EAA Sport Aviation - October 2011

glad we took the practice test. It was a good mental exercise and caused us to use muscles we hadn’t used in years.

We soon came to the conclusion that this test isn’t just for student pilots—it’s also a great resource for experienced pilots.

A SOLID FOUNDATION

The FAA’s knowledge test is used in primary training to help lay a foundation, upon which a student pilot and instructor can then build practical flying skills. The test covers a wide range of topics, from aircraft performance calculations to reading weather maps and understanding airport markings.

As with any foundation, once the house is built, the foundation is quickly forgotten even though it continues to support the house. Taking this mock test after becoming a pilot felt like a foundation inspection. Naturally, none of us were eager to undergo this self-assessment.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we avoid these self-inspections because we are afraid of failure and being discovered a fraud, no matter our level of skill. In fact, the more we have to lose, the more we try to hide and cover up our weaknesses and shortcomings in fear that we’ll lose something we treasure so deeply.

As pilots there are subjects many of us know only enough about to choose the right multiple choice answer. We secretly fear one day we’ll be cornered on the topic and be exposed as a bad pilot. Take a deep breath. You’re not a bad pilot, and neither am I.

All five of us who took the test confessed we found areas we were embarrassingly weak in. This didn’t make us bad pilots. I’d personally fly with all of my co-workers who took this test (even the ones who flunked). Bad pilots are those who are content and don’t care to find those areas they should learn more about.

One of the most experienced pilots who took the mock test admitted he wanted to become reacquainted with an old friend, his manual E6-B, and again learn how to use it for the sixth time. Another pilot confessed he dug out his

aircraft’s operating handbook to look up some landing figures he used to know like the back of his hand but had long forgotten. Another pilot laughed as she

“Take a deep breath.

You’re not a bad pilot and neither am I. ... Bad pilots are those who are content and don’t care to find those areas they should learn more about.”

confessed she couldn’t determine the weather over Nebraska because “who can tell the difference between all those rectangular states when they’re not labeled?” We laughed and knew exactly how she felt but weren’t as brave as she was to say it out loud.

So go ahead, take a look at your foundation; take a practice test and see if there are some areas in which you could use some patchwork.

DOING THE MATH

In the age of Garmin’s faithful magenta line, online flight planners, and weight and balance apps on our phones, we asked each other if doing the math manually, which the test requires for many questions, was even valuable to the practical flier.

The obvious and easy answer was that any of our new modern tools can fail, but an even more convincing answer soon surfaced. By taking this test and slowing down to do the math manually again, it reminded us how to think as pilots. Our fancy gadgets can calculate groundspeed, weight and balance, and takeoff performance much better than any of us can on paper, but if we’re not thinking about wind as a factor, or the location of that 50-pound bag, or what density altitude affects, we’re in trouble.

Working through these questions by
hand was a great reminder of all the small
factors we should be thinking about on
every flight, whether that’s takeoff distance
over a 50-foot obstacle, understanding how
fuel mixture affects cylinder head temper-
atures, or knowing how fast you can
legally fly in controlled airspace. The
written test covers all of these areas and
thinking of these topics again was a great
mental exercise.

Brady Lane, EAA 808095, is a multimedia journalist for EAA and a sport pilot. Visit www.SportAviation.org to take a practice test and for links to Brady’s flight-training videos and homebuilding blog.

TIPS FOR STAYING SHARP

• Celebrate the anniversary of when you passed your knowledge test or flight test each year by taking another practice test, just to see how you do. Find a link to the test at www.SportAviation.org.