How the commercial oral works

It turns on who provides the airplane and who has operational control. If you rent the 172 and provide the company pilot plus airplane, that's carrying persons for compensation, and offering it (holding out, under AC 120-12A) makes it common carriage. That needs an operator certificate under Part 119, with the flight run as an on-demand Part 135 operation, so decline. The lawful version is the company renting or leasing the airplane in its own name, holding operational control, and paying you only to fly it. That's a Part 91 flight, and your commercial certificate lets you be paid as its pilot (the FAA's Green (1993) and Ferris (1990) interpretations draw this line). None of the 119.1(e) exceptions, such as student instruction, nonstop commercial air tours under 91.147, ferry or training flights, or aerial work like banner towing, covers flying a company's employees to a meeting. 91.409(b) requires a 100-hour inspection for an aircraft carrying any person, other than a crewmember, for hire, or used for flight instruction for hire in an airplane the instructor provides. Company employees flown on the company's own business, without being charged, aren't passengers for hire in that sense, so it doesn't automatically apply to the Part 91 version; check the airplane's inspections either way. Then check yourself: a second-class medical for commercial privileges, a current flight review, and three takeoffs and landings in the last 90 days to carry passengers. Without an instrument rating, 61.133(b)(1) bars carrying passengers for hire on cross-countries over 50 NM or at night. Part 91 has no duty or rest limits, so fatigue is yours to manage: run IMSAFE honestly, and a 6 a.m. report after a full workday needs a real sleep opportunity first. If you won't get one, decline or move the departure. Pressure to please a client makes the call harder, not different.

14 CFR 61.23, 61.56, 61.57, 61.133, 91.409(b), 119.1; AC 120-12A; Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2A)

Brings together: Pilot Qualifications · Airworthiness Requirements · Human Factors

Stop the boarding and keep the passengers clear of the airplane until a mechanic has inspected the fresh fluid near the gear and you, as PIC, have determined the airplane is airworthy. A failed gear system changes every landing. Once it's cleared, review the POH emergency gear-extension procedure before departure: a check on the ground proves only that the gear is down and indicating down now. Brief the passengers as 91.107 requires: how to fasten and unfasten their seat belts and, where installed, shoulder harnesses, and that they must be fastened for movement on the surface, takeoff and landing. Add the exits and emergency equipment. Confirm the down-and-locked indications in the preflight, and check them again before takeoff per the POH. The run-up is for cycling the propeller and checking the engine instruments; it tells you nothing about how the gear will work in flight.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Transition to Complex Airplanes; 14 CFR 91.7, 91.107

Brings together: Preflight Assessment · Flight Deck Management · Before Takeoff Check

Check the Chart Supplement first: with the tower closed, the airspace usually reverts to Class E or G, you self-announce on the CTAF, and it gives the pilot-controlled lighting frequency. Start announcing about 10 miles out, then on downwind, base and final, and when you leave the runway. Work out the runway in use before you join: the AWOS or ASOS wind, what traffic is saying on the CTAF, and the windsock. Light the runway: on the published frequency, 7 clicks within 5 seconds for the highest intensity available, 5 for medium or lower, 3 for the lowest. Some systems have only one or two steps, so always key 7 first, then step down. The lights stay on for 15 minutes from the most recent activation, so key them again before final so they don't time out on short final. Be at pattern altitude, normally 1,000 feet AGL for propeller airplanes, before you enter. Enter on a 45° to the downwind, abeam the runway's midpoint, with left turns unless right traffic is published, and look hard for unlit traffic.

AIM 2-1-8 (Table 2-1-3), 4-1-9, 4-3-3; AC 90-66C; Chart Supplement

Brings together: Communications, Light Signals, and Runway Lighting Systems · Traffic Patterns

The maneuver: from abeam the touchdown point, power to idle, then glide to the point through the abeam and base key positions, with pitch controlling airspeed. The standard is a touchdown at the proper pitch attitude, on or within 200 feet beyond the point, never short, with no side drift and the longitudinal axis over the centerline. The tailwind on base raised your groundspeed. Now: turn to final earlier with a normal, coordinated bank. If you've already overshot, accept it or go around, but never tighten the turn with bottom rudder or slip in the turn; slip only once you're established on final. To lose height you have a forward slip, flaps and S-turns, all tools the AFH lists for power-off accuracy approaches. A forward slip is deliberately uncoordinated, crossed controls; hold the airspeed with pitch, and before touchdown transition to a sideslip to stay aligned, or straighten out. Extend flaps in steps, and hold off full flaps until a landing at or beyond the point is assured; check the POH for restrictions on slips with flaps extended. Under the ACS this task gets one attempt: a go-around because you weren't going to meet the tolerances is unsatisfactory, and only a go-around forced by safety, such as traffic on the runway, is excused. Even so, if the approach isn't safe, go around.

Commercial Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-7B), CA.IV.M and Appendix 3; AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Approaches and Landings

Brings together: Power-Off 180° Accuracy Approach and Landing · Go-Around/Rejected Landing

All three are about load factor and energy, but each trades it differently. The steep turn holds altitude, so you add power to hold airspeed against the extra drag; a level 50° bank is about 1.56 G, with the stall speed about 25% higher. The steep spiral is flown at idle, trading altitude for a constant gliding airspeed around a point at a constant radius, steepest bank when the groundspeed is highest (downwind), never more than 60°. Fly at least three 360° turns, finish no lower than 1,500 feet AGL unless it's an actual emergency landing, and clear the engine periodically with brief power so it stays warm and the plugs stay clean. The 60° figures (2 G, stall speed about 41% higher) are for a level turn; in the descending spiral the load is close to that but slightly less. The chandelle trades airspeed for altitude in a 180° climbing turn at a fixed power setting: about 30° of bank, entered at or below the recommended entry speed, never above VA. In the first 90° the bank stays constant and the pitch increases; in the second 90° the pitch stays constant and the bank comes out, rolling out at 180° ±10° just above the stall. Hold that attitude briefly, then lower the nose to regain airspeed without losing altitude. Coordination doesn't prevent an accelerated stall; only reducing the angle of attack and the load factor does. What coordination does is make a stall under load break evenly, not by one wing first.

Commercial Pilot ACS (FAA-S-ACS-7B), Area V; AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Performance Maneuvers; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Load Factor

Brings together: Steep Turns · Steep Spiral · Chandelles

Compare the actual time at each checkpoint with the plan. A 25-knot shortfall stretches every leg, so recompute the fuel to the destination at the actual groundspeed. Keep the reserve separate: 91.151(a)(2) requires enough fuel at night to reach the destination and then fly 45 more minutes at normal cruising speed, so add 45 minutes at normal cruise on top of the destination fuel. That's the legal floor; a personal minimum can raise it but never lower it. If you'd land with less than your minimum, divert now, while you still know exactly where you are. At night, choose the alternate with the Chart Supplement: runway lighting and how it's activated, runway length and surface, and whether fuel is actually available at that hour. Note the time and heading as you turn, estimate heading, time and fuel to the new airport, then refine. Leaving it late, at night, is how being short of fuel turns into being lost.

14 CFR 91.151; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation; Chart Supplement

Brings together: Pilotage and Dead Reckoning · Diversion

An accelerated stall: the wing reached its critical angle of attack under a higher load factor, so at an airspeed above the 1 G stall speed. Stall speed rises with the square root of the load factor: about 1.41 times the 1 G stall speed at 2 G, twice it at 4 G. Accelerated stalls tend to break more abruptly and more severely than 1 G stalls, often with a wing drop, and can cost a lot of altitude. Recover by unloading first: release back pressure until the buffet and the stall stop. Then roll the wings level with coordinated controls, then add power as needed. Power doesn't unstall a wing; only reducing the angle of attack does. A spin needs a stalled wing plus yaw, so uncoordinated rudder at that moment, or aileron used to pick up a dropping wing while still stalled, can roll it into one. Speed matters too. At or below maneuvering speed, the wing stalls before the airplane reaches its limit load factor, which protects the structure. Above it, a hard pull can exceed the limit load factor before the wing reaches its critical angle of attack, with no stall to protect you. Maneuvering speed decreases as weight decreases.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Maintaining Aircraft Control; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aerodynamics of Flight

Brings together: Accelerated Stalls · Spin Awareness

Rapid decompression: the cabin altitude climbs to the airplane's altitude, about 23,000 feet. The FAA's figure for time of useful consciousness there is roughly 5 to 10 minutes at rest, a rapid decompression can cut it by as much as half, and impairment can start at once. Don't hold your breath. Your own mask first: on, 100% oxygen, and flow verified. Then make sure the passengers' masks are on and flowing. Start the emergency descent immediately under your 91.3(b) emergency authority, without waiting for ATC, and squawk 7700 and declare as soon as you can. Fly the POH checklist down to 10,000 feet MSL or the lowest safe altitude, whichever is higher. 12,500 feet is only the 91.211(a)(1) threshold for crew oxygen, not a descent target. Then land as soon as practicable. Hypoxia can cloud your judgment without warning, so act on the checklist rather than on how you feel, and brief the passengers on their masks before every high-altitude flight.

PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aeromedical Factors; AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), High Altitude Operations; 14 CFR 91.3, 91.211

Brings together: Supplemental Oxygen · Pressurization

Treat it as an electrical fire and follow your airplane's POH, which governs; the general pattern is this. Isolate the affected circuit first if you can identify it. If you can't, master switch OFF, alternator or generator OFF, and all other electrical switches OFF except the ignition. Never reset a circuit breaker that tripped. While the fire is active, close the vents, cabin air and heat, and use the fire extinguisher if you have one; ventilate only after you've confirmed the fire is out. With the master off, the engine keeps running on its magnetos, but you lose the radios and transponder, and often electric flaps and gear. So declare the emergency before the master goes off if you can, plan on the emergency gear extension, and be ready for a no-flap approach. Fire in flight is time critical: start an emergency descent and land as soon as possible at the best suitable site you can reach. Pick it early and judge it: over forest, an open field, or a road only if it's clear of wires and traffic and long enough. After landing, the ELT and survival gear matter, so know where they are.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Emergency Procedures; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aircraft Systems

Brings together: Emergency Descent · Emergency Approach and Landing (Simulated) · Systems and Equipment Malfunctions · Emergency Equipment and Survival Gear