Chapter 4, Lesson 1: Navigational Elements
Multiple Choice
1. What are two ways pilots have to navigate?
a. by sight or with instruments
b. consulting with an air traffic controller or a map
c. a global positioning system (GPS) or a compass
d. a barometer or an altimeter
2. Why did the US Post Office team up with private citizens in 1921?
a. to ensure airmail was delivered on time
b. to develop delivery routes on the ground and in the air
c. to light an airway
d. to improve pilot safety
3. What did the Post Office, Navy, Army, and Bureau of Standards place on the
ground?
a. high-frequency radio transmitters to contact aircraft
b. tens of thousands of bright beacons pilots could use for navigation by day
c. low-frequency radio transmitters that sent audio signals to aircraft receivers
d. attitude indicators to track aircraft above 2,000 feet
4. Why is radar critical to air traffic control?
a. because it helps that operation maintain safe distances between aircraft
b. because it tracks weather and sends signals to weather towers
c. because it’s inexpensive and allows pilots to determine their speed
d. because anyone with an antenna can pick up the signals within designated areas
5.
Why is the equator a great circle?
a. It’s very large.
b. It’s the same thing as Earth’s circumference.
c. It’s the first circular route charted around Earth.
d. Its center is also Earth’s center.
6. What is great circle navigation?
a. the flight path followed to circle the Earth
b. the flight path with the fewest obstacles for measuring north-south locations on
Earth
c. the perfect circle located in the middle of the Earth
d. the shortest distance across a sphere’s surface between two points on the
surface
7. When do pilots plot great circle routes?
a. for short hops
b. when flying long distances
c. when flying at night
d. only when carrying passengers
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8. What do pilots use to pinpoint exactly where they are on Earth and where they’re
headed?
a. instruments and radar
b. information from air traffic control
c. automatic navigation systems
d. a combination of great circles and imaginary lines
9. What are circles parallel to the equator called?
a. prime meridians
b. lines of longitude
c. equator equals
d. parallels, or lines of latitude
10. What are great circles that pass through both the North and South Poles called?
a. meridians, or lines of longitude
b. lines of latitude, or equator
c. right angles
d. arcs
11. What can pilots find by referring to both Earth’s latitude and longitude?
a. the North Pole
b. the South Pole
c. great circles
d. the position of any point on Earth’s surface
12. Why does a pilot draw a line on a chart from the departure point to the destination
point?
a. to indicate the course
b. to indicate distance
c. to indicate airspeed
d. to indicate true north
13. How is direction always expressed?
a. as north, south, east, or west
b. in degrees
c. as a combination of distance and time
d. as a meridian
14. Why is the course the pilot measures on a chart known as the true course?
a. because he or she can do some calculations to figure the aircraft’s new vector
b. because he or she is measuring the angle with reference to a meridian, or
true north
c. because the angle at the route’s starting point is different from the angle
measured at the destination
d. because he or she can measure angular distance to degrees north and south of
the meridian
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15. What is the direction in which an aircraft nose is pointing during flight?
a. the true heading
b. an aircraft’s track
c. a plane’s heading
d. an aircraft’s vector
16. What happens anytime you try to represent something that’s three-dimensional in
two dimensions—as on a chart or map?
a. You get a distorted image.
b. Maps are very difficult to update.
c. Objects show a lower elevation than they really have.
d. Maps and charts are made of paper and can tear easily.
17. What are the four main characteristics charts portray?
a. mileage, speed, location, and direction
b. area, shape, distance, and direction
c. area, mileage, speed, and distance
d. location, distance, direction, and mileage
18. What are the cylinder chart’s most accurate regions?
a. those farthest from the tangent or secants
b. those closest to the tangent or secants
c. those closest to the apex
d. those farthest from the apex
19. Which chart projection do you read by rolling it out after cutting it open along a
meridian?
a. conic chart projection
b. plane projection
c. cylinder chart projection
d. Mercator projection
20. Which projection shows the shortest route between two points?
a. gnomonic chart projection
b. stereographic plane projection
c. Lambert conformal conic projection
d. Mercator projection
21. Which projection is best for trips following an east-west route?
a. gnomonic chart projection
b. stereographic plane projection
c. Lambert conformal conic projection
d. Mercator projection
22. Which projection is best for navigating along the equator and highly inaccurate for
flying over the poles?
a. gnomonic chart projection
b. stereographic plane projection
c. Lambert conformal conic projection
d. Mercator projection
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23. What is a developable surface?
a. an area prime for commercial development
b. a flat surface
c. a geometric shape that doesn’t stretch when flattened
d. a three-dimensional globe that follows a rhumb line
24. When do distortions on a chart tend to be far greater?
a. when a chart covers only a small area
b. when a cartographer tries to include too much information
c. when a chart doesn’t include lines showing elevation
d. when a chart tries to cover large regions
25. Which projection makes South America look smaller than Greenland?
a. gnomonic chart projection
b. stereographic plane projection
c. Lambert conformal conic projection
d. Mercator projection
Short Answer
1. Why is it that the best place to measure angles is at a meridian about midway along
the intended route?
2. What does a Lambert conformal conic projection represent accurately and what does
it distort?
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Matching
1.
2.
3.
4.
____ Charts that illustrate true area
____ Charts showing true shape
____ Charts that represent true distance
____ Charts for true direction
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Equivalent projections
Equidistant projections
Developable surfaces
Conformal chart projections
Zenithal
True/False
1. True direction is a plane’s direction when measured in degrees clockwise from true
north.
a. True
b. False
2. A gnomonic chart’s point of projection is from the center of the globe.
a. True
b. False
Fill-in-the-Blank
1. As computers and satellite technology evolved, pilots could begin to follow more
flexible courses within designated _________ _______ routes.
2. The ________ is the starting point for measuring north-south locations on Earth.
3. On a compass face is the _______ ____, a circle marked off in 360 degrees that
shows direction expressed in degrees.
4. Scientists often use a plane projection called the _____________ projection to chart
polar regions, although these projections can be used to chart large areas anywhere
on the globe.
5. _________ is at least partly true for most navigation chart projections.
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List or Describe
1. List six aircraft navigation instruments that began to show up in the cockpit in the
1930s and are still found on aircraft today.
2. Describe how great circle navigation works, and when pilots use this method.
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