FAA Ground School Practice Test

An aircraft departs from a Central Standard Time zone at 0930 CST for a 2-hour flight to a Mountain Standard Time zone. What is the local landing time?

1. 1030MST

2. 1130MST

3. 1230MST

4. 0930MST

The correct answer is: 1030MST

To determine the local landing time for the flight, it's essential to consider both the time zone change and the flight duration. The aircraft departs at 0930 in the Central Standard Time (CST) zone, which is UTC-6. The flight takes 2 hours. Thus, the departure time in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) would be 0930 CST + 6 hours = 1530 UTC. After flying for 2 hours, the aircraft will be en route until 1530 UTC + 2 hours = 1730 UTC. Now, the destination is in the Mountain Standard Time (MST) zone, which is UTC-7. To convert the landing time back to MST, you subtract 7 hours from 1730 UTC, which gives: 1730 UTC - 7 hours = 1030 MST. Therefore, the local landing time is 1030 in Mountain Standard Time, which makes this option correct. Understanding the relationship between time zones and flight durations is crucial for accurately calculating landing times across time zone boundaries.