FAA Ground School Practice Test

An aircraft departs from a Mountain Standard Time zone at 1615 MST for a 2-hour 15-minute flight to a Pacific Standard Time zone. What is the estimated time of arrival at the destination airport?

1. 1730PST

2. 1630PST

3. 1830PST

4. 1530PST

The correct answer is: 1730PST

To determine the estimated time of arrival (ETA) at the destination airport, you start by converting the departure time and considering the duration of the flight as well as the time zone change. The aircraft departs at 1615 MST. Since Mountain Standard Time is one hour ahead of Pacific Standard Time, when the aircraft arrives in the Pacific Standard Time zone, you need to adjust for this time difference. First, calculate the total flight time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. Adding that to the departure time: - 1615 MST + 2 hours takes you to 1815 MST. - Then, adding the additional 15 minutes results in an estimated time of 1830 MST. Since you are transitioning from Mountain Standard Time to Pacific Standard Time, you need to subtract one hour from the 1830 MST to convert it to PST. Consequently: - 1830 MST becomes 1730 PST after accounting for the time zone difference. Therefore, the estimated time of arrival at the destination airport is accurately determined to be 1730 PST.