That tricky perf thing!
Wessex, well done with your communication with the CAA.
I had the same experience with Performance in February. This was my last subject and I was on my fourth attempt – so slightly SH*ttin it abit was an understatement.
After months of hard graft I managed to pass it (but only with 76%) I thought it was quite a tough paper, and even though well prepared knew I had mucked up a few questions when I walked away.
One question from February’s performance was as follows:
SEP (I think), you are looking to calculate a horizontal distance travelled during a climb to a given altitude.
You need to consider the screen height you are climbing from, then using the CAP chart that gives both a Rate of Climb (fpm) and a Gradient of climb %age (I think), arrive at a figure. Then you need to get a TAS from the CRP5 using temp and altitude given, apply the wind to get a Ground speed, then apply the gradient or ROC to the speed to calculate the horizontal distance.
The trouble is you arrive at 2 different figures with either the ROC figure or the Gradient of climb. Which one are you supposed to use?
Unfortunately I can’t remember the figures used in the exam but I re-calculated this question 4 times in the exam and could not match any of the answers given.
I have been told this question has been disputed before. However I would like to know which part of the chart should be used as you can arrive at 2 different answers!
It won’t benefit me, but might assist with others in the future – especially when more CAP questions are introduced into the exam – as is allegedly happening in the future.
Crispy.