Hi Guys,

I've got my PPL(A) theory exam this Sunday and thought I would take the opportunity to see if there is anyone on here who has recently sat their exam. Is there anything specific I should watch out for? And did you find that there was a significant difference in terms of the level of difficulty of the exam questions and Bob's questions?

I feel relatively confident although Meteorology is my weak point so that will be my focus this evening and tomorrow.

I've got all my materials ready including the Bob Tait Air Law Extract - although I note that the Air Law extract includes extracts from the AIP which CASA has stated aren't allowed so I might have to take those AIP extracts out before going into the exam.

Any advice would be welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

Study up on dropping operations (CAO 29.5) and flying through ADIZ (air defence identification zones). Had questions on both of these topics when I sat mine a few months ago.

Beauty, will do.
Thanks!

Same here when I sat my PPL. I had no idea those topics would even come up so if you know them well then there are a couple of extra answers for you.

Cameran how'd you go in the exam mate ?

Bob/ Rich, how are we supposed to know when topics like this will be in the exams ?

It was a total surprise to me when I saw the questions on them as I hadn't seen any reference of them anywhere else. Do we just have to make sure we go right through all the caos ect ?

Johnny

I managed to get 93% so was very happy with that.

There were indeed questions on dropping ops and ADIZs although they were easily answered with reference to the CAO (dropping ops) and VFRG (ADIZ). Fortunately the CAO related to dropping ops is in Bob's air law extract so that was very handy!

There were a couple of questions that had me thinking slightly out of the box but overall, the questions were very consistent with the questions in bob's book and practice exams. Indeed some questions were word-for-word identical.

I will put up some more info tomorrow on a few questions that caught me off guard.

Cheers Bob/Rich, your books were fantastic!

I don't have the benefit of having read Bob's books so I have no real idea what they contain. However, it is unreasonable to expect to have a blow by blow summary of the regs etc., in training manuals.

The aspiring pilot MUST have a broad based knowledge of the rules ... and this means putting the coffee on and the head into the rule books .. a useful link is

www.casa.gov.au/rules-and-regulations/la...g-page/current-rules

While it is tough going .. the rules were much easier to follow in the days of ANRs ... it is not a terribly difficult exercise to scan through .... picking out the bits which are reasonably relevant to practical flying is not all that hard and that is the stuff which you need to have under your belt heading into the exams.

In a much earlier life, I was a very active glider tug and jump pilot .. I really would like to think that folks have an idea of what's what before flying through the active areas ..

A bit more detail for anyone that will be sitting their exam shortly.

There were about 5 questions requiring a typed number answer but they were very straight forward. The first asked what distance from a non-controlled aerodrome must you be within in order to be considered "in the vicinity", just a straight answer from the VFRG. The second was calculation of density height. The third was calculation of TAS. The fourth was the ETA to reintercept the planned track after noticing you were off-track. Relatively straight forward although the only thing they gave you was the time you left A and arrived at B, the distance from A to B, the track error at B and the heading change applied at B. You then had to work out how long it would take to reintercept the planned track. And the fifth was to calculate what distance from an aerodrome you would commence a descent given your altitude, the desired height above the aerodrome, your rate of descent and your airspeed.

The ADIZ question was very straight forward and the answer was in the VFRG.

Similarly, the TEM questions were very straight forward.

There were only four theoretical Met questions and they were very straight forward (1. What time of day will land breeze be the strongest? 2. What type of rainfall will fall from a stratus cloud? What does the line between X and Y on the synoptic chart represent? (it was just a dotted line showing a trough), What are the biggest dangers associated with microbursts?

In terms of operational Met, there were a few questions requiring you to plot a trough on the PCA and then work out whether the intended flight route is east or west of the trough. From there, you just read off whether you're in section A or section B for the wind/freezing level. Other than that, there were just a couple of straight forward TAF interpretation questions.

Nothing tricky came up in the performance charts, although the takeoff and landing questions both incorporated a slope % but told you the direction of the slope (e.g. 2% slope down to the SE). Just make sure you don't mix up which way the slope runs with regard to the wind and the appropriate runway.

All in all if you are passing the practice exams, you should have no issues with the proper exam.

Thanks Cameran, that's a good synopsis of the exam and tallies with feedback I've heard from other students too. Well done on your good pass mark too. Excellent!

Cheers,

Rich