Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1872356
T6Harvard wrote:I bet you found A/c Technical easy! I haven't looked at that yet, although in a past life I had to pick up various bits of technical knowledge for a variety of stuff and I always found it fascinating, so I should be able to grasp it :D

Yup technical was easy or relatively so. I have tinkered with all things mechanical since I was about 8 years old & I'm now 64 so that helps.
I am not academic so find exams & book learning very hard, but can retain stuff I read so I get there in the end. My wife is the academic in the family & she finds what I remember & can drag up from the memory cells amazing.
After reading the Guy Martin book where he finds he's on the Asperger's scale I did a test & find I am as well which answered a lot of what's happened in life & the way I deal with things. Talking with one of our very well qualified customers he reckons a lot of people in IT are on the scale to some extent & he could well be right.

The test is here for those who're curious.
https://www.aspergerstestsite.com/75/au ... t-aq-test/
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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1872423
tr7v8 wrote:After reading the Guy Martin book where he finds he's on the Asperger's scale I did a test & find I am as well which answered a lot of what's happened in life & the way I deal with things. Talking with one of our very well qualified customers he reckons a lot of people in IT are on the scale to some extent & he could well be right.

The test is here for those who're curious.
https://www.aspergerstestsite.com/75/au ... t-aq-test/


Have you read this thread? :D

https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=119507
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1872434
I suspect most of the people I know would score a 33 or 34, especially some of my work colleagues. At what point do you declare it to your AME? Especially since it is a self assessment.
By archerflyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1872877
@TrickyWoo are you going to be using the electronic computer on your Nav exam or the whizz wheel?

I sat another exam today, so now 7 out of 9 complete and another 100% today. Nav & Planning left, but I do seem to be finding Nav harder to be as confident with (mainly picturing the scenario), so here's to many more hours of studying! Does anyone have any other tips for learning the NAV side?

It's interesting that Met seems to be a tough one for so many people. I really found youtube massively complimented the book studying with this subject. I'll see if I can share some links. I also printed off the abbreviations used in aviation forecasts from the met website & i'd decode METAR & TAF for local airports each morning and evening & I felt this really boosted my confidence.

Regarding HP - i also found my questions to be quite lengthy and again another where two questions were asked differently, but essentially asking the same thing. I found with this paper, it was best to re-read a number of the questiosn to avoid being tripped up.
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By TrickyWoo
#1872951
Hi ArcherFlyer - CX-3 for Perf and Nav plus physical half-mil Southern chart per CAA rools. I do the plog with paper then SkyDemon and take annotaed 1:250 and 1:500 maps with me. I like the 1:250 very much but of course they're non grata on the Big Test.

I'm doing NavEx now and it's helping a lot. I love the way the other 7 exams are coming together as one common book of knowledge. I'm hoping to go a short solo Nav Ex in the next week.

Met was just the theories really - the Ballot lad's thing had me holding my arms out on a local hill like a fat ~Julie Andrews impersonator looking for the low pressure.

And YouTube has been phenomenal. Best was video explaining AoA using a wing which had coloured ribbons attached. I'll find the link although it may well have come from here.
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By archerflyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1873061
Hi

I think the video showing air flow seperation is the below & definitely helped with visualtion for principles of flight:



Caveat regarding using other youtube videos for study, is be mindful of who is creating the content e.g. school vs individual. I've watched some videos of individuals (not instructors) trying to explain some things and they've been wrong in their explanations. Same with people giving tips/tricks on the radio & their comms haven't been as per guidance etc.

Re Nav, i'm ok with the whizz wheel, but sometimes a couple of degrees out on the drift correction, which then obviously throws out g/s and magnetic heading by a couple & also time. So if the answers aren't too close then i'm fine, but where the minutes are all the same and there's a few degrees between all of the headings, then I seem to be doomed! I get the principle & function, just not precise enough which is frustrating.

The Nav air pilots manual questions, answers & explanations, is so far the only useful exam bank for me at the moment. The rest in this series haven't been representative of the e-exams.
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By TrickyWoo
#1873179
i ordered the Pooleys exams books two weeks ago for Nav and Perf but the UK shop called on Friday to say they're not in stock after all 'because of the new questions'

For the exams I've done, the Easy PPL questions have been very similar or slightly more rigorous. I walked away from 5 of 7 thinking I'd massively over studied but that's fine of course. One thing that helped (perhaps more for us older folks) is an interest in the history. e.g. last week I was **** about on FS2020 using the Oculus VR headset (it's incredible for situational awareness) to practice my upcoming NavEx and it's led to reading up on ADF. Few hours of that and you're an ace on any relevant exams.
By archerflyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1873191
I'm aiming to get my last 2 exams complete within the next 4 weeks. I'd be happy to send the Nav & Performance exam books once I'm finished with them. The others haven't been too helpful, but they're there should anyone want them.
By andynxn
#1875488
Did my MET today, Passed with 81. I found this one the most difficult so far, i think its more you need to really know and remember alot. I got 3 questions wrong, not sure exactly which ones now, but one was on the Metar Code 'MIFG'. I just didnt know this so took a punt. But i now know not 'Mist and Fog', its Shallow Fog. I wont ever forget that again i guess... But there were some easy ones like what does the red line mean on a 215 Chart.

But make sure you know about density and how it changes with temp and pressure, IR radar images, and they throw in a couple questions about wind sheer too. Im finding they cross questions between exams.
Im off to ground school for the remaining exams, self learning does not work for me.
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By archerflyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1878546
that's my last 2 theory exams out the way. 91% on both Nav & Flight Planning & performance & I found youtube helped me a lot with both of these subjects, sometimes someone explaining what I read really helped me to process it. Both of these subjects were also the only ones whereby I found the Pooleys exams books had a benefit, as they were productive practical practice (TVMDC/graphs/VOR positioning) as opposed to a question bank and answers.

Both exam books are available free to a good home should anyone like (just pm me with details)? I have the entire series, but don't believe the others are overly relevant.

good luck all & let me know if you want any youtube links to the videos/channels I found helpful

EasyPPL Groundschool is also a great tool & >130 hours of studying via their resources was time well spent
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By TLRippon
#1878963
archerflyer wrote:
Re Nav, i'm ok with the whizz wheel, but sometimes a couple of degrees out on the drift correction, which then obviously throws out g/s and magnetic heading by a couple & also time. So if the answers aren't too close then i'm fine, but where the minutes are all the same and there's a few degrees between all of the headings, then I seem to be doomed! I get the principle & function, just not precise enough which is frustrating.


Can I ask if you are using the “Wind Up” or the “Wind Down” method? If that terminology is not familiar, is the Ground Speed under the blue centre dot or is the TAS under the blue centre dot?
By archerflyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1878968
not familiar with the terminology. TAS is under the blue centre dot & ground speed read off from the pencil mark/indicator.
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By TLRippon
#1879033
archerflyer wrote:not familiar with the terminology. TAS is under the blue centre dot & ground speed read off from the pencil mark/indicator.

OK so that’s wind down.

I guess if you are finding the drift is a couple of degrees off then the obvious question is are you drift tuning the result?
For example: imagine your result was a dot 10 degrees to the right. So you turn the wheel 10 degrees right and the new heading is 10 degrees less. You then look at the drift and it’s only 8 degrees to the right now. Do you then adjust the drift to 8 degrees and look again to see if the dot is still at 8 degrees?
By archerflyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1879074
thanks - some new knowledge; self taught from books & youtube!

I do make the second adjustments, but that's obviously where I'm still a few out (not always, but enough). Maybe my marks are too big or I'm just incompetent.
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By TLRippon
#1879118
I don’t think you are incompetent it is not that easy to learn the subtleties from YouTube. Your instructor should be your go to place for training on the CRP1.
If you want a very precise mark I suggest you buy a Staedtler fine tip non-permanent felt tip pen. It makes a fine dot and can be erased by a lick of the finger and a single rub.
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