Airplanes and Aerodynamics Commercial Pilot Practice Test

A standard-rate turn means the aircraft is changing heading at 3 degrees per second. At that rate, in one minute the heading changes by 180 degrees, so to achieve a full 360-degree turn you need 360 ÷ 3 = 120 seconds, which is 2 minutes. That’s why the correct answer is two minutes.

In practice, standard-rate turns are used for precise, coordinated turns in instrument procedures, and the actual bank angle to achieve that rate depends on the airspeed. The other times don’t match the defined turn rate: one minute would only cover about 180 degrees, while three or four minutes would imply much longer than a single 360-degree change at the standard rate.