Well, Mr Pres. I have to agree with you in some areas!! The question technique employed by the CAA does seem designed to trap rather than to test fairly. And yes, it is utter boŁŁocks having to learn the dimensions of the stripes on the streamers flown beneath tethered kites (10cm red and white on an 80 x30 cm streamer at not less than 100 m intervals !!) and the correct sequence of lights to be displayed at the mooring site of a tethered balloon flown at more than 60m above the ground by night*!! There needs to be a common-sense filter applied to most of these exams so that only practical, essential parts of the syllabus are actually tested.
By the way, the answer to your example was 'optional'. 'Advisable but not required' is too subjective to be the correct answer - no doubt such lights would be considered very, very advisable by the Acme Rotating Beacon Company, but less so by the pilot of a 1909 Bleriot Monoplane!! This does, as you so correctly point out, show how utterly crass some of the questions are. But at PPL level things aren't so bad and Ken has done quite a reasonable job - but I do think that more Right-of-Way and suchlike questions rather than 'bureaucracy'-type questions should have been asked. The 'PPL Confuser' may help with revision, but it should be used to assist, rather than replace, study of proper text books.
*2 flashing red and one flashing green lights arranged in an equilateral triangle with 25m sides at the mooring site with the green light indicating the downwind direction!!
Why on earth do we need to know this?? So that we can report illegally parked barrage balloons to the CAA??
[This message has been edited by BEagle (edited 24 June 2000).]