John tullamarine,
You need to be satisfied the student has an understanding? Is that why we need to do a 1inop gear down off track PNR and get the answer right to within 20kg of fuel? That is a ridiculous level of understanding not required to fly a modern jet transport aircraft. Or a DC9 etc.
That's just CASA thinking that the harder it makes exams the less blame it will get if there is an an accident. I can see the court case now.
Judge, So Mr CASA any idea why the plane crashed?
Casa, no your honour we gave a comprehensive test covering every possible scenario from floods to meteor strikes. It's not our fault we couldn't think of anymore outrageous things to test the pilots on.