

I started flight training at a time (early 90's) when the
walk-into-FSS-and-eyeball-charts routine was just ending, but I still
like some of the classic products (particularly the SA map and the new
colorized prog charts), even if I have to nose around the backside of
aviationweather.gov to find them. I don't particularly mind that the
written exam covers the entire gamut; people at least get exposed to all
of them, and afterwards can keep using whichever form made the most sense.

On Feb 3, 9:33 pm, Roger wrote:
On 2 Feb 2007 09:36:48 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"
wrote:

It's been a while, but "as I recall" the whole oral part of the exam
was on the order of a half hour, give or take a bit. Thing is, being
*thoroughly* organized at least made it look like I knew what I was
doing. :-)) He told me later that he usually expects to take at least
twice as long on that part and it was rare to have any one come in
with the *stuff* in a binder, let alone organized.

The length of time of the oral is always interesting to me. I've had 7
checkrides with DE's and aside from the initial CFI none were more
than 30 minutes of oral. I had one checkride where the entire oral was
done while we flew out to the practice area, not a word spoken on the
ground. I'm not sure exactly what determines the length but I know
these DE's have given good students more than 2 hours too. Of course
my CFI oral was a good 6 hours, although I've heard 8 hours is
standard.

-Robert

First problem with weather data is to collect reliable sources and to
display them understandably. At http://www.airspace-v.com we are
collecting online data sources and display them on Google Maps including
METAR, TAF, Yahoo! Weather, winds and temepratures aloft.

Okay, there are two problems with this site. Data is mostly VFR-oriented
and this is no official source and may at most be used for navigation
planning or entertainment. But you can get a first impression.


virtuPIC

Jim,
When were you at Spartan? I used to teach at Ross down on Riverside and
Spartan was the only other real school there at the time.

I busted my II oral at TUL FSDO because I didn't know what a High
Altitude Teardrop Penetration approach was. There was a pub'd one for TUL at
the time - the old F100s used it.

The inspectors reasoning was that I could hop in the right seat of a
Citation and give instrument training and that aircraft was capable of
executing the approach. I reasoned he was just ****ed off and having a bad
day.

One of my previous CFI students had swallowed a valve on takeoff with
him about two weeks earlier.


--
Jim Carter
Rogers, Arkansas
"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
...
I would agree on that, organization. When I was training at
Spartan [Tulsa] for my CFI ratings, the "word" was that the
FSDO was very tough on CFII applicants.
I showed up with my own, name embossed Jep bag with a full
set of IFR charts and the J-AID. After a few questions,
maybe an hour or so, we went flying.
But students who showed up with the school supplied charts
were being grilled half a day or even longer, because the
inspectors wanted to know that the student really knew the
material.

It did not hurt that I usually began an answer to a question
with, "That's FAR 91.85, paragraph 2, ..."



"Roger" wrote in message
...
| On 2 Feb 2007 09:36:48 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"

| wrote:
|
| On Feb 1, 10:37 pm, "Jim Macklin"
| wrote:
| Know how to interpret the material from on-line
sources.
| The key is, can you draw a crude picture of the weather
| [verbally or with a pencil] and then apply that to the
FAR
| as to whether the weather, currently and forecast, will
| allow the operation.
|
| Partly, but every DE I've ever worked with required the
applicant to
| show up with the classic charts and exhibit knowledge of
the symbols
| (i.e. carry a secret decoder ring). Once rated, few
pilots every use
| these old style charts.
|
| They didn't even have me look at weather charts or even
the old style
| codes and this was a few years back. Of course the
weather was so bad
| it bout beat the snot out of me flying up there to take
the test. I
| told him I almost canceled, but decided to head up and see
"how it
| went". He asked me about the forecast and if it was
deteriorating,
| getting better or as forecast. I also had everything he
asked for, in
| a note book and _in_order_. After he asked for the second
document and
| I just flipped a page, he said, "let me see that". Looked
through it,
| asked me a few questions on weather, flight planning,
aircraft
| performance, and a few other things I've now forgotten and
he sent me
| out to preflight the Deb.
|
| It's been a while, but "as I recall" the whole oral part
of the exam
| was on the order of a half hour, give or take a bit.
Thing is, being
| *thoroughly* organized at least made it look like I knew
what I was
| doing. :-)) He told me later that he usually expects to
take at least
| twice as long on that part and it was rare to have any one
come in
| with the *stuff* in a binder, let alone organized.
|
| Most of it was done as casual conversation, but I knew
what he was
| after with each question. If I didn't know the answer I
was able to
| tell him right where it was and could find it in the FARs
or AIM.
| When it came to the requirements to be able to drop below
DH on an ILS
| I proudly rattled them right off only to be greeted by a
blank stare
| as if he were waiting for something. Then he said,
there's one more.
| I went through them three times but always came up short.
Finally I
| looked at him, held out my hand and asked if "I could use
the book".
| :-))
|
| The conversation seems casual, but make a mistake and you
can expect
| more questions on the same subject. Miss another one or
two on the
| same subject and you may spend quite a while covering that
particular
| segment and you WILL know (and remember) the answer
afterwards, or the
| test will be over.
|
|
| -Robert, CFII
| Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
| (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
| www.rogerhalstead.com

I was in the A&P school in 1972 because I could get student
loans to help. I said to the school financial people that
it seemed strange that I could borrow money to become a
mechanic while I already had a commercial ticket and held a
ground instructor advanced and instrument. His reply was
that Spartan would loan me the money.

I finished up the instrument, CFI, CFII, MEL and SES and the
powerplant too. Was out of school a year or so and went
back to finish the airframe. I trained when Elmo Mauer was
the guy in charge. Flew with Auggie and Norm Penick.

Finished up at Spartan in 75 and got a job in OKC at PWA.
After some strange jobs, ended up at Wichita in 78.



"Jim Carter" wrote in message
t...
| Jim,
| When were you at Spartan? I used to teach at Ross down
on Riverside and
| Spartan was the only other real school there at the time.
|
| I busted my II oral at TUL FSDO because I didn't know
what a High
| Altitude Teardrop Penetration approach was. There was a
pub'd one for TUL at
| the time - the old F100s used it.
|
| The inspectors reasoning was that I could hop in the
right seat of a
| Citation and give instrument training and that aircraft
was capable of
| executing the approach. I reasoned he was just ****ed off
and having a bad
| day.
|
| One of my previous CFI students had swallowed a valve
on takeoff with
| him about two weeks earlier.
|
|
| --
| Jim Carter
| Rogers, Arkansas
| "Jim Macklin" wrote
in message
| ...
| I would agree on that, organization. When I was training
at
| Spartan [Tulsa] for my CFI ratings, the "word" was that
the
| FSDO was very tough on CFII applicants.
| I showed up with my own, name embossed Jep bag with a
full
| set of IFR charts and the J-AID. After a few questions,
| maybe an hour or so, we went flying.
| But students who showed up with the school supplied
charts
| were being grilled half a day or even longer, because
the
| inspectors wanted to know that the student really knew
the
| material.
|
| It did not hurt that I usually began an answer to a
question
| with, "That's FAR 91.85, paragraph 2, ..."
|
|
|
| "Roger" wrote in message
| ...
| | On 2 Feb 2007 09:36:48 -0800, "Robert M. Gary"
|
| | wrote:
| |
| | On Feb 1, 10:37 pm, "Jim Macklin"
| | wrote:
| | Know how to interpret the material from on-line
| sources.
| | The key is, can you draw a crude picture of the
weather
| | [verbally or with a pencil] and then apply that to
the
| FAR
| | as to whether the weather, currently and forecast,
will
| | allow the operation.
| |
| | Partly, but every DE I've ever worked with required
the
| applicant to
| | show up with the classic charts and exhibit knowledge
of
| the symbols
| | (i.e. carry a secret decoder ring). Once rated, few
| pilots every use
| | these old style charts.
| |
| | They didn't even have me look at weather charts or
even
| the old style
| | codes and this was a few years back. Of course the
| weather was so bad
| | it bout beat the snot out of me flying up there to
take
| the test. I
| | told him I almost canceled, but decided to head up and
see
| "how it
| | went". He asked me about the forecast and if it was
| deteriorating,
| | getting better or as forecast. I also had everything
he
| asked for, in
| | a note book and _in_order_. After he asked for the
second
| document and
| | I just flipped a page, he said, "let me see that".
Looked
| through it,
| | asked me a few questions on weather, flight planning,
| aircraft
| | performance, and a few other things I've now forgotten
and
| he sent me
| | out to preflight the Deb.
| |
| | It's been a while, but "as I recall" the whole oral
part
| of the exam
| | was on the order of a half hour, give or take a bit.
| Thing is, being
| | *thoroughly* organized at least made it look like I
knew
| what I was
| | doing. :-)) He told me later that he usually expects
to
| take at least
| | twice as long on that part and it was rare to have any
one
| come in
| | with the *stuff* in a binder, let alone organized.
| |
| | Most of it was done as casual conversation, but I knew
| what he was
| | after with each question. If I didn't know the answer
I
| was able to
| | tell him right where it was and could find it in the
FARs
| or AIM.
| | When it came to the requirements to be able to drop
below
| DH on an ILS
| | I proudly rattled them right off only to be greeted by
a
| blank stare
| | as if he were waiting for something. Then he said,
| there's one more.
| | I went through them three times but always came up
short.
| Finally I
| | looked at him, held out my hand and asked if "I could
use
| the book".
| | :-))
| |
| | The conversation seems casual, but make a mistake and
you
| can expect
| | more questions on the same subject. Miss another one
or
| two on the
| | same subject and you may spend quite a while covering
that
| particular
| | segment and you WILL know (and remember) the answer
| afterwards, or the
| | test will be over.
| |
| |
| | -Robert, CFII
| | Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
| | (N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
| | www.rogerhalstead.com
|
|
|
|