Pilot Quiz - Aviation Numbers

Aviation is an activity of numbers—airspeed, altitude, flight legs, minutes, and so on. Some of these a pilot needs to know, some are just interesting facts about flying. Try yourself on these. Caution - they are not all easy.

1. How many different tests does the FAA give for various licenses, ratings, and activities?

a. Fewer than 15

b. Fewer than 50

c. More than 80

2. How many questions are there in the longest test: Military Competency Instructor?

a. 125

b. 85

c. 60

3. How many questions are in the shortest test?

a. 40

b. 36

c. 25

4. What is a passing score for each of the tests?

a. 65

b. 70

c. 75

5. If you want a special registration number for your aircraft, in addition to the initial letter N, what is the maximum amount of numbers and letters that may be used?

a. no limit

b. eight

c. five

6. A letter may be included as the final character in a registration number. However, two letters may not be used. What are they?

a. L and Z

b. I and O

c. N and Q

7. Incidents of laser pointing to aircraft have more than doubled since 2009. How many such incidents were reported to the FAA for the year 2011?

a. 487

b. 1,042

c. 3,591

8. In a year’s time, about how many new airman certificates—student, private, instrument, commercial, ATP, etc) does the FAA now issue?

a. 83,000

b. 150,000

c. 187,000

9. The FAA is moving toward getting the next generation air traffic control system (NextGen) into operation. Not counting air traffic controllers and airway system specialists, how many persons does the FAA plan to hire over the next two years to support NextGen?

a. less than 100

b. more than 200

c. more than 300

10. Altitude means less oxygen. When flying at night, pilots who smoke suffer a greater loss in vision than do non-smokers. How much greater is that loss for smokers at 6,000 feet than at sea level?

a. 5 times

b. 3 times

c. 2 times

Key to answers