#14 - Local, Must Be True

[Dave Killoran]

Complete Question Explanation
(The complete setup for this game can be found here: lsat/viewtopic.php?f=151&t=8310)

The correct answer choice is (D)

Our setup to the game establishes that Q must be the last plane, and thus Q cannot be second. Each of the other four planes could depart second, and thus the correct answer is (D), four.

Note that R could be second, and that under that scenario P would be first, and P would be the only international flight.

[mford]

In question # 14 the question is "The plane that departs second could be any one of exactly how many of the planes?" The answers are (A) 1 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5. The answers in the back indicate the answer is (D) 4. How is this possible? Given that Every international flight has to be before any domestic flight (Rule 5) this forces all the international flights to be flight 1 and 2, right? Given that the first two flights have to be international, and that Q and R are both domestic, this would seem to take Q and R out of the running for second position. Since they are 2 out of the 5 and they can't be placed in position 2, then it makes sense that only 3 planes could possibly be in position two--P, S & T. How is it possible that Q or R could be in that position? This doesn't seem to jive with the rules!

[Nikki Siclunov]

R can also be second, since there is no reason to assume you have 2 international flights. All you know is that P is international: it's possible that you have 4 domestic and 1 international flights. The sequence of planes must be P > R > Q, with S and T somewhat random. Therefore, any plane except for Q can depart second.

Q must depart last: if S and T were domestic, based on the last rule of the game they would leave before Q (both S and T are Getaway planes, whereas Q is a Flyhigh plane). However, if S and T were international, they would depart before any domestic flight anyway (rule 5), including Q.