Hi Bob

I just completed my PPL examination and got 65% and have a few questions that came up in the exam that i wasn't familiar with. 1.) Aircraft used 44Gal in 85mins, What is the fuel flow gph?. 2) Which of the two EGT and CHT are more reliable indicators for engine monitoring?. Also would it be best to have another go sooner rather then later as its fresh in my brain or wait a bit.

Thanks Sam

Fuel Flow

To figure gallons per hour, we could also work it out as gallons per 60 minutes, there being 60 minutes in a hour. Two options for the calculation -

(a) on the whizz wheel, simple proportion on the CD scales ... 44/85 = answer/60

(b) calculation ... rearrange the proportion to give answer = 44/85 x 60

CHT/EGT

I suggest that the sensible answer is both.

Rather than do a bunch of typing, the following AvWeb article gives a good account of what's what -

www.avweb.com/news/maint/egt_and_cht_int...tation_198791-1.html


I'd have a good re-read through your course notes without any delay and then back into the exam.

Hey, I remember getting a question that was asking something about the EGT and CHT, it was something like "which of the two would indicate an immediate change?" I chose the EGT, because with whatever input you do via the mixture for example in leaning, it shows an almost rapid change, whereas an increasing/decreasing CHT indication takes a little longer to display? Thats how I looked at it.

Did you resit your test? Goodluck

Hey Jax

Thanks for that, I'm resisting my exam next Wednesday so hopefully go better this time, any tips on doing it a second time?

No worries. I failed my PPL theory test the first time too couple weeks back, I got 61%...resat it last weekend and got 88%. You might be lucky and get some of the questions you already had in the first test come up again when you resit the exam. So if you remember the ones you got wrong on the KDR, then you'll be able to study on it now incase it comes up again.

One thing I would suggest is memorising the fuel/rate/time pyramid, its like the Time/distance/Speed one, that will help you when you come up to the "calculate distance flown/fuel used/time spent flying" type questions.

Also you'll probably at least get one basic BOD/EOD type question, or the more lengthy type one which gives you "if you fly from here to there LMT, and you arrive 30 mins before EOD, how long would your flight take, in UTC" ...my first test had that lengthy one, second test had just the basic "whats BOD on 15th aug", use the AIP table, it seems more accurate than the VFRG's one. If you got a VFRG definitely bring that one into the test if you didn't before, its pretty helpful!

Make sure you know a little about ADIZ stuff, for example, if a jet does a climbing 90 degree turn without crossing the line of the intercepted aircraft, what does that mean for the intercepted aircraft?

Make sure you know a little about dropping of articles from an aircraft as well. Or where to look it up as a quick reference incase that one comes up in your second test.

I get nervous when I do written exams, so naturally I stress a bit and my score goes down, so if you are like me, just relax as much as you can and really read the questions...dont go back after you've completed the test and change your answers.. I did that big time in the first go and ended up getting questions wrong, its how I remembered every question to my KDR word for word haha, coz those were the ones I went back and changed, except for maybe 3-4 I got wrong due to pure error.

Also this might sound silly, but if you aren't used to using a tiny calculator, get used to its functions before the test, lol I bought one the day before and in the test it was giving me wrong answers coz I forgot its not like my iphone where it factors in BIMDAS, so I was stressing why my calculator wasn't working properly and giving me wrong answers to the Density height type question hahah, I took a good few mins laughing during the test coz I thought I was gonna mess it up due to the fact I forgot how to use a basic calc, worked it out pretty quick though....

Are there any other questions in the test you remember that you may have gotten stuck on? If you need help lemme know, Ill try my best to help you.

Sorry for the lengthy message and rambling! I reckon you'll smash it the second time round though.

Hey Jax

Thanks heaps for those tips i just remembered i got a questions which went like this "Which band of frequency would hearing loss occur" which i said Low frequency but my KDR said I got it wrong?

Yeh I remember that one too, and I chose the same answer as you... supposedly we were meant to choose the high frequency range. Didn't come up in my second test though. On the second attempt I got more so a question about when looking outside the cockpit which technique would be best to scan for an object/plane?