Flows, airwork, emergency memory items, and the ground references worth knowing cold — for checkride prep, a rental checkout, or just knocking off rust.
Whether it's a stage check, a rental checkout, or the checkride itself, the person in the right seat wants to see you operate the airplane safely and make sound decisions — not perfection. Fly the airplane first, talk second. A good decision announced out loud beats a silent perfect maneuver.
Flow it from memory, then verify with the printed checklist — that sequence is the mark of a well-trained pilot. Tap to expand.
"Controls free, instruments set, fuel both, trim set, flaps set, gauges green, doors & belts secure, lights on, transponder ALT."
"Full power, gauges green" → "airspeed alive" → "rotate" → "positive rate" → "flaps up."
Hot day or high field elevation = long roll, lazy climb. Rotate at the number and let it accelerate in ground effect before pitching for the climb.
Carb heat ON before reducing power on approach; landing light on. No fuel pump on the 172.
Clearing turns before every one. Tolerances shown are Private ACS targets.
Pitch = airspeed, power = altitude. Lots of right rudder. Small, smooth inputs — you're behind the power curve.
Alt ±100′, hdg ±10°, bank ±10°, speed +10/−0. Watch: horn blaring, under-ruddering, chasing altitude with pitch.
Uncoordinated at the break (wing drop), dumping all flaps at once, secondary stall from over-pitching.
Not enough right rudder → wing drop / incipient spin. Fix AOA before rolling.
Alt ±100′, bank ±5°, rollout ±10°. Losing altitude = not enough back-pressure; over-banking; staring at the panel.
All three are about wind correction while dividing attention: steepest bank when groundspeed is highest (downwind), shallowest when lowest (upwind). Enter downwind, 600–1,000 AGL, pick emergency-landing options first.
Fly a consistent distance from the field boundary; crab on the crosswind legs; anticipate turns based on groundspeed.
Equal half-circles across a road; wings level crossing the road; steepest bank just after turning downwind.
Constant radius around a landmark; bank varies continuously — steepest at the downwind-most point.
Tap the card to flip. Front is the scenario; back is your flow. Loop until they come without peeking.
The frame that works at any field. Fill in your home field's specifics and brief them before every flight.
Position reports are for other pilots, not ATC — say where you are, what you are, what you're doing.
Stabilized, on speed, small corrections. Round out, hold it off, settle on the mains.
POH approach speed (lower than normal), full flaps, precise aim point, minimum float; brakes after the mains.
Carry a little power, weight off the nosewheel, hold the nose up on rollout. Takeoff: lift off early in ground effect, accelerate, then climb.
Crab on final → wing-low sideslip through the flare; touch down upwind main first, aileron into the wind on rollout.
On speed (+10/−0), on glidepath, configured, aligned, steady sink by short final. Any one missing → go around: full power, carb heat cold, pitch Vx/Vy, flaps up in stages, sidestep for traffic, climb and re-enter. Calling your own go-around reads as trained and safe — examiners love it.
Pick the airplane you fly — or add your own tail number with numbers from its POH. Custom aircraft are shared: add one and everyone using this link sees it.
The memory items every private pilot gets asked. Tap to expand.
| 1200 | VFR — standard code when not assigned one |
| 7500 | Hijacking — "seventy-five, taken alive" |
| 7600 | Lost comms — "seventy-six, radio needs a fix" |
| 7700 | Emergency — "seventy-seven, going to heaven" |
Never dial through 7500/7600/7700 when changing codes — spin the knobs so those never flash up.
| Steady green | In flight: cleared to land · Ground: cleared for takeoff |
| Flashing green | In flight: return for landing · Ground: cleared to taxi |
| Steady red | In flight: give way, continue circling · Ground: stop |
| Flashing red | In flight: airport unsafe, do not land · Ground: taxi clear of runway |
| Flashing white | Ground only: return to your starting point |
| Alt. red/green | Exercise extreme caution |
Rock your wings (day) or flash lights (night) to acknowledge. — AIM 4-3-13
| A | Airworthiness certificate — visible to occupants |
| R | Registration — current |
| R | Radio station license — international flights only |
| O | Operating limitations — POH/AFM, placards, markings |
| W | Weight & balance — current for this airplane |
And on you: pilot certificate, medical (or BasicMed), government photo ID. — 14 CFR 91.203, 91.9 · pilot docs 61.3
| A | Annual — every 12 calendar months |
| V | VOR check — every 30 days (IFR only) |
| 1 | 100-hour — if operated for hire / instruction for hire |
| A | Altimeter & pitot-static — 24 calendar months (IFR) |
| T | Transponder — 24 calendar months |
| E | ELT — 12 calendar months; battery at 1 hr cumulative use or half life |
— 14 CFR 91.409 · 91.171 · 91.411 · 91.413 · 91.207
| Day VFR | Destination + 30 minutes at normal cruise |
| Night VFR | Destination + 45 minutes at normal cruise |
| Class B | 3 SM · clear of clouds |
| C · D · E<10k | 3 SM · 500 below / 1,000 above / 2,000 horizontal ("3-152") |
| G day ≤1,200 AGL | 1 SM · clear of clouds |
| E ≥10,000 MSL | 5 SM · 1,000 below / 1,000 above / 1 SM horizontal |
Learn the full 91.155 table — this is the high-frequency oral question.
| I | Illness |
| M | Medication |
| S | Stress |
| A | Alcohol — 8 hrs bottle-to-throttle, under .04, and no impairment (91.17) |
| F | Fatigue |
| E | Emotion / Eating |
| P | Pilot — currency, proficiency, IMSAFE |
| A | Aircraft — airworthy, fuel, performance for today |
| V | enVironment — weather, terrain, density altitude, night |
| E | External pressures — get-there-itis, passengers, schedules |
High, hot, and humid = the airplane thinks it's much higher than the field elevation: longer takeoff roll, weaker climb, faster true speed (and groundspeed) on final. Lean for best power per POH at high-DA fields, compute performance before you go, and respect terrain on climb-out. Rule of thumb: DA rises ~120′ per °C above standard.
A free study aid for Cessna 172 student pilots and renters — flows, maneuvers, memory items, and FAR/AIM references commonly covered in private pilot training. It is not FAA-approved material and not a substitute for your airplane's POH/AFM, your instructor, or the current FAR/AIM. Aircraft differ and regulations change — always verify against the source documents. References drawn from: 14 CFR 91.151, 91.155, 91.203, 91.9, 91.409, 91.411, 91.413, 91.207, 91.171, 91.17, 61.3; AIM 4-3-13; and the Private Pilot ACS.
No grade goes anywhere — just find the gaps before your instructor does.