PPL Air Law Exam

[italianjon]

Hi all,

Got a question about Air Law Exam.

I am working at it at the moment, and there are sections in the APM which require you to read AIC's.

I understand that bit perfectly, but am wondering...

I was told by my instructor that the exams haven't changed in a while.

Has anyone come across a situation where-by an AIC has issued information contrary or considerably altered information from a prior AIC... and is this likely to catch me out in the exam?

Cheers

Jon

[Crashed&Burned]

Always obey the last order....and if that doesn't work, blame the instructor. Easy.

[B Fraser]

This is one subject where you need to be careful to use the very latest textbooks. I borrowed my girlie's old air law tapes to play in the car so I could absorb the information as I drove to and from the office..... not so clever.

I didn't realise so much had changed in recent years until I read the exam questions. I did manage to scrape through and now I can forget the largely useless bits such as who has jurisdiction over this and sovereignty over that. :zzz:

[hollywood285]

I failed this exam first time, its harder than you think, plenty of trick questions, tread carefully, and read the most up todate books.

[italianjon]

Guys,

I get the bit about upto date books. I have the most upto date, and I have read the AICs...

I am wondering about the bit I have been told about the exams not changing in a while. My concern is, that, say an AIC was released stating that the Queen had decided to change her name to Gladys; and in the exam a question said what's the queen's name... Answer HRH Lizzie or Gladys.

The exam may be out of sync to the AIC's...

Or am I just looking far too deep and worrying over nothing?

Cheers for the aupport tho.

Jon

[IO540]

I did my PPL 5 yrs ago but I don't remember having to know any of the AICs. Surely the CAA has produced mountains of AICs?? How can anybody absorb that stuff?

The exam content is based on the standard books like Trevor Thom (or perhaps vice versa). A lot of it is silly stuff, word plays which rely on having read the right books, so one does have to read the questions carefully.

The PPL Confuser is the very best revision book. Get 90% in that (not easy) and a very good exam pass is a sure thing.

As regards stuff changing, not a lot of this stuff has changed since WW1 :O

The only thing like that that I recall was the IMC Rating exam where the questions were based on a specific chart having certain magnetic variations, so the school has to lend you the original (out of date) chart for the exam.

[Whirlygig]

I did my Air Law two years ago and found that the only AIC that you needed to know about was on wake vortices. It didn't come up in my exam!

In addition the Nav exam is also based on a specific chart edition which the school will lend you.

Cheers

Whirls

[Sul]

I did my Air Law exam a few months ago and I didn't read any AICs..just read the book.

[DRJAD]

As ever, read the standard texts, read around the subject (AIP, AICs, ANO), then take the examination.

If you have an aptitude for the subject you will have retained sufficient information to pass (and will retain enough information for practical flying, I'd surmise), otherwise the chances are that you will fail.

[italianjon]

Thanks for all the advice guys...

Sat it today and passed!!!!

Right on the next one now!

[B Fraser]

well done !

As someone else has already said, the questions sometimes have more to do with English comprehension. One question I had on the quadrantal rule ran to about 5 lines of information from which you had to build a mental picture. Aha says I, let's break the problem down to derive the answer using only the relevant information. After some scribbling, I got the right answer from a numerical perspective having added grid to magnetic heading, sorted out the regional pressure etc but missed the magic letters FL buried deep in the question.

My answer .....3500 feet on regional QNH. Correct answer ........FL35.....which was the only answer given as a flight level hence the working out from first principles was a waste of time :* :*

What other exam pitfalls are hiding out there in nav, perf & planning etc. ???????

[Evil J]

Have often wondered that about all the CAA exams (and now JAA) in that they seem to test ones ability to read the question rather than ones knowledge of the material.

[skydriller]

IO540 :As regards stuff changing, not a lot of this stuff has changed since WW1

I know for a fact that a few things changed when the system went JAA/JAR....

I was one of the first students (In fact I think I was the first, Autumn 1999?) at the flying school I trained at to do the JAA/JAR versions of the ground exams and the only one I had a problem with was the Air Law exam. I didnt pass it the first time by one question, and when debriefed on what I got wrong only one or two questions was me screwing up with lack of knowledge. For a couple of the others the marking sheet provided was actually wrong and the others were changes between the two systems where not everyone could agree on what the correct answer was when quizzed to explain....:hmm:

Took it again immediately and passed no problem, again on debrief the questions I got wrong were debated at length by instructors at the flying school.....as before they were not sure if the exam answer was correct or not. Also, this time one of the questions I got right, everyone thought was actually wrong!!!:ugh:

I know you could argue that I should have learnt the new JAA/JAR syllabus and I would have had no problems, but the way I remember it there was no real info about the new system at the time, so everyone was trying to cope by using the old CAA stuff and muddling through any changes as they occured. Nobody had bothered to look at the exam questions/answers to see if they made sense before...

Regards, SD..

PS..Well done italian john!!:ok:

[DRJAD]

It's no bad thing to test English comprehension as well as knowledge.

In real life, you have to take data form various sources, build a mental model of the import of those data, synthesize a response, and translate that response into action. Understanding the import of data, howsoever they are presented (numerically, linguistically, diagrammatically), requires basic skills of comprehension.

[B Fraser]

It's no bad thing to test English comprehension as well as knowledge

I agree DRJAD however a PPL exam should focus on facts, procedures and problem solving, not the students' ability to spot hidden detail within reams of information.

The day ATC pick me upon the incorrect use of the dative case, I may change my mind. My instructor is already picking me up for using grammatically correct prepositions which are not necessary !

[DRJAD]

We will have to agree to differ.

[B Fraser]

To be honest, there's not much to disagree about. :D Most of the knowledge we have to absorb is both relevant and interesting.

Happy Landings

B

[splatt]

I haven't written air law yet but with the ammendments made to the Low Flying Rule back in April 2005 I have noticed that despite having bought my textbooks and practice exams after this date that their contents has become is outdated. The current Rule 5 and changes are available from:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20051110.htm

I only picked up on this because I did an online practice exam and of course any changes to the law are incorporated as they occur and are immediately reflected in the questions I am answering. They do not have to go through the edit and reprint process. Nor do I have to buy a new book each time the law changes.

At first this annoyed me because the answers to my airlaw exam would most likely be incorrect had I not stumbled upon this fact. I thought that the CAA or whoever should have made more of a point of publicizing the change. Now though, I think I have reasoned that the powers that be see no pressing reason to publish the change as most pilots will be flying on the older, higher minimum heights therefore not breaching the new lower minimums.

I'm tempted to ask a few of the instructors at my school what the minimums are to see if they have kept up to date ;) I figure that I'll ask what date the test was generated when I write the exam in a few days. If its before April 2005 I'll go with the old Rule 5, if after then I'll go with the new Rule 5 should any Low Flying questions crop up.

splatt

[splatt]

Just a quick update to the above :D :D :D I wrote and passed my airlaw exam this morning!

[Spitoon]

Now though, I think I have reasoned that the powers that be see no pressing reason to publish the change as most pilots will be flying on the older, higher minimum heights therefore not breaching the new lower minimums.
I think that the powers that be set the rules and it's up to us to make sure that we know what the current rules are.