Earlier this year the FAA updated the Private Pilot Test
Supplement. This is the book that contains all the figures and charts that are
referenced in the Private Pilot Knowledge Test. This introduced a number of
issues. One issue is that the scale on the sectional chart excerpts does not
match the scale on a real chart and consequentially your plotter can’t be used
to directly measure distance. The previous test supplement, although it didn’t
match perfectly, was relatively close. On the new test supplement, figure 21 is
significantly different than the normal scale. You can see in this picture that
if you used your plotter, a distance of 10 NM on the figure would be measured
as only 7 NM as shown on a plotter. This would be enough to throw any calculations
off and lead to answering the test question incorrectly. Each figure has a
unique scale on the side of the chart that must be carefully checked in order
to determine the accurate distance.
