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What is the recommended reading (text books) for an European instrument rating? I am planning to do the IR in the future and It would be nice to begin slowly with the theory.
IO540
10th Nov 2009, 07:09
I am suprised nobody has answered this yet.
The JAA IR must be done at a professional flight training organisation and these use certain training materials, so this is what you need to get because the exam questions will be constructed on the assumption you have studied from those materials.
The JAA question bank is also now available, so you can check you have got the right answers! Somebody told me that the place he studied at let him have access to the question bank for something like £50 for 3 months.
You will find resources at PPL/IR Europe. (http://www.pplir.org)
Justiciar
10th Nov 2009, 07:57
You will find that the course notes will provide the material you need. There are only three UK organisations doing the IR exams only so there is not much choice but all are by all accounts very good. If you really want to read ahead then your only choice is to get hold of the ATPL study guides, such as the Oxford Air Training manuals. They run at around £40 for each subject. The ATPL books have far more than you need if you are just doing the IR so you need to check the learning objectives to see what you need and what you can ignore. The sylabus may change significantly in the next few years as there is talk of the EASA IR having significantly reduced theoretical knowledge requirements.
In terms of the current requirements probably the ATPL books on Air Law and Met are the best places to start as the IR sylabus has a lot of both. Air Law is the most tedious of the subjects in my view; if you can manage that you can manage anything.
BackPacker
10th Nov 2009, 08:22
If you don't want to start hard-core studying just yet, but are just interested in the kind of stuff you can expect, the FAA makes two manuals on this subject available on their website for free.
Aviation Handbooks & Manuals (http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/)
Have a look at JAA - Licensing: Learning Objectives IR (A) (http://www.jaat.eu/licensing/jar-fcl/jar-fcl_ira_frame.html) to check out the topics you have to know.
I used the distance learning course from Nordian. The books read like novels. They are less detailed then the Oxford manuals, but for the PPL/IR it is sufficiënt. A lot of the Law-course contains stuff you don't need to know (PICAO, ICAO, blah blah,...).
The most intense exam was Flight Ops/ Planning but you can't really study for that one. Meteo is of considerable size but I found it rather interesting.
You can find the Q&A databases for free on the net. But these are based on the ATPL exams. If you can manage these the actual exam will be a piece of cake.
Go for it and good luck ! :ok:
IO540
10th Nov 2009, 12:23
You can find the Q&A databases for free on the net
Where are they?
Right here on this very forum.
I'll save you some time:
JAA ATPL Questions | AviationTire.com (http://www.aviationtire.com/atpl.cfm)
IO540
10th Nov 2009, 12:38
Are those the question banks? I can't see the answers.
The correct answer is in bold.
Very basic, I know. But as we say in Belgium; you shouldn't look into a given horse's mouth.
IO540
10th Nov 2009, 12:57
Ah-ha!! I was clicking on the wrong URL in this thread :)
Wonderful to know the president of ICAO is elected for 3 years. Always felt I needed to know that, when trying to outclimb some IMC at FL190, doing my best to pull +100fpm :)
Or, as we say in English, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. ;)
BackPacker
10th Nov 2009, 13:05
Wonderful to know the president of ICAO is elected for 3 years.
Was looking at the IFR Communications / Morse code section and it's strangely empty. That would be the easiest section to come up with, oh, 26 questions or so.:ok:
Wonderful to know the president of ICAO is elected for 3 years. Always felt I needed to know that, when trying to outclimb some IMC at FL190, doing my best to pull +100fpm
Yes, it is one of the more popular topics between crewmembers after switching on the autopilot. :)
Or, as we say in English, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
You know that horse too ?
:}