Aircraft General Knowledge (Conhecimentos Técnicos de Aeronave)
This section covers airframe, engine, systems, and instruments - the mechanical knowledge a private pilot needs to operate and preflight an airplane safely. You must understand the four-stroke cycle (intake, compression, power, exhaust), the function of the carburetor and the risk of carburetor icing, magneto ignition and the mag check, and the constant-speed propeller and manifold pressure relationships. Know the electrical system (alternator, battery, bus), the pitot-static system and which instruments depend on it (airspeed indicator, altimeter, vertical speed indicator), and the gyroscopic instruments (attitude indicator, heading indicator, turn coordinator) and their power sources.
Question traps here are subtle. A frequent one is asking which instruments are gyroscopic versus pitot-static, or which fail if the pitot tube ices over versus the static port blocks. Another is carburetor icing: it can occur at outside temperatures well above freezing (roughly −7 °C to +21 °C with high humidity), and carburetor heat enriches the mixture and can cause a temporary roughness. Magnetos are independent of the electrical system, so the engine keeps running with a dead battery - but a failed mag check means a no-go. Know the difference between detonation and pre-ignition, and why mixture leaning matters at altitude.
Rule of thumb: "Pitot blockage affects the airspeed indicator; static blockage affects all three pitot-static instruments." Worked example: if the static port ices, the altimeter freezes at its last reading, the VSI reads zero, and the airspeed indicator behaves like an altimeter - it reads higher in a climb and lower in a descent.