IFR oral
Instrument Rating oral exam questions
The instrument oral is about staying ahead of the airplane in the system. The examiner gives you a clearance, a plate, or a failure, and asks you to brief it, fly it in your head, and handle the part a flashcard cannot answer.
Practice the IFR oral — free
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Topics
- Holding proceduresHolding shows up as a clearance, not a definition. You get a fix, a radial or airway, a direction, and an expect-further-clearance time — and you brief the entry, the turns, the leg length or timing, and the wind correction out loud.
- Instrument approachesYou will brief an approach off the plate, start to finish: frequencies, courses, altitudes, the final approach fix, minimums, the missed approach, and the airport and runway environment.
- Weather & alternatesThe examiner gives you a destination forecast and asks two things: do you legally need to file an alternate, and does the one you picked qualify.
- Lost communicationsLost comms is the classic instrument oral scenario because it has no single memorized answer — you have to reason through 91.185 from the clearance you were actually given.
- Departure proceduresDepartures come up as "how do you get out of here safely in the clouds" — obstacle departure procedures versus standard instrument departures, where you find them, and when they are mandatory.
Other ratings
PilotPrep is a study aid. It is not the FAA, it doesn’t replace your CFI or an endorsement, and practicing here doesn’t guarantee passing the practical. Question sets are representative, not a script the examiner follows.