Can You Read an Approach Plate?

Why should you practise reading approach plates?

Every IFR approach starts with a brief — and the brief comes from the plate. In a real cockpit or a serious sim session, you have maybe 60 seconds to extract the critical numbers: what frequency to tune, what altitude to descend to, what to do if you go missed, and what the minimum safe altitude is around the airport. These quizzes test exactly that skill.

Each quiz shows you a real approach plate from the FAA or UK AIP, then asks 10 multiple-choice questions. Every answer is on the plate — no trick questions, no obscure regulations. If you can score 8 out of 10, you can brief that approach with confidence.

What will the questions cover?

• •Localiser and ILS frequencies — the first thing you tune
• •Final approach course — what heading to fly
• •Decision altitude and minimums — when to look up or go around
• •Missed approach procedure — what to do if you can't land
• •Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA) — terrain clearance around the airport
• •Airport and runway data — elevation, TDZE, glideslope angle