Aviation and Nautical Information Test (ANIT)
The ANIT is a knowledge test covering aircraft, ships, weather, and navigation. Organize your study into blocks.
Aircraft and aerodynamics
Four forces: lift, weight, thrust, drag. Lift rises with angle of attack (up to the critical angle), with the square of airspeed, with wing area, and with air density. A stall is exceeding the critical angle of attack; it is not simply a low-airspeed event. Control surfaces: ailerons roll, elevator pitches, rudder yaws. Flaps add lift and drag; spoilers destroy lift.
Instruments and navigation
Pitot-static drives the airspeed indicator, altimeter, and vertical speed indicator; the heading indicator and attitude indicator are gyroscopic. Standard pressure is 29.92 in Hg. Know VOR radials, ILS localizer and glideslope, and magnetic versus true heading.
Nautical basics
Port is left, marked by a red light; starboard is right, green; the stern light is white. A nautical mile is about 6,076 feet, and one knot is one nautical mile per hour. Remember red-right-returning for buoyage. Bearings may be true, magnetic, or relative to the bow.
Traps
Reversing port and starboard, especially when you imagine facing aft; assuming the red buoy is wrong to pass; confusing knots with miles per hour; ignoring magnetic variation; and thinking an aircraft stalls only at a specific airspeed.