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Commercial Pilot Licence · Subject 16, AC61-5

CPL Air Law practice exam.

CPL Air Law is a different animal from the PPL paper. Sixty questions in two hours, and the syllabus adds the whole commercial layer: Part 135 crew and performance rules, IFR alternates and fuel, Part 12 notification timelines, dangerous goods, and the airspace and altimetry detail that a working pilot is expected to know cold. Our bank of 359 questions covers every item in Subject 16 of AC61-5.

Each rationale quotes the rule or AIP reference it comes from, so when a question turns on rule 135.209 or ENR 1.7 you can read the source and not take our word for it.

Questions60
Time120min
Pass mark70%
Question bank359
Sit a CPL Air Law paper · $9.99 CPL bundles from $6.67 an exam
What the paper covers

Subject 16 topic by topic.

The syllabus areas below are the ones the CAA lists for Air Law, and every question in the bank carries the code of the item it tests.

  • Aviation legislation, definitions and abbreviations
  • Licences, ratings, medicals, competency, currency and recency (Part 61)
  • Documentation, maintenance, instruments and equipment (Parts 43, 91)
  • General operating requirements and restrictions, including VFR and IFR minima
  • Air operations: crew, operating and meteorological requirements (Part 135)
  • Air operations performance: take-off and landing distance factors, wind and slope
  • Flight preparation, fuel, flight plans and en route limitations
  • Communications, clearances, separation and radar services
  • Altimetry, transition altitude and layer, cruising levels and transponders
  • Airspace classification, aerodromes and aerodrome lighting
  • Responsibilities of operators and pilots, occurrence notification (Part 12)
  • Dangerous goods and search and rescue procedures
Where the marks go

What catches people in Air Law.

  1. Part 135 factoring: 85% of TORA, 50% headwind and 150% tailwind, 115% on a wet runway. The arithmetic is easy; remembering which factor applies where is the mark.
  2. Part 12 timelines: immediate notification, 10 days for the accident form, 14 days for the incident form, 90 days for the investigation report.
  3. Transition altitude 13,000 ft, transition level FL150, and the FL160 exceptions including low QNH and the Mt Cook area.
  4. IFR alternate minima: the ceiling and visibility increments above the approach minima are asked as exact figures.
From the bank

Sample Air Law questions.

Four questions as they appear in a paper, with the answer and the reasoning you get in the de-brief. Options are shuffled in the real thing.

CPL · Syllabus 16.80.4Sample 1 / 4

Under rule 12.57(b), a person required to notify an incident must provide the Authority with the full details on the approved CAA form (or by another acceptable means) within:

  1. A14 days of the incident
  2. B10 days of the incident
  3. C72 hours of the incident
  4. D7 days of the incident
Show the answer and why
14 days of the incident

Rule 12.57(b): the details of an incident must be provided within 14 days of the incident, on the approved CAA form (or the defect incident form, or by another means acceptable to the Authority). This contrasts with the 10-day period for full accident details under rule 12.53, and the 72-hour notification of certain EDTO-related incidents under rule 12.55(e).

CPL · Syllabus 16.70.2Sample 2 / 4

Under rule 91.239(a), a pilot maintaining a cruising altitude at or below 13,000 ft must set the altimeter to:

  1. AThe area QNH zone setting only; aerodrome QNH may never be used in the cruise
  2. BThe appropriate area QNH zone setting or the aerodrome QNH altimeter setting
  3. C1013.2 hPa, the standard pressure setting
  4. DThe aerodrome QFE of the nearest aerodrome
Show the answer and why
The appropriate area QNH zone setting or the aerodrome QNH altimeter setting

Rule 91.239(a): at or below 13 000 ft the altimeter is set to the appropriate area QNH zone setting or the aerodrome QNH altimeter setting; at or above FL150 it is set to 1013.2 hPa; and between 13 000 ft and FL150 to the area QNH zone setting as advised by ATC. Rule 91.239(b): when ascending above 13 000 ft set 1013.2 hPa, and when descending through FL150 set the appropriate area or aerodrome QNH.

CPL · Syllabus 16.10.6Sample 3 / 4

Under rule 61.29(e), an incorrect entry in a pilot's logbook may be corrected only by:

  1. APutting a line through the entry and adding the correct information either beside the entry or on a new line
  2. BErasing or using correction fluid on the incorrect figures and writing the correct figures in the same space
  3. CRecording the correction on the summary page at the back of the logbook and having it countersigned by the Director
  4. DRemoving the page and re-writing all entries on that page, initialled by a flight instructor
Show the answer and why
Putting a line through the entry and adding the correct information either beside the entry or on a new line

Rule 61.29(e): an incorrect entry may be altered only by putting a line through it and adding the correct information beside the entry or on a new line. Rule 61.29(c) also requires entries in indelible ink in an approved bound book (or approved electronic logbook software under 61.29(h)), each page certified by the pilot.

CPL · Syllabus 16.26.2Sample 4 / 4

For a Part 135 air operation at night, rule 135.359 requires each aircraft to be equipped with, in addition to the Part 91 night VFR equipment:

  1. AA radar altimeter and a weather radar
  2. BA landing light and a light in each passenger compartment
  3. CWing-tip strobe lights and a taxi light
  4. DA second attitude indicator and an autopilot
Show the answer and why
A landing light and a light in each passenger compartment

Rule 135.359: each holder of an air operator certificate must ensure that each of its aircraft operated at night is equipped with a landing light and a light in each passenger compartment. The Part 91 night VFR requirements (turn and slip, position lights, anti-collision lights and instrument lighting) come from rule 91.511.

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Air Law questions

Asked about this exam.

Straight answers. If yours is not here, email support and a person replies.

Our paper is 60 questions in 120 minutes, matched to the Aspeq CPL sitting. The pass mark for CPL written exams is 70% under rule 61.17(b).

Yes. Air operations crew, operating, meteorological and performance requirements are syllabus topics 16.40 to 16.46, and the bank covers them from the current Part 135 consolidation.

Three years, under rule 61.17(d), and all six CPL exams must be passed within three years of sitting the first one.

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