Air Law and ATC Procedures
What the air law paper covers
Air law and ATC procedures tests the legal envelope around every VFR flight: ICAO Annexes as implemented nationally in CASR, the documents an aircraft and pilot must hold, the rules of the air, airspace and the way clearances are issued and acknowledged. Questions are scenario-based - a cruise track, a clearance, a medical date - and reward precise recall of numbers.
Aircraft and pilot documents
- Certificate of registration, certificate of airworthiness, maintenance release, radio station licence and the aircraft flight manual must be on board.
- The pilot needs a valid licence with the correct class or type rating, a current medical certificate (Class 1 or Class 2 for a PPL) and recent experience.
- Passenger-carrying recency: three take-offs and three landings in the preceding 90 days in the same category; night carrying needs night currency separately.
- No flying within 8 hours of consuming alcohol, with blood alcohol of 0.04% or more, or while using any substance that impairs performance.
Rules of the air
- Right of way: converging aircraft of the same category - the one on the right has priority; head-on - both turn right; overtaking - the overtaken aircraft has priority; landing aircraft have priority over aircraft on the ground.
- Cruising levels follow the semi-circular rule by magnetic track: 000–179° odd thousands, 180–359° even thousands, with 500 ft added below the transition altitude.
- VFR in controlled airspace requires a clearance; position lights at night; in classes B–E flight visibility 5 km with 1500 m horizontally and 300 m vertically from cloud.
- SSR codes: 7500 unlawful interference, 7600 radio failure, 7700 emergency.
Worked example
You plan a VFR leg on a magnetic track of 285°. That falls in the 180–359° band, so the correct cruising level is an even thousand - FL 100 on the standard altimeter setting, or 6500 ft below the transition altitude. If ATC clears you to FL 090 you accept it and read it back in full: a clearance overrides the semi-circular rule but not the readback requirement.
Traps that cost marks
- Applying the semi-circular rule to a true track instead of a magnetic track.
- Treating a clearance as valid without reading back level, heading, frequency and squawk.
- Confusing QNH (altitude reference) with QFE (height above aerodrome) and standard pressure (flight levels).
- Assuming medical validity and the 90-day recency rule are the same requirement - they are separate.