PPL Skills Test

[BEagle]

You MUST practise flying an in-flight diversion with an instructor before you attempt the Skill Test. Much of the advice you've been given on this thread is unlikely to help.

Here's what I wrote 10 years ago when a previous "Help, how do I do the diversion on my Skill Test" query emerged on PPRuNe:

Unplanned diversions are introduced in the latter stages of navigation training. By then you should have been introduced to MDR (Mental Dead Reckoning), including the calculation and application of Max Drift. I advocate:

Maintain VMC!

Know who to call for assistance if you doubt your ability to cope.

Choose somewhere visually significant to divert from as well as a suitable diversion.

Fly to the ‘divert point’.

The back of the checklist (ours are laminated and have a blank back with a 50 mile ½ mill scale on one edge!), a chinagraph and the CAA 1:500 000 chart are the only planning tools needed:

• Use the edge of the checklist as a ruler between divert point and diversion and draw the track line on the chart. Then lookout.
• Measure the length of the line, write it on the checklist – then lookout again
• Make sure the divert point is still in sight!
• Find a suitable VOR rose on the chart, use the checklist edge as a parallel rule and draw a line through the VOR rose parallel to the diversion track. Then lookout.
• Read off the track angle – which, of course, is conveniently in degrees magnetic – write it on the checklist. Lookout again.

The 2 most important values, track and distance, are now known. Apply MDR to track (you should have written down the pre-calculated max drift value on the chart, of course!) and estimate the heading.

Note the head or tailwind component and work out groundspeed to the nearest ¼ mile per minute. Then use it as a fraction (e.g. 5/4 miles per min rather than 75 knots) – the error over the short distance involved is unlikely to be significant.

The hardest sum next! Time = Distance / Speed! Either mentally or on the back of the checklist. Write it down, then lookout.

Pre-HAAT check, overfly the divert point, post-HAAT check.

Fly heading and time diligently. Lookout and look down for visually significant points to confirm track maintenance.

WHY haven't you practised this during training? To me it sounds very much like you've been inadequately trained - and don't forget that an FI has to sign you off as being ready for your Skill Test!