ASTB-E case studies
ASTB-E · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The ASTB-E is the selection instrument the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps use when screening applicants for officer commissioning programs, most visibly aviation roles such as student naval aviator and student naval flight officer, but also several non-aviation officer programs. It is not a knowledge certification and it does not license anyone to fly; it produces a set of aptitude scores that a selection board weighs alongside grades, fitness results, interviews, and medical qualification. Candidates meet a mix of academic and non-academic sections: quantitative reasoning, reading comprehension, mechanical concepts, spatial visualization, aviation and nautical knowledge, a biographical inventory, interest and trait self-reports, and a performance-based block that asks you to track a target with stick and throttle while simultaneously responding to audio cues through a headset. The ASTB-E case studies are 5 cases and about 3,941 words.
1Round-Trip Fuel Planning with Wind and a Reserve Floor
You are planning a round-trip liaison flight in a single-engine airplane. Usable fuel is 300 gal, and fuel density is 6.7 lb/gal.
658 words, about 3 min2Compound Gear Train That Will Not Lift the Load
A boat-lift winch uses a 2.5 N·m electric motor turning at 1,200 rpm. The motor's 12-tooth pinion drives a 36-tooth gear, which shares a shaft with a 10-tooth sprocket driving a 40-tooth sprocket on the cable drum.
707 words, about 4 min3Crossing Traffic in a Channel with a Beam Current
You are the officer of the deck of a power-driven ship making 8.0 kt through the water on heading 000° in a buoyed channel. The tidal current sets 090° at 2.0 kt.
843 words, about 4 min4Traffic Pattern Geometry, Crab Angle, and Mental Rotation
You are flying left-hand traffic for runway 09 in a light airplane at 100 kt true airspeed. On downwind your heading indicator reads 270° and the runway lies off your left wing about 1 nm away.
779 words, about 4 min5Multi-Task Prioritization Under a Hard-Deadline Battery
You are 12 minutes into a multi-task simulator sortie with three concurrent tasks. (1) Target tracking: you hold a crosshair on a target that is drifting right at 4 m/s; an error above 30 m held for more than 3 s ends the run.
954 words, about 5 min