The instrument oral is where most checkride pinks happen — not the flight. DPEs know that if you can't clearly explain alternate requirements, approach minimums, and lost-comm procedures, you probably can't fly them safely under the hood either. This page gives you the real questions examiners ask, correct answers with regulatory citations, and the follow-up questions they'll drill into when your first answer is too shallow.
Every question below is mapped to the Instrument Rating — Airplane ACS and cross-referenced with the FARs you're expected to know cold under FAR 61.65.
How the Instrument Oral Is Structured
A typical instrument oral runs 90 minutes to 3 hours, depending on the examiner and how confidently you answer. Expect the DPE to move through the ACS Areas of Operation in roughly this order:
- Preflight preparation — pilot qualifications, weather, cross-country planning, performance
- Preflight procedures — aircraft systems, instruments, flight deck management
- ATC clearances and procedures — clearance components, holding, compliance
- Flight by reference to instruments — scan, unusual attitudes (mostly flight portion)
- Navigation systems — GPS, VOR, ILS, RNAV
- Instrument approach procedures — precision, non-precision, missed, circling
- Emergency operations — loss of comm, partial panel, unusual attitudes
- Postflight procedures
The examiner is looking for correlation-level knowledge — not rote recitation. If you say "I need an alternate when the weather is bad," you'll get grilled. If you say "FAR 91.167 requires an alternate unless the destination has an instrument approach and forecast weather from one hour before to one hour after ETA is at least 2,000 feet ceiling and 3 miles visibility," you move on.
Regulations and Currency — The Warm-Up Questions
Q: What are the aeronautical experience requirements for the instrument rating?
Under FAR 61.65, you need:
- 50 hours cross-country PIC, of which at least 10 must be in airplanes (for the airplane rating)
- 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time, of which at least 15 must be with an authorized instructor in the aircraft category
- One 250-NM cross-country along airways or by ATC routing under IFR, with an instrument approach at each of three different airports and three different kinds of approaches (using navigation systems)
- 3 hours of instrument flight training within 2 calendar months preceding the practical test
Q: What are the recent flight experience requirements to act as PIC under IFR?
FAR 61.57(c) — within the preceding 6 calendar months, you must have performed and logged:
- Six instrument approaches
- Holding procedures and tasks
- Intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems
If you go beyond 6 months, you have another 6 months to regain currency on your own (in actual, simulated in an aircraft, or in an approved FTD/ATD). After 12 months without currency, you need an Instrument Proficiency Check with an authorized instructor or examiner.
Q: What documents and endorsements must you have to take the practical test?
- Valid pilot certificate (at least Private)
- Valid medical certificate
- Photo ID
- Knowledge test report (within 24 calendar months)
- Instructor endorsements: aeronautical knowledge, flight proficiency, and prep for the practical
- Completed IACRA 8710-1
- Logbook with all FAR 61.65 requirements documented
Weather and Flight Planning — Where Applicants Lose Points
Q: When do you need to file an alternate?
The 1-2-3 rule from FAR 91.169: file an alternate unless, from 1 hour before to 1 hour after the ETA, forecast weather at the destination shows at least 2,000-foot ceiling and 3 statute miles visibility.
If either is below those numbers — or if the destination has no instrument approach — you need an alternate.
Q: What are the alternate airport weather minimums?
Also from FAR 91.169, at the ETA at the alternate:
| Approach type available | Ceiling | Visibility |
|---|---|---|
| Precision approach | 600 ft | 2 SM |
| Non-precision approach | 800 ft | 2 SM |
| No instrument approach | Descend from MEA, approach, and land under basic VFR |
Unless the chart shows non-standard alternate minimums (marked with an ⊼ symbol). If the airport is NA for alternate use, you can't file it — regardless of forecast.
Q: What weather products should you use to plan an IFR flight?
Expect a walkthrough: METARs, TAFs, area forecasts (replaced by Graphical Forecasts for Aviation — GFA), winds and temps aloft, PIREPs, AIRMETs, SIGMETs, Convective SIGMETs, Center Weather Advisories, Icing/turbulence/freezing level analyses, radar summaries, and NOTAMs. Know AIRMET Zulu (icing), Tango (turbulence), Sierra (IFR/mountain obscuration) cold.
Q: What are the fuel requirements for IFR flight?
FAR 91.167 — enough fuel to:
- Fly to the first airport of intended landing
- Then to the alternate (if required)
- Then fly for 45 minutes at normal cruise
Clearances, Communications, and Lost Comm
Q: What are the required elements of an IFR clearance?
CRAFT: Clearance limit, Route, Altitude, Frequency (departure), Transponder code.
Q: Explain lost communication procedures.
FAR 91.185 — first, if VFR conditions exist, remain VFR and land as soon as practicable. Otherwise:
- Route (AVE-F): Assigned, then Vectored (direct to fix vectored toward), then Expected, then Filed
- Altitude (MEA): the highest of the Minimum IFR altitude, Expected altitude, or Assigned altitude — for the segment being flown
- Leave clearance limit: if the fix is a fix from which the approach begins, commence descent and approach as close as possible to the EFC time (or ETA if no EFC). If not, proceed to a fix where the approach begins and commence at EFC (or ETA if no EFC).
Squawk 7600. Expect the DPE to invent scenarios: "You're at 8,000, cleared to KABC via V123, expect 10,000 in 10 minutes, EFC 1845Z. You lose comms at 8,000. What do you do?"
Approaches — The Meat of the Oral
Q: When can you descend below DA/DH or MDA?
FAR 91.175(c) — three conditions must be met:
- The aircraft is continuously in a position from which a normal descent to landing on the intended runway can be made using normal maneuvers, and the descent rate will allow touchdown in the touchdown zone
- Flight visibility is not less than that prescribed on the approach chart
- At least one of the following visual references is distinctly visible and identifiable:
- Approach light system (but you can only descend to 100 ft above TDZE unless red terminating/side row bars are visible)
- Threshold, threshold markings, threshold lights
- Runway end identifier lights (REIL)
- Visual approach slope indicator (VASI/PAPI)
- Touchdown zone, TDZ markings, TDZ lights
- Runway or runway markings
- Runway lights
Q: What is required to log an instrument approach?
Current guidance: the approach must be flown in actual or simulated instrument conditions, and the pilot must fly it to MDA/DA and continue to landing OR to the missed approach point using only navigation aids (no visual references beyond what FAR 91.175 allows for descent below).
Q: What's the difference between a precision, non-precision, and APV approach?
- Precision: provides ground-based lateral and vertical guidance to Category I/II/III minima (ILS, PAR, GLS)
- APV (Approach with Vertical guidance): LPV, LNAV/VNAV — vertical guidance but doesn't meet ICAO precision standards
- Non-precision: lateral only (LOC, VOR, NDB, LNAV, LP)
Q: What are the required inspections for IFR flight?
- Annual — FAR 91.409
- VOR check — every 30 days for IFR — FAR 91.171
- 100-hour (if for hire)
- Altimeter/pitot-static — 24 calendar months — FAR 91.411
- Transponder — 24 calendar months — FAR 91.413
- ELT — 12 calendar months — FAR 91.207
- Static system (included with altimeter)
Also GPS database currency for IFR RNAV operations.
Q: How do you perform a VOR check?
FAR 91.171 — options and tolerances:
| Check | Tolerance |
|---|---|
| VOT | ±4° |
| Ground checkpoint | ±4° |
| Airborne checkpoint | ±6° |
| Dual VOR check | 4° between them |
| Above suitable ground point (>20 NM from VOR, on published route, ≥20 nm) | ±6° |
Log date, place, bearing error, and signature.
Holding Procedures
Q: What are the maximum holding speeds?
- Up to 6,000 ft MSL: 200 KIAS
- 6,001 – 14,000 ft MSL: 230 KIAS
- Above 14,000 ft MSL: 265 KIAS
(USAF/USN and some categorized aircraft differ.) Standard hold: right turns, 1-minute inbound at or below 14,000 ft, 1.5-minute above.
Q: Describe the three holding entry procedures.
Direct, Parallel, Teardrop — based on the 70° dividing line from the holding fix relative to your inbound course. Expect the DPE to draw a hold on paper and ask you to identify the entry from various headings.
Emergencies and System Failures
Expect scenario questions on:
- Vacuum failure / partial panel — which instruments are lost with vacuum vs. electrical? Which pitot-static instruments fail with a blocked pitot vs. blocked static?
- Icing encounter — pitot heat, exit the icing, request altitude change, declare if needed
- Engine failure in IMC — best glide, nearest suitable, declare, squawk 7700
- Alternator/electrical failure — load shed priorities, will you make the destination on battery?
How GroundScholar Helps With This
Reading questions and answers is the floor. The ceiling is being able to answer them out loud, under pressure, when the examiner reframes them three different ways. That's what GroundScholar's AI oral exam simulator does — it asks you the ACS-mapped question, listens to your spoken answer, and follows up exactly the way a DPE would when you're vague on alternate minimums or fuzzy on lost-comm altitudes.
Every answer the AI gives back is cross-checked against the live FAR/AIM, so you're never memorizing a hallucinated cite. The mock instrument checkride predicts your pass probability based on how tight your regulatory answers are, where you hesitated, and which ACS tasks you keep missing. It's the same drill DPEs run — just before it counts.
Ready to stop reading and start being asked?
Run a full mock instrument oral in your browser. Speak your answers, hear the follow-ups, see exactly which ACS tasks need another rep before you sign the 8710.