How the private oral works

Work the density altitude first. Standard temperature at 1,500 feet is about 12 °C, so 33 °C is about ISA +21 °C and the density altitude is roughly 4,000 feet (more if the pressure is low). Enter the POH takeoff and climb charts at the actual pressure altitude and temperature, never the field elevation, and compare the ground roll, the distance over a 50-foot obstacle and the climb with the 2,800 feet and the obstacles, with a margin. If it's tight, cut payload and baggage first. Never cut fuel below trip fuel plus fuel to divert to an alternate plus the 91.151(a)(1) day VFR reserve of 30 minutes at normal cruise. After any load change, recompute the weight and balance and the CG, and check the landing distance at the destination too. The TEMPO puts thunderstorms over the destination at your arrival. Don't plan to beat the TEMPO window or to divert closely around cells: avoid thunderstorms with severe or intense radar echoes by at least 20 miles, never take off or land in the face of an approaching thunderstorm, and wait storms out on the ground. With thin performance margins and storms at the far end, the better answer is the cooler, calmer morning.

PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aircraft Performance and Weather Theory; AC 00-24C, Thunderstorms; 14 CFR 91.103, 91.151

Brings together: Weather Information · Cross-Country Flight Planning · Performance and Limitations

Sample every drain point into a clear container. A little water that clears is drained until the samples come out clean. Water that keeps coming, or a large amount of it, means the fuel source may be contaminated: stop, keep the samples, report it, and don't fly until the system has been drained or purged and re-sampled clean. The rushed passenger is external pressure, the setup for a 'get it done' decision, so name it and tell them you leave when the airplane is ready. At the run-up, the magneto check fails on an excessive drop, an excessive difference between the two magnetos, roughness, or no drop at all (which can mean a magneto isn't grounding). A fouled plug is only one cause of a large drop: if the POH gives a clearing procedure, try it once, then re-check. If the check still fails, taxi back. You're responsible for the airplane being airworthy before every flight, whatever the schedule.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Ground Operations; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aircraft Systems; Risk Management Handbook (FAA-H-8083-2A); 14 CFR 91.3, 91.7

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

First troubleshoot: volume and squelch, the frequency, the headset and audio panel, and the second radio if you have one. If it's still dead, squawk 7600 and work out which case you have. Receiver out (you can still transmit): stay outside or above the Class D until you know the direction and flow of traffic, tell the tower your type, position, altitude and that you intend to land, ask to be controlled with light signals, and report again 3 to 5 miles out as you join. Transmitter out (you can still hear): stay outside or above until you know the flow, monitor the tower frequency, then join the pattern and keep the tower in sight for light signals. Both out: the same as transmitter out. To land without a radio in Class D, 14 CFR 91.129(d)(2) needs all three: basic VFR weather, visual contact with the tower, and a clearance to land, here by light signal. In the air: steady green, cleared to land; flashing green, return for landing, to be followed by a steady green before you land; steady red, give way to other aircraft and continue circling; flashing red, airport unsafe, do not land; alternating red and green, exercise extreme caution. Acknowledge in flight by rocking your wings in daylight, or blinking the landing or navigation lights at night; on the ground in daylight, by moving the ailerons or rudder. After touchdown: flashing red, taxi clear of the runway in use; flashing green, cleared to taxi; steady red, stop. Taxi clear and park, then call the tower by phone.

AIM 4-2-13, 4-3-13; 14 CFR 91.125, 91.129(d)

Brings together: Communications and Light Signals · Traffic Patterns

Decide before you go. Work both numbers from the POH: the landing distance on wet grass, and the takeoff distance to clear the trees on departure. Compare both with the 2,200 feet, with margin. Many POHs publish only a dry-grass correction, or none at all; where there's no wet-grass figure, add a conservative margin of your own. If the departure won't fit, don't land there. Arriving: fly a stabilized approach and pick a go-around point; if you're not on speed and on spot by then, go around rather than float down a short, soft runway. Land soft-field style: carry a little power through the roundout and touchdown, touch down nose-high at minimum controllable speed with minimum sink, hold the nosewheel off, keep your momentum, and avoid wheel braking. Leaving: this is a soft-field takeoff and climb with an obstacle. Keep moving onto the runway and lift off with soft-field technique; the short-field brake-hold-and-rotate procedure isn't used on wet grass. Accelerate in ground effect, then climb at Vx over the trees. From short-field technique only two things carry over: use all the runway available, and the Vx obstacle climb. Brief a concrete abort point before you roll; a common rule of thumb is about 70% of liftoff speed by the runway midpoint. Wet grass brakes poorly, so allow for a longer stop. If you don't have it by then, abort straight ahead.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Takeoffs and Departure Climbs, Approaches and Landings; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aircraft Performance

Brings together: Soft-Field Takeoff and Climb · Soft-Field Approach and Landing · Go-Around/Rejected Landing

Divert early, while you still have altitude and options, and to a suitable airport, not just the nearest: terrain and weather on the way, runway length and surface, and fuel to get there with your reserve. As you turn, note the time and your heading, estimate the new heading, time and fuel, then refine. Hold an altitude that keeps you clear of terrain and meets the 91.155 cloud clearances. That note at the turn is what the lost procedure starts from: dead-reckon from the turn point, and the elapsed time multiplied by your groundspeed bounds how far you can be from it, your circle of uncertainty. Then the five Cs, in order. Climb, if the clouds allow, for a better view and radio reception. Communicate: ATC for radar assistance, flight following or vectors; Flight Service for communications and direction-finding help (Flight Service doesn't provide flight following). Confess that you're unsure of your position. Comply with the help you get, but keep the controller advised that you're VFR and not instrument rated: radar assistance doesn't authorize you to break the regulations or the VFR cloud clearances, so declare an emergency rather than accept a vector into cloud. Conserve fuel with an endurance power setting. Cross-check with a VOR cross-fix or GPS. Declare an emergency early, on 121.5 or by squawking 7700, if you can't stay VFR or the help isn't resolving it.

PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Navigation; AIM 6-2; 14 CFR 91.155

Brings together: Pilotage and Dead Reckoning · Navigation Systems and Radar Services · Diversion · Lost Procedures

The tailwind on base raised your groundspeed and carried you through the final course; that's the setup, so recognize the setup rather than wait for stall cues, because a cross-controlled stall gives little warning. Rudder doesn't tighten a turn the way you want. Bottom rudder yaws the nose in and steepens the bank, so you hold opposite aileron to stop the roll and pull to keep the nose up. Bottom rudder, opposite aileron and back pressure together drive the inside wing to its critical angle of attack first, and the airplane can roll into a spin too low to recover. Overshoot plus inside rudder plus opposite aileron plus back pressure means unload and go around, now. The go-around is the default for this overshoot; continue only if you can rejoin with a gentle, coordinated, shallow turn and a stabilized approach. Bank raises the stall speed, and at pattern altitude about 30° of bank is a common warning limit. If it does stall: reduce the angle of attack first, roll the wings level with coordinated controls, add power as appropriate, and go around. Don't pull through it, and don't try to raise a dropping wing with aileron alone.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Maintaining Aircraft Control; AC 61-67

Brings together: Maneuvering During Slow Flight · Power-Off Stalls · Spin Awareness

Trust the instruments, not your body, and diagnose before you act. Airspeed increasing and altitude decreasing means nose low; airspeed decreasing and altitude increasing means nose high. This is nose low and steepening, the start of a spiral dive. Power to idle, unload to about 1 G by relaxing back pressure, then level the wings with coordinated aileron and rudder, then raise the nose gently to level flight. Do not pull first: pulling while banked tightens the spiral and can overstress the airplane. (Nose high is different: power in, nose down, then level the wings.) Then finish the recovery: set power for level flight, re-trim, and confirm attitude, heading, altitude and airspeed are stable before you turn. Once stable, tell ATC you're a VFR pilot in cloud, declare an emergency if you need to, give your position and altitude, and ask for a safe altitude and vectors. Turn back to the reciprocal of the heading you had when you entered the cloud, not the heading you happen to have after the recovery, with a shallow bank of about 10° or less, protecting your altitude above the terrain. If you don't know your entry heading, ask ATC for help.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Chapter 17, Emergency Procedures; IFH (FAA-H-8083-15B)

Brings together: Straight-and-Level Flight · Turns to Headings · Recovery from Unusual Flight Attitudes · Radio Communications, Navigation Systems/Facilities, and Radar Services

Know the split. Low oil pressure alone, with normal temperature, can be a gauge problem: watch the temperature and land at the nearest airport to have it checked. Falling pressure with rising temperature means the engine may be losing its oil and could fail soon: land as soon as possible, while you still have power and height. Reduce power to the minimum you need to reach your chosen spot, to ease the load on the engine. Pick the nearest suitable airport or the best field within glide, and prepare for a power-off landing. Aviate and navigate first, then run the POH checklist and communicate: squawk 7700 and declare the emergency on the frequency you're using, with your position; use 121.5 only if you aren't talking to anyone. If the engine fails, fly best glide to the field you already picked. Know where the survival gear is and that the ELT is armed, because rough country means help can take time.

AFH (FAA-H-8083-3C), Emergency Procedures; PHAK (FAA-H-8083-25C), Aircraft Systems; AIM 6-3-1

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