Flight Operations and Procedures
What the exam tests
Flight Operations and Procedures tests the rules that govern how a flight is conducted: preflight action, fuel reserves, right-of-way, minimum altitudes, traffic patterns, and emergency authority. Questions often present a planned flight and ask for the minimum legal fuel or the correct right-of-way action.
Preflight and fuel
- 91.103 requires the pilot to become familiar with all available information before a flight. For a flight not in the vicinity of an airport, that includes weather, fuel requirements, alternatives, runway lengths, and takeoff and landing performance.
- 91.151 sets VFR fuel minimums: enough to reach the first point of intended landing, then 30 minutes at normal cruise during the day or 45 minutes at night.
- Fuel planning should add taxi, run-up, and contingency; the regulation is a floor, not a target.
Right-of-way and altitudes
- 91.113: converging aircraft of different categories-the least maneuverable has the right-of-way; head-on-both alter course to the right; overtaking-the overtaking aircraft passes on the right; landing-the aircraft on final approach at the lower altitude has the right-of-way, but it may not cut in front of another.
- 91.119: over congested areas, 1,000 ft above the highest obstacle within 2,000 ft; elsewhere, 500 ft above the surface; over open water or sparsely populated areas, 500 ft from persons, vessels, and structures. Takeoff and landing exceptions apply.
Worked example
A day VFR cross-country is planned for 2.5 hours at a normal cruise burn of 10 gallons per hour. What minimum fuel must be aboard at takeoff under 91.151? Reasoning: The rule requires trip fuel plus a 30-minute day reserve. 2.5 hr + 0.5 hr = 3.0 hr. At 10 gal/hr, the minimum is 30 gallons. If the flight were at night, the reserve would be 45 minutes, giving 3.25 hr and 32.5 gallons. Taxi and run-up fuel are prudent additions but are not the regulatory reserve.
Traps that cost marks
- Using the 45-minute reserve on a day flight.
- Treating the reserve as the total fuel rather than an additive.
- Reversing the head-on or overtaking right-of-way rules.
- Forgetting that the landing aircraft may not cut in front of another on final.
- Applying the 1,000-ft congested-area minimum to a sparsely populated area.