[jess.10]

Im thinking of sitting my air law exam tomorrow, i also feel quite ready to sit operational procedures.
im a bit confused on how the sittings work, I'm aware that you have 6 sittings.
would you recommended sitting air law and ops in the same day over a few days?

[Dangerman]

Im thinking of sitting my air law exam tomorrow, i also feel quite ready to sit operational procedures.
im a bit confused on how the sittings work, I'm aware that you have 6 sittings.
would you recommended sitting air law and ops in the same day over a few days?

Hi Jess

The below is what I wrote on the subject some time ago, but I don't think it has changed materially in the meantime. Basically a "sitting" is a ten day period, which starts when you take your first exam. So in your case sitting air law starts the clock on your first sitting, and you can then study for a few days before your next paper. Be careful with resits though, because they trigger a new sitting. So if you were to fail air law and resit it the next day that would mean you had lost the rest of your first sitting and were now into your second. Clear as mud I know ...

Good luck!

Just to clarify how (I think!) the current system works for new students, as it seems to cause some confusion (certainly did for me!!):

1. All exams have got to be passed within 18 months of when you took the first one. So if you took your first paper on 1st April 2015 you have to pass the last one by the end of September 2016.

2. You have to have passed all your exams before you can take your skills test.

3. You have two years from when you passed the LAST paper to finish your PPL. So by all means do eight of your papers immediately, but leave the last one as late as you can or until you are ready to do the skills test. If it is taking you a while to progress with your flying using my example dates you could leave your last paper until September 2016: passing this then starts the 2 year “clock” running, leaving you til September 2018 to pass your skills test. So you can have 3½ years between taking your first paper and finishing your PPL if you time it correctly.

You have six "sittings" (blocks of ten days) in which to pass the exams, so obviously you HAVE to take more than one paper at each sitting to get the nine papers done. When you take an exam the "sitting" starts, and you can then take as many exams as you like (but no retakes) in that ten day period. IF YOU RESIT A PAPER THAT AUTOMATICALLY STARTS A NEW “SITTING”, so think carefully about that and only resit when you have other papers you are ready to take! In my opinion it is a stupid rule which just encourages you to to go for as many subjects as possible in the hope of scraping through while a sitting is open rather than studying properly, but that is what we have to work around.

Suggested order of study:

Airlaw is the paper which you HAVE to pass before you can go solo, so REALLY focus on it (you do not want to be forced to quickly retake it if you are getting close to going solo, because that will cost you a sitting!). The day you pass Airlaw get your head down into Ops Procedures (there is a LOT of crossover with Airlaw), and aim to have a go at that before the end of the ten day period. I would also suggest that before the end of the ten day "sitting" you also give Human Factors a go: it doesn’t really fit with any of the other papers, and is a paper you can probably pass mainly using your commonsense and general knowledge together with a bit of reading and some time working through a few Airquiz tests.

Then Aircraft General and Principles of Flight are two papers that really go together (they are even in the same Pooley's book) – I would suggest working towards them for your next sitting (together with any retakes from sitting one). These subjects start to make a bit more sense once you have spent a bit of time in an aircraft.

And then you are left with Meteorology, Navigation, Flight Planning, and Communications: real flying stuff that you will be doing in your later lessons. And you should be left with four sittings to do them in, which takes the pressure off a bit.

[Andrew Sinclair]

Nice informative post! One point to clarify...

Airlaw is the paper which you HAVE to pass before you can go solo.

Please provide a definitive EASA reference, I don't believe it is the case. It has oft been quoted on here and at least I have sent people off solo without having an pass in any TK examination many many times. Flying schools like to say this because it encourages people to start studying the TK...

[Dangerman]

Nice informative post! One point to clarify...

"Airlaw is the paper which you HAVE to pass before you can go solo"

Please provide a definitive EASA reference, I don't believe that is the case. It has oft been quoted and at least I have sent people off solo without many many times.

Quite happy to defer to your knowledge on this - not claiming to be an expert, just trying to help.

Perhaps I should have phrased it "most schools will expect you to ...". Certainly where I learned you weren't going solo until you had passed.

[Andrew Sinclair]

Perhaps I should have phrased it "most schools will expect you to ...". Certainly where I learned you weren't going solo until you had passed.

No problem about what you posted at all DM, very useful indeed. Schools tend to say lots of things are this and that rule but when you dig in to the definitive references things are not what they seem, happens all the time. I thought that you had some recent knowledge and I was thinking I may be out of date hence my request for the reference

There is nothing wrong with an ATO/RF having this rule in the Ops Manual/Flying Order Book mind you, perhaps your school had this...

[riverrock]

I seem to remember that was challenged first time you posted that too.

Air Law isn't required by EASA directly, but before going solo, your flight instructors need to be sure you know procedures well enough to remain legal.
In some places, an instructor knows this via informal chats.
Many Air Training Organisations have written procedures which say you need to have done Air Law to know this (and one written / agreed the procedures can't be changed).
Some ATCOs have their own short test. There isn't any real consistency so it is an "ask your instructor" type question.

[cockney steve]

ISTR having read , on the Forum, that, whilst not a LEGAL requirement, a pass in Air Law is often an INSURANCE requirement. -Logical, really, as they're carrying the risk on an unknown newbie, the aircraft and probably the school's loss of income if the machine is out of action for a while, or a School representative has to attend Court to explain why their student broke the law. (extreme, I know, but A** -covering is a bit cruel and not exactly accurate )

[Andrew Sinclair]

I am unaware of any insurance company ever to have made any requirement of this nature, I cannot prove a negative so that is only my opinion. What I am highlighting is that in aviation it is important to get the the definitive facts when looking for information.

As an example ask 10 pilots (including instructors!) the correct speeds for approach and landing of a PA28 and you get 10 different answers, consult the POH/FM and you’ll get the right technique. It seems aviaion is loaded with factoids. Don’t get me wrong, opinion is valuable when it is prefaced with the phrase “This is my opinion...” and definitive sources are valuable when the source is linked so people can explore themselves and accept or reject. We then all learn together.

I’ll grant that in this day and age with EASA rules and AMCs, ANO and a multitude of other sources some of which conflict it is more difficult, so much so that even civil aviation regulators get it wrong some of the time!

As for the instructor making sure you remain legal when I send people solo I am more concerned that they don’t kill themselves by doing something daft, so I am looking for cct consistency before suggesting a solo and thoughts about what if the runway gets boocked when they are downwind and have to divert to land. The priority order for me is 1. Flesh ‘n’ bone, 2. Metal and 3. Paperwork. Doesn’t mean to say that’s right though.

[Rob P]

As an aside (sorry), can anyone suggest at which point in the circuit a suitably trained student who hasn't sat their Air Law exam is likely to kill any puppies that would have survived had they passed the exam previously?

Rob P

[Artschool]

As an aside (sorry), can anyone suggest at which point in the circuit a suitably trained student who hasn't sat their Air Law exam is likely to kill any puppies that would have survived had they passed the exam previously?

Rob P

maybe weather sets in and the student has to divert to an airfield with a radio failure and they start wondering what the flashing red light signal means?

[Artschool]

In my flight school they suggest doing three exams per sitting. I sat air law Tuesday before last and then sat OPs and human performance last Tuesday.

next exam I am going to have a go at is navigation.

[Rob P]

maybe weather sets in and the student has to divert to an airfield with a radio failure and they start wondering what the flashing red light signal means?

Even with the mammoth circuit at Old Buckenham that's some fast moving weather!

Rob P

[rachelandrew]

I just thought I'd say hello as I'm in exactly the same position. I could do Air Law, and probably Operational Procedures, trying to work out when to actually do so in order to maximise the "sittings".

I'd be interested if those who have recently done these exams feel that PPL Cruiser and the tests in the Pooley's practice papers are representative of what is in the actual exam?

I'm thinking that the winter when actual flying is likely to be thwarted by the weather more often than not might be a good time to try and get through a lot of these. Would at least feel as if I were making progress. I travel a lot for work but not so much between mid-November and February. Would be easier to sort out a 10 day period in which to perhaps get 3 of them done initially.

[Dangerman]

I just thought I'd say hello as I'm in exactly the same position. I could do Air Law, and probably Operational Procedures, trying to work out when to actually do so in order to maximise the "sittings".

I'd be interested if those who have recently done these exams feel that PPL Cruiser and the tests in the Pooley's practice papers are representative of what is in the actual exam?

I'm thinking that the winter when actual flying is likely to be thwarted by the weather more often than not might be a good time to try and get through a lot of these. Would at least feel as if I were making progress. I travel a lot for work but not so much between mid-November and February. Would be easier to sort out a 10 day period in which to perhaps get 3 of them done initially.

Hi Rachel

Been a while since I did mine, but don't think anything material has changed so this thread might be useful for you.
https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=93367&p=1368959

Good luck!

[Artschool]

maybe weather sets in and the student has to divert to an airfield with a radio failure and they start wondering what the flashing red light signal means?

Even with the mammoth circuit at Old Buckenham that's some fast moving weather!

Rob P

imagine its a Gerald butler movie type of weather or a Sharknado.