Best Instrument Checkride Questions

flyingpreacher

flyingpreacher

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Recently, @Joseph Matties had a good post in the student pilot forum regarding best PAR checkride questions. I thought it would be helpful to have a similar thread for Instrument Checkride questions. Maybe it's a question that stumped you, maybe one that you think is super important, but not a lot of people know, or maybe you want to throw us a softball question to make Instrument Aspiring pilots feel a little better when they don't know the answers to all the stumpers!

So whatcha got?
 
See my FICON post there. But, the gist is, what is FICON, and if your intended airport is not reporting FICON, what are you gonna do?
 
5DC9C192-E427-40A8-A164-156726AA5EA0.jpeg This is FICON
 
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Filed: AALLE 3 arrival PORDR transition. Because fuel is so expensive today, you are flying at economy cruise = 250 knots. (Note: the arrival expects you at 280 knots.) Upon check in with Denver Center they give you a shortcut, “Cleared direct AALLE, descend via the arrival, comply with all speed restrictions.”
QUESTION: when are you expected to be at 280 knots?
A: at AALLE
B: abeam PORDR
C: immediately
D: never
 
Is he flying a jet for the check ride? Would answer I can’t accept the clearence due to altitude, airspeed, and turbo jet restrictions.

But I would be prepared SID and STAR questions regarding clearances and altitudes.
 
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Clip4 said:
Is he flying a jet for the check ride? Would answer I can’t accept the clearence due to altitude, airspeed, and turbo jet restrictions.

But I would be prepared SID and STAR questions regarding clearances and altitudes.
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Boy wouldn't that be an exciting checkride! "So on climbout, we're looking for Vy of 295KIAS and then......" lol
 
Not sure if this holds true today, but in my day…

what are the four parts of an ILS?
 
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Traffic in front of you is cleared for the visual approach. ATC asks if you have the airport or the traffic in sight. You only see the traffic. ATC instructs you, “follow preceding traffic, cleared for the visual approach.”
The traffic in front of you then announces, “lost sight of the runway. Executing missed approach.”
Question: what do you do?
 
Loss of comms is sure to come up on checkride. Everyone knows AVEF (assigned, vectored, expected, or filed) for routing.

If your clearance limit is to an airport (which is almost always the case these days) and your route takes you near an IAF before reaching airport, what will you do? Assume you're in IMC the whole time.

When would you begin your descent?
 
If a school bus is stopped on a divided 4 way traveling in the opposite direction, do I have to stop for it?

Actual question during my check ride oral.
 
It's IMC from Departure to Destination. At some point in cruise your com radios quit. In the days before Foreflight, what altimeter setting do you use if you continue to original destination?
 
NorthEast Ohio said:
View attachment 102765
Filed: AALLE 3 arrival PORDR transition. Because fuel is so expensive today, you are flying at economy cruise = 250 knots. (Note: the arrival expects you at 280 knots.) Upon check in with Denver Center they give you a shortcut, “Cleared direct AALLE, descend via the arrival, comply with all speed restrictions.”
QUESTION: when are you expected to be at 280 knots?
A: at AALLE
B: abeam PORDR
C: immediately
D: never
Click to expand...
Never
 
Walboy said:
Loss of comms is sure to come up on checkride. Everyone knows AVEF (assigned, vectored, expected, or filed) for routing.

If your clearance limit is to an airport (which is almost always the case these days) and your route takes you near an IAF before reaching airport, what will you do? Assume you're in IMC the whole time.

When would you begin your descent?
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Soon enough to get to the Clearance Limit with fuel still in the tank.
 
Rich Holt said:
If a school bus is stopped on a divided 4 way traveling in the opposite direction, do I have to stop for it?

Actual question during my check ride oral.
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Sounds like ya already passed by that point. Are you a cop?
 
NorthEast Ohio said:
View attachment 102770

Traffic in front of you is cleared for the visual approach. ATC asks if you have the airport or the traffic in sight. You only see the traffic. ATC instructs you, “follow preceding traffic, cleared for the visual approach.”
The traffic in front of you then announces, “lost sight of the runway. Executing missed approach.”
Question: what do you do?
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Say I'm going around to, whadda ya want me to do.
 
upload_2021-12-15_14-17-35.png
An Automatic Direction Finder; is neither automatic, nor a direction, nor a finder. Discuss.
 
Do you have the exam fee in cash?

I never found any of the questions to be "hard" but I was immensely prepared for the oral. The fun I had was the "lost comm" question. There's the official FAA answer and then there's the real life practical answer. I explained both. I had an examiner who didn't like the latter, but he didn't hold it against me.
 
You are on top at 7,000 feet in a single engine piston. Stations in the area are reporting 500 OVC. Your engine quits. What do you do?

Your airplane has an impressive Garmin radio stack in the panel (750/650). You are using your Ipad for charts and information. You hear a pop and the entire radio stack goes dark. Last information you had was all airports within fuel range are 500 OVC or lower. What do you do?

My instrument checkride was a lot of scenario based stuff, both the oral and the flight. As the DPE told me, if you couldn't fly basic instruments you wouldn't be here today. I need to know if you are able to survive when things don't go as planned.
 
You pass your checkride on January 1st. If you don't shoot any approaches or holding for currency, what is that last date you will be IFR Current?

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
 
Describe a normal (not emergency) situation where you can shoot an approach in IMC without a clearance.
 
midwestpa24 said:
You are on top at 7,000 feet in a single engine piston. Stations in the area are reporting 500 OVC. Your engine quits. What do you do?

Your airplane has an impressive Garmin radio stack in the panel (750/650). You are using your Ipad for charts and information. You hear a pop and the entire radio stack goes dark. Last information you had was all airports within fuel range are 500 OVC or lower. What do you do?

My instrument checkride was a lot of scenario based stuff, both the oral and the flight. As the DPE told me, if you couldn't fly basic instruments you wouldn't be here today. I need to know if you are able to survive when things don't go as planned.
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Try to restart it. If that don't work, check mine and everyone else's seat belts and other crash preparations
 
MauleSkinner said:
That’s an ATC separation requirement, not a terrain/obstacle requirement.
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Yes. Obviously there ain't no such thang as a Maximum Altitude for obstacle avoidance. Have you ever seen another one where they added the "(do not climb above 2000)" to the text?
 
luvflyin said:
Yes. Obviously there ain't no such thang as a Maximum Altitude for obstacle avoidance. Have you ever seen another one where they added the "(do not climb above 2000)" to the text?
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Most of the ATC SIDS I’ve flown were the overlying restriction, so no.

But I’ve seen similar requirements for missed approaches, but can’t think of where offhand.
 
luvflyin said:
Try to restart it. If that don't work, check mine and everyone else's seat belts and other crash preparations
Click to expand...

We actually did the engine out scenario in the airplane. Found the nearest airport on the GPS fortunately within glide distance. Punched up the approach for the closest straight in. Obviously this is not going to be a proper instrument approach, but at least get in the neighborhood. Realized I was higher than glideslope, so did some s-turns while still under the hood. At 500 feet we "broke out" and actually would have made a good gear up landing.
 
midwestpa24 said:
We actually did the engine out scenario in the airplane. Found the nearest airport on the GPS fortunately within glide distance. Punched up the approach for the closest straight in. Obviously this is not going to be a proper instrument approach, but at least get in the neighborhood. Realized I was higher than glideslope, so did some s-turns while still under the hood. At 500 feet we "broke out" and actually would have made a good gear up landing.
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Why not put the gear down instead of making S-turns?
 
midwestpa24 said:
We actually did the engine out scenario in the airplane. Found the nearest airport on the GPS fortunately within glide distance. Punched up the approach for the closest straight in. Obviously this is not going to be a proper instrument approach, but at least get in the neighborhood. Realized I was higher than glideslope, so did some s-turns while still under the hood. At 500 feet we "broke out" and actually would have made a good gear up landing.
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Ah. Read your post again. I missed the ya still had your ipad. Yeah, rollin' yer own is certainly feasible.
 
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