What Regulations Should You Know for the Private Pilot Oral Exam?

Quick Answer

The private oral leans on a compact set of regulations: Part 61 for your certificate and currency (61.3, 61.23, 61.56, 61.57, 61.113) and Part 91 for operations (91.3, 91.103, 91.119, 91.151, 91.155, 91.159, 91.205, 91.213, 91.409/413/207). You are not expected to have the FAR memorized — you are expected to know these core sections cold and to cite the source when you answer.

The Part 61 Core: You and Your Certificate

• 61.3 — documents to act as PIC: pilot certificate, medical (or BasicMed), photo ID.
• 61.23 — medical durations: third-class valid 60 calendar months under age 40, 24 calendar months at 40+.
• 61.56 — flight review: 1 hour ground plus 1 hour flight within the preceding 24 calendar months.
• 61.57 — currency to carry passengers: 3 takeoffs and landings within 90 days; at night (1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise), 3 full-stop landings in that window, same category and class.
• 61.113 — private pilot privileges and limitations: no compensation or hire, the pro-rata cost-sharing rule (you must pay at least your share of fuel, oil, airport expenditures, and rental), and BasicMed operating conditions under (i).

The Part 91 Core: Operating Rules

• 91.3 — your emergency authority: final authority, may deviate from any Part 91 rule as required, written report only if requested.
• 91.103 — preflight action: "all available information," specifically weather, fuel requirements, alternatives, runway lengths, and performance data.
• 91.119 — minimum safe altitudes: 1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within 2,000 feet horizontally over congested areas; 500 feet AGL elsewhere.
• 91.151 — VFR fuel: destination plus 30 minutes day, 45 minutes night, at normal cruise.
• 91.155 — VFR weather minimums by airspace class. The most-drilled, most-failed table on the exam; build it until reflexive.
• 91.159 — VFR cruising altitudes above 3,000 AGL: magnetic course 0-179 odd thousands plus 500, 180-359 even plus 500.
• 91.205 / 91.213 — required equipment day/night VFR, and the inoperative-equipment decision flow when something is broken.
• 91.409, 91.413, 91.207 — inspections: annual, transponder, ELT.
• 91.113 / 91.117 / 91.215 — right-of-way, speed limits, transponder airspace.

How to Study Regulations for an Oral

Do not read Part 91 linearly — drill the sections as answers. The exam rewards a specific cadence: answer, cite, stop. "Day VFR fuel is destination plus 30 minutes at normal cruise — 91.151. My personal minimum is an hour." The citation is what separates a pilot who knows where authority lives from one who memorized a number. And when a question lands outside this core set, the passing move is: "I don't know that off the top of my head, but I know where to find it — may I look it up?" Examiners fail inventors, not looker-uppers.

Every one of the 298 questions in the PPL Oral Exam Guide ($24) comes with its exact 14 CFR/AIM/PHAK citation, so the cite-your-source habit builds itself while you drill — 160 pages aligned to FAA-S-ACS-6C.