This whole "it isn't relevant" thing again. It is the question bank that is the real problem, and the training for specific answers. I know that some English language schools are teaching potential doctors the phrases to pass the exams rather than the English language. Is this what you would wish for your family? It seems to be what many posters think should be the case for pilots. Do, please, take on board the comments from the expoerienced instructors in this thread - I can assure you that knowledge of the principles of convergency and HF radio are required knowledge in Northern Canada and other remote parts of the world, although you no longer have to calculate the Sun's bearings from a table in their ATP exams.
As far as the syllabus goes, yes, a lot of it may seem irrelevant in the early stage of one's career, but much of it it supports your knowledge of more relevant material - in other words, stuff that any motivated pilot would learn anyway. The difference is that EASA want you to know it before you start flying, as you would expect a doctor to. I have no real problem with that - you will find about 85% of it in the exams for other countries as well. Given that you can't actually teach everything, there ought to be an element of decision making training in there so you can make best use of what you do know - something that certainly wasn't present with the Air France flight mentioned above (I didn't see any reference to the words "I have control" either, so even basic airmanship seemed to be lacking).
As one who has been sitting on the EASA rulemaking committee with reference to changing the LOs, I can report that, while some out of date stuff has been taken out, a lot more up to date stuff has been added (and rearranged), and there is a proposed new exam for mental arithmetic, that is, without calculators.
There is also a proposal to reduce the number of exam attempts to 2, which I thoroughly agree with, and indeed proposed. This is the standard in many other parts of the transport industry of which we are a part.
With my question writer's hat on, I can also say that the nature of the questions is changing as well - for example, instead of asking for a conversion between pounds and kilograms, the question will assume that you have that knowledge and be phrased at a much higher level.
And not before time. I am still of the opinion that the original collaborators on the question banks should hang their collective heads in shame for missing an opportunity to create something world class (which to me is the real crime), and if the schools had confidence in it, students would not have to resort to question banks. But at least that's changing now, led by the industry this time. People such as Graham@IDC have spent much time and trouble asking what they actually want and the new LOs should be ready for publication in March (ish), with a view to the changes being made by 2018, due to the law making process. And kudos should go to EASA for inviting a broad spectrum of representatives onto the committee, from general aviation to major airlines.
We have an eminence gris who is a multi-thousand hour helicopter and 747 pilot, and his advice is to get this knowledge inside your head from the start, because a typical pilot will end up with two or three ICAO licences (he has eight, and the languages to go with them), and you don't waste time relearning sets of dodgy questions.
Jamesaidan - "To the original enquirer, just get through this load of junk. It's only in Europe where the sanctity of the JAA exams are hallowed. The rest of the world places sensible emphasis on flying skills. I know at least one JAA ATPL holder who can't land in a crosswind. How useful is that! "
If you don't know how the vectors work in a helicopter you will kill yourself reasonably quickly. Also, one of the most effective pilots in the Second World War couldn't land or take off in a twin for toffee, and he wasn't even in the Battle of Britain, but Malta - check up on Adrian Warburton - it was his mental skills that made the difference, as they did for George Buerling, a Canadian also in Malta, who spent a lot of time calculating trajectories.
Phil
Last edited by paco; 18th Jan 2016 at 06:14.