Study the rule through its scenario.

The five questions behind a rule

• Applicability: Which aircraft, certificate, operation, airspace, or weather condition is covered?
• Responsibility: Who must act—the pilot in command, operator, dispatcher, owner, or maintenance organization?
• Requirement: What action, equipment, qualification, document, or minimum is required?
• Limitation: What is prohibited or restricted?
• Exception: Under what stated condition does the normal rule change?

Translate text into a decision

After reading a rule, create a short scenario with an aircraft, pilot, type of operation, location, and condition. Decide whether the rule applies before recalling a number or time period. Many errors come from applying the correct value to the wrong operation.

Keep similar rules separated

Create comparison tables for rules that use similar language but apply to different categories or operations. Highlight the variable that changes the answer: aircraft type, day or night, passenger carriage, distance, airspace, weather, or compensation.