ATSC 113 FLYING EXAM QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
2025/2026
Define AGL - Above ground level; used to describe the height of a cloud (for example, a
cloud base of 1000 feet AGL)
weather observers never ____ cloud coverage but often ____ cloud coverage -
underestimate; overestimate
what is the type of visibility most relevant to safety when flying - horizontal visibility
(looking straight ahead); this is because vertical visibility (looking down) or looking at a
nearly vertical angle (slant visibility) might make the pilot be able to see the airport, but
once you descent and enter fog, it will make it hard to see.
if you hear the term visibility without any adjectives, what does it mean? - horizontal
visibility
describe horizontal visibility - - measured in canada as statute miles over land and
nautical miles over ocean
- us uses statue miles
- the world meteorological organization (WMO) uses km or metres
what affects visibility and makes it poor? - fog, haze, clouds, volcanic ash, dust, sand,
smoke/pulluted air
if visibility is poor, why does this affect pilots? - - can't see the ground for landmarks for
navigation
- other aircraft or obstacles
- the horizon, to help them fly the plane level
- the runway, for landing
why is poor visibility so dangerous? - even if a pilot sees poor visibility, the speed at
which the plane flies can make it a matter of seconds to move the aircrafy
VFR and IFR are related to what concept? - visibility
how is visibility measured? - - by human observers by trying to see a landmark of known
distances from the airport, like a tall tower, mountains, trees, etc.
- from automated instruments
what is a transmissometer? - - an automated instrument to measure visibility which
shines an incident light beam across a known path length and measures how much
dimmer the received (transmitted) light is compared to when the air is clean
,besides transmissometers, what other instruments can measure visibility? - -
instruments that measure how much light is scattered (bounced off in all directions) from
tiny particles (dust, smoke, fog, etc) in the air
- some of these instruments measure forward-scattered light, others measure back-
scattered, and others measure side-scattered
what is RVR - - runway visual range
- at busy airports, automated visibility sensors are installed to measure how far in m or ft
ahead a pilot can see horizontally along the runway centerline; only reported when
visibilities are poor
what is reported to pilots in conditions where there is an indefinite ceiling because of
obscurations like dust, smoke, fog, etc? (i.e., there is no ceiling because the
atmosphere is obscured ground up) - instead of reporting the normal ceiling height,
vertical visibility (vv) is reported instead
what determines vertical visibility? - 1. distance that an observer can see vertically into
an indefinite ceiling
2. the height corresponding to the top of a ceiling light projector beam
3. the height at which a ceiling balloon (bright red balloon filled with helium) completely
disappears during the presence of an indefinite ceiling
4. the height determined by the sensor algorithm at automated stations (based on
horizontal visibility)
what symbol is used on weather maps? - glyphs
what is used to represent weather in text based weather reports? - text abbreviations
how does the METARs (Meteorological Aviation Reports) represent weather? - text
abbreviations
how is the intensity of precipitation indicated in glyphs? - multiple symbols
describe VFR - - visual flight rules
- means that you can fly by looking out the window
- need good visibility and to stay out of clouds
- you can navigate, avoid obstacles, control the aircraft, and find airports to land all by
looking out the window
- all pilots know VFR
Describe VMC/VFC - - Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) or Visual Flight
Conditions (VFC)
- the name given to weather that is good enough to fly VFR
- the specific regulations for visibility is set up your location (country)
, what happens if a VFR pilot flies into clouds or other obscurations - - won't know if they
are rightside up, which will cause them to turn the control yoke in the wrong direction
whcih can cause the aircraft to stall or spin; i.e. lose control of the aircraft
- lose track of where they are
- panic
describe marginal vfr - - conditions for which VFR is allowed but visibility is poor and/or
the cloud base is low
- harder to fly VFR so more work
describe IFR - - you can conduct most of the flight by not looking out the window and
instead
navigating by using the onboard GPS; using the control panel, and getting clearances
from air traffic control (ATC)
describe ATC - - air traffic control
- keep track of the flight and make sure the plane gets to the destination without hitting
anything
- required to submit a flight plan to ATC before you fly
describe IFC/IMC - instrument flight conditions; instrument meteorological conditions.
weather in which VFR is not allowed
why is weather still important to IFR pilots? - - even IFR pilots need to stay out of
thunderstorms and volcanic ash
- not all airplanes are built to remove ice so these planes would need to stay out of
clouds with supercooled cloud and rain drops
describe VFR over the top - - when a layer of clouds is below you so you cannot see the
ground to navigate but above the clouds, the air is clear so you can fly VFR
- you need some of the skills of IFR to fly in this type of weather but in most countries,
you do not need IFR clearance to fly VFR over the top
airspaces - - the 3-d air above the earth that is divided into different regions
what are the generic rules for IFR - - cloud base is less than 1000ft AGL and/or visibility
is less than 3 SM
what are the generic rules for MVFR - - cloud base is between 1000 ft and 3000 ft AGL
and/or between 3 and 5 SM
what are the generic rules for VFR - - cloud base is more than 3000 ft AGL AND more
than 5 SM
what is fog - - a cloud that touches the ground
2025/2026
Define AGL - Above ground level; used to describe the height of a cloud (for example, a
cloud base of 1000 feet AGL)
weather observers never ____ cloud coverage but often ____ cloud coverage -
underestimate; overestimate
what is the type of visibility most relevant to safety when flying - horizontal visibility
(looking straight ahead); this is because vertical visibility (looking down) or looking at a
nearly vertical angle (slant visibility) might make the pilot be able to see the airport, but
once you descent and enter fog, it will make it hard to see.
if you hear the term visibility without any adjectives, what does it mean? - horizontal
visibility
describe horizontal visibility - - measured in canada as statute miles over land and
nautical miles over ocean
- us uses statue miles
- the world meteorological organization (WMO) uses km or metres
what affects visibility and makes it poor? - fog, haze, clouds, volcanic ash, dust, sand,
smoke/pulluted air
if visibility is poor, why does this affect pilots? - - can't see the ground for landmarks for
navigation
- other aircraft or obstacles
- the horizon, to help them fly the plane level
- the runway, for landing
why is poor visibility so dangerous? - even if a pilot sees poor visibility, the speed at
which the plane flies can make it a matter of seconds to move the aircrafy
VFR and IFR are related to what concept? - visibility
how is visibility measured? - - by human observers by trying to see a landmark of known
distances from the airport, like a tall tower, mountains, trees, etc.
- from automated instruments
what is a transmissometer? - - an automated instrument to measure visibility which
shines an incident light beam across a known path length and measures how much
dimmer the received (transmitted) light is compared to when the air is clean
,besides transmissometers, what other instruments can measure visibility? - -
instruments that measure how much light is scattered (bounced off in all directions) from
tiny particles (dust, smoke, fog, etc) in the air
- some of these instruments measure forward-scattered light, others measure back-
scattered, and others measure side-scattered
what is RVR - - runway visual range
- at busy airports, automated visibility sensors are installed to measure how far in m or ft
ahead a pilot can see horizontally along the runway centerline; only reported when
visibilities are poor
what is reported to pilots in conditions where there is an indefinite ceiling because of
obscurations like dust, smoke, fog, etc? (i.e., there is no ceiling because the
atmosphere is obscured ground up) - instead of reporting the normal ceiling height,
vertical visibility (vv) is reported instead
what determines vertical visibility? - 1. distance that an observer can see vertically into
an indefinite ceiling
2. the height corresponding to the top of a ceiling light projector beam
3. the height at which a ceiling balloon (bright red balloon filled with helium) completely
disappears during the presence of an indefinite ceiling
4. the height determined by the sensor algorithm at automated stations (based on
horizontal visibility)
what symbol is used on weather maps? - glyphs
what is used to represent weather in text based weather reports? - text abbreviations
how does the METARs (Meteorological Aviation Reports) represent weather? - text
abbreviations
how is the intensity of precipitation indicated in glyphs? - multiple symbols
describe VFR - - visual flight rules
- means that you can fly by looking out the window
- need good visibility and to stay out of clouds
- you can navigate, avoid obstacles, control the aircraft, and find airports to land all by
looking out the window
- all pilots know VFR
Describe VMC/VFC - - Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) or Visual Flight
Conditions (VFC)
- the name given to weather that is good enough to fly VFR
- the specific regulations for visibility is set up your location (country)
, what happens if a VFR pilot flies into clouds or other obscurations - - won't know if they
are rightside up, which will cause them to turn the control yoke in the wrong direction
whcih can cause the aircraft to stall or spin; i.e. lose control of the aircraft
- lose track of where they are
- panic
describe marginal vfr - - conditions for which VFR is allowed but visibility is poor and/or
the cloud base is low
- harder to fly VFR so more work
describe IFR - - you can conduct most of the flight by not looking out the window and
instead
navigating by using the onboard GPS; using the control panel, and getting clearances
from air traffic control (ATC)
describe ATC - - air traffic control
- keep track of the flight and make sure the plane gets to the destination without hitting
anything
- required to submit a flight plan to ATC before you fly
describe IFC/IMC - instrument flight conditions; instrument meteorological conditions.
weather in which VFR is not allowed
why is weather still important to IFR pilots? - - even IFR pilots need to stay out of
thunderstorms and volcanic ash
- not all airplanes are built to remove ice so these planes would need to stay out of
clouds with supercooled cloud and rain drops
describe VFR over the top - - when a layer of clouds is below you so you cannot see the
ground to navigate but above the clouds, the air is clear so you can fly VFR
- you need some of the skills of IFR to fly in this type of weather but in most countries,
you do not need IFR clearance to fly VFR over the top
airspaces - - the 3-d air above the earth that is divided into different regions
what are the generic rules for IFR - - cloud base is less than 1000ft AGL and/or visibility
is less than 3 SM
what are the generic rules for MVFR - - cloud base is between 1000 ft and 3000 ft AGL
and/or between 3 and 5 SM
what are the generic rules for VFR - - cloud base is more than 3000 ft AGL AND more
than 5 SM
what is fog - - a cloud that touches the ground
