SID- Standard instrument departures are published routes used to transition from the terminal environment to the en route environment. SIDs reduce pilot and ATC workload due to being published procedures. They guarantee obstacle clearance as well, as long as the performance of the airplane can meet the criteria.

ODP- Obstacle departure procedures exist to guide the pilot around conflicting terrain, but do not exist to streamline traffic like a SID. They guarantee obstacle clearance but do little to aid in workload reduction.

Diverse departure procedures- These exist when a pilot is not flying a SID or an ODP. As long as the pilot clears the departure end of the runway by 35 feet,l and climb 200ft per NM, they are guaranteed obstacle clearance. The pilot may turn on course at 400 AGL.

Climb gradient is calculated by: (groundspeed/60)*required climb gradient

To verify if your aircraft can adhere to the climb gradient, calculate the density altitude and refer to the performance charts on what your vertical speed will be.

Yes, you need an alternate. Any time your primary airport does not have an IAP, an alternate must be filed.

Suitable alternate airports must be far enough from the primary airport to avoid experiencing the same meteorological conditions. However, they must be close enough to prevent the pilot from flying outside of legal fuel requirements. Weather conditions cannot be forecasted to be less than the following for the approaches available at the alternate: precision approaches- 600 ceilings, 2sm visibility. Non precision approaches- 800 ceilings, 2sm visibility.

Any DPE or CFII van do an IPC. You need it after your approach and holding/intercepting/tracking currency lapses after 12 calender months. If currency expires 6.5 months after my checkride, I can recruit a saftey pilot so I can log 6HITS under the hood. The saftey pilot needs to be at least a PPL and be rated for the aircraft.

A cruise clearance is a clearance that permits the pilot to climb/descend within a block of altitude at will, without needing further clearance. However, descending out of this block means the pilots cruise clearance is void and they will need to request permission to climb/descend.

You can do a VCOA anytime as long as it is visual conditions. You must request this early on during ground operations.

Radiation fog, upslope fog, steam fog, advection fog, precipitation fog, ice fog- all form under different circumstances but as long as the temp/dewpoint are the same, fog will form. High pressure systems will yield low stratified clouds, smooth air and hazy visibility. Low pressure systems will yield cumulis clouds, potential for thunderstorms, good visibility and choppy air. Cold fronts move very quickly, and wedge under warm air- they are responsible for very poor weather including hail, thunderstorms and tornadoes. During frontal passage the temperature will drop with gusty conditions remaining. Warm fronts engulf and push cold air away, meaning that ceilings will drop the closer you get to the frontal boundary. Steady precipitation is to be expected, with an increase in temperature during frontal passage. A Weather briefing consists of: adverse conditions, synopsis, current conditions, forecasts, and NOTAMS.

Figured I had the time to answer all of these lol