PLT047: Flight Director and FMS
What code PLT047 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Flight Director and FMS before your checkride.
Interpret/Program Flight Director/FMS/Automation - modes / operation / indications / errors
What this means for your checkride
A flight director shows command cues, bars or a wedge, telling the pilot or the autopilot what pitch and bank to fly to satisfy the selected modes. An FMS manages navigation and flight planning. You must know the active mode, what it commands, and how to recognize when the automation is doing something unexpected.
Automation cuts workload but introduces mode-awareness errors, so the FAA tests flight director and FMS modes, indications, and failure modes.
Pilots follow the flight director bars blindly. If the wrong mode is armed, the bars command the wrong thing; verify the mode against your intention before following the cues.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.