AFOQT · Pilot and ABM composites · last subtest of Part B
AFOQT Aviation Information, from lift to the tower
Updated Nov 6, 2026 · facts checked Nov 6, 2026
Aviation Information closes the AFOQT with 20 questions on how airplanes fly and how flying is organized: aerodynamics, controls, instruments, airports, airspace and air traffic control. Of the four subtests in the Pilot composite, it is the one that responds most directly to plain reading.
An aircraft is flying in unaccelerated, straight-and-level flight where lift equals weight and thrust equals drag. When the pilot initiates a transition into a steady climb by increasing pitch and power, how do the aerodynamic forces momentarily interact to establish the new flight path?
Weight exceeding lift would start a descent, not a climb.
Drag does not fall when the pitch increases; it usually rises.
An upward acceleration needs a net upward force for a moment; once the climb is steady, lift settles back near weight.
In a steady climb the forces balance again; extra lift is needed only while the path changes.
Climbing needs added thrust to offset the rearward part of weight, and the lift rise is not permanent.
A pilot flying under visual flight rules (VFR) is climbing through 17,500 ft MSL in Class E airspace. What must happen before the airplane may continue to 18,500 ft MSL?
Above 18,000 ft MSL every flight must be under IFR with a clearance.
Class A airspace starts at 18,000 ft MSL and is IFR-only, so a VFR pilot needs an IFR clearance to enter it.
Radio contact with VFR is enough for Class C, not for Class A.
Special VFR applies to surface areas near airports in poor weather, not to high altitude.
Code 1200 does not make VFR flight legal in Class A.
An aircraft burns a large amount of fuel on a long flight, so its weight drops. How does this affect its critical angle of attack (AOA) and its stall speed?
Only the stall speed falls; the critical angle does not change.
Weight never changes the critical angle of attack.
The wing always stalls at the same critical angle of attack, but a lighter airplane needs less lift and reaches that angle at a lower speed.
A lighter airplane stalls at a lower speed, not a higher one.
The critical angle depends on the airfoil, not on weight.
At a constant airspeed, the pilot pulls back on the yoke, raising the nose. Before the stall, what happens at once to the angle of attack (AOA) and lift?
This is the result of forward stick, not back pressure.
Raising the nose is what increases the angle of attack.
Up elevator raises the nose; below the critical angle, a higher angle of attack makes more lift.
Back pressure increases the angle of attack, not decreases it.
Your tally shows here once every question above has an answer.
Aviation Information traps
Pitch is not angle of attack. Pitch attitude is the nose against the horizon; angle of attack is the wing against the oncoming air. An airplane can be nose-high and descending.
Angle of incidence is fixed. It is built into the airframe (wing chord against the fuselage) and does not change in flight; options that let the pilot change it are wrong.
Adverse yaw. Rolling into a turn, the rising wing makes more drag and swings the nose the other way. Rudder, not more aileron, corrects it.
Altimeter settings. Flying from high pressure to low without resetting the altimeter makes it read higher than the airplane really is, the dangerous direction.
Lighting colors. Runway edge lights are white, taxiway edge lights blue and taxiway centerline lights green (FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, chapter 2). Memorize all three colors together.
Magnetic, not true. Runway numbers come from magnetic direction, rounded to the nearest ten degrees with the last zero dropped.
Same pool on the Navy and Army flight tests
Fixed-wing aviation knowledge is collected here for the whole site; the Navy and Army flight tests draw on the same ground with their own additions. The ASTB-E's Aviation and Nautical Information adds ship terms and naval customs, and the SIFT's Army Aviation Information Test leans toward helicopters. The questions on the three pages do not repeat.
Two AFOQT neighbors build on what you learn here: instrument knowledge helps with Instrument Comprehension, where you read an attitude indicator and a compass at speed, and the Pilot composite this subtest feeds is one of the three inputs to the PCSM score.
Free reading that covers the subtest
The FAA's Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge covers every area above and is free on faa.gov. For the AFOQT you do not need it all: the chapters on aerodynamics, flight controls, flight instruments, airport operations and airspace carry most of the subtest. Read them once, then use the questions to find gaps.
Flight experience is not required. Logged hours count toward the PCSM, not toward the AFOQT.
Ground school in spare minutes
Practice on your phone
AFOQT questions with the reasoning for every choice, in a study app (see both stores).
Do you need to be a pilot to do well on AFOQT Aviation Information?
No. The subtest checks textbook knowledge that a free FAA handbook covers. Flying experience helps, but it earns its points on the PCSM, not here.
Which AFOQT composites include Aviation Information?
Pilot and ABM. It feeds neither Verbal nor Quantitative, so it does not affect the commissioning floor.
Is the Aviation Information subtest the same on the ASTB-E and SIFT?
The core overlaps, but each test adds its own: nautical topics on the ASTB-E, rotary-wing flight on the SIFT. This site splits the questions so that each page covers different ground.