ATSA Spatial and Visual Relationships 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A pilot reports flying at flight level 350. A second aircraft is 2,000 feet above. At what flight level is the second aircraft?
- FL330
- FL370 (Correct answer)
- FL353
- FL352
Correct answer: FL370
FL350 = 35,000 ft; adding 2,000 ft gives 37,000 ft = FL370.
Question 2: On a plan-view radar display, an aircraft symbol is moving steadily toward the upper-right corner. What combined heading does this most closely represent?
- Southwest
- Northeast (Correct answer)
- Northwest
- Southeast
Correct answer: Northeast
Upper-right on a north-up display corresponds to the northeast direction.
Question 3: A sector boundary runs from north to south at 50 nm west of the radar antenna. An aircraft 48 nm west is heading west at 240 knots. Approximately how many minutes before it crosses the boundary?
- Less than 1 minute (Correct answer)
- About 30 seconds
- About 2 minutes
- About 5 minutes
Correct answer: Less than 1 minute
2 nm at 240 knots = 2/240 × 60 ≈ 0.5 minutes—less than 1 minute.
Question 4: An aircraft is assigned heading 030° but the pilot reports turning to 300°. In which direction is the error relative to the assigned heading?
- 90° to the left (Correct answer)
- 90° to the right
- 270° to the left
- 180° opposite
Correct answer: 90° to the left
030° vs 300° is a 270° right turn or equivalently a 90° left turn—the pilot turned left instead of right.
Question 5: Looking at a vertical profile display, an aircraft descending from FL380 to FL280 at 1,500 ft/min is currently at FL330. How many minutes until it reaches FL280?
- About 2.3 minutes
- About 3.3 minutes (Correct answer)
- About 4.3 minutes
- About 5 minutes
Correct answer: About 3.3 minutes
FL330 − FL280 = 5,000 ft; 5,000 / 1,500 fpm ≈ 3.3 minutes.
Question 6: Aircraft A is north of Aircraft B and both are converging toward a common point. Aircraft A is heading south; Aircraft B is heading north. What is the nature of this conflict?
- Lateral conflict only
- Vertical conflict only
- Head-on converging conflict (Correct answer)
- No conflict since they are on opposite sides
Correct answer: Head-on converging conflict
Two aircraft heading directly toward each other from opposite directions create a head-on conflict.
Question 7: A controller notices that three aircraft are equidistant from a VOR, forming a triangle. If one aircraft is due north at 20 nm and another is due east at 20 nm, where is the third aircraft to complete an equilateral triangle?
- Southeast at about 20 nm
- Southwest at about 20 nm
- South-southeast at about 20 nm (Correct answer)
- Due south at 20 nm
Correct answer: South-southeast at about 20 nm
An equilateral triangle with one vertex north and one east would place the third vertex roughly south-southeast to maintain equal 20 nm sides.
ATSA Spatial and Visual Relationships 3
A pilot reports flying at flight level 350.
A second aircraft is 2,000 feet above.
At what flight level is the second aircraft?