PLT335: Pilotage
What code PLT335 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Pilotage before your checkride.
Recall pilotage - calculations
What this means for your checkride
Pilotage is navigating by looking outside and matching visible landmarks to the chart, such as roads, rivers, towns, and terrain. It is usually combined with dead reckoning, where you compute heading and time from known airspeed, wind, and distance, so each method checks the other.
Pilotage is the foundation of VFR cross-country navigation, so the FAA tests whether you can select good checkpoints, track progress against the chart, and combine it with dead reckoning calculations.
Pilots pick landmarks that are hard to distinguish, like one small lake among many. Good checkpoints are unique and visible from a distance, and relying on pilotage alone over featureless terrain without dead reckoning is where pilots get lost.
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.