Skills test advice

[piperarcher]

I cant comment on your area as I don't know it well enough, but I did do my skills test about 5 years ago and these are my tips:

1)Study every inch of your route and try and remember or highlight as many features or potential gotchas as you can (gliding sites, danger areas, disused airfields, VRP's, MATZ, airspace changes etc). On my test I was asked to do a diversion, but (and of course my examiner knew this) my new route went straight through a local well known active gliding site. Although I wasn't required to route around it, or even speak to them on the radio, I just flew straight through it with no extra visual checking. The examiner asked me what I thought about the glider site I had just flown through, and it was obvious from my rubbish answer that I had not seen it on the map, nor on the ground either. I wish I had thought about some of these 'gotchas' on my pre-flight planning.

2) Note operational times of zones and services. On my mock test, which was on a Friday, my route went through a MATZ, who I duly contacted well ahead of requiring a penetration, and permission was duly granted. My real test was on a Saturday and that same MATZ was not operational, so no-one replied to my very nervous calls asking for a MATZ penetration. As I got closer, I was confused, and did an impromptu diversion to my next waypoint because I hadn't got approval to enter'. In hindsight I could have just gone through the MATZ and made some blind transmissions, or just gone over the top of the zone.

These two items made me realise that the examiner needs to see that you know what's on your map, you don't just plough through potentially dangerous areas, and you can think laterally about your options while flying. Needless to say, I only got a partial pass , and had to the Nav bit again. In hindsight I would say yes it was a poor planning on my part and a lack of experience with MATZ's at the time, and it was a lot to do with nerves. But, what I was doing was just being a pilot, and not a very good navigator.

Of course, once you have your PPL, you hopefully continue to improve and pick up new experiences, and you can adapt your flight and safety planning and equipment use (GPS) to suit your own style.

Good luck