ATPL Fly Plan and ETAS

[FRQ Charlie Bravo]

Hi all,

Just a quick poll. For the purpose of the exam how many of you calculate ETAS for almost every single flight plan? For those who do, do you find that a small correction (for <5 deg drift) makes much of a difference over a long sector?

N. Higgins suggests only calculating it for more than 5 deg of drift. I think I'll stick with quickly calculating it for every plan but only applying it if I'm right between two answers or (as N. Higgins suggests) when it's over 5 deg drift.

What do/did you do?

FRQ CB

I love this stuff, I just wish the exam were over already.

[FRQ Charlie Bravo]

Also,

Who else is preparing to sit ATPL Flight Planning in the next few weeks? I am (self study but I did it an uni two years ago too) and I thought that I'd invite anyone who wishes to bounce ideas and questions back and forth to PM me.

FRQ CB

PS Yes, I really do enjoy it.

[Cap'n Arrr]

PS Yes, I really do enjoy it.

You should seek professional help ASAP!:E

Haha, it's not too bad I guess. I'm sick of making silly mistakes like using the wrong wind, or the wrong fuel flow. Hopefully will start to pick up on those things now :O

I only really use ETAS with more than 10deg of drift, I haven't had too much trouble from this way yet.

[Lasiorhinus]

Use an E6B computer for your groundspeeds... does the whole thing in two twists and one pencil dot - you get accurate speeds straight off, and you have no need to worry about ETASs at all!

[FRQ Charlie Bravo]

I started out on an E6B years ago but then got into the CR2 and can't see myself carrying an E6B around due to it's size and awkwardness (yes I do carry my CR2 still... well not to parties, just flying and occasionally to the grocery store to compare g/ml/units per dollar). Many friends of mine still swear by the E6B though.

Hey Garman, I'll reply to your PM as soon as I can look into it. I'll be welcoming baby # 2 tomorrow morning so will take a bit of a break (but I want to be able to feed the babies so will get back into study quick smart).

FRQ CB

[ReverseFlight]

FRQ Charlie Bravo, I also self-studied AFPA and found it enjoyable. I would recommend a good thread to help you on the way (it was at the time I was doing mine).

http://www.pprune.org/forums/d-g-general-aviation-questions/326000-atpl-flight-planning-tricks-short-cuts-etc.html

As for ETAS, I started off using it in ANAV but by the time I came to do AFPA and APLA, I got lazy and ditched it to cut down calculation times - still managed to pass comfortably though. Nathan's rule-of-thumb is good too.

All the best with your exams and the new baby.

[Lasiorhinus]

No need to carry it around the whole time - yes, they are heavy and bulky, but if you're doing flight planning, use an E6B for groundspeed calcs. You can take both computers into the exam - the CR- computers are indispensable, but getting a groundspeed takes five times as long as it does on the E6B.

Its just for the exam - believe me, its worth digging it up from wherever you packed it away to.

[UnderneathTheRadar]

FWIW, I did a (not AFT) course for this subject where we were taught to use full ETAS calculations (and yes, an E6B is invaluable) so as to 'do it properly'.

However, at the end of the course we were also advised that Nathan Higgins writes most of the exam questions and AFT don't teach the use of ETAS that some discretion was worth applying and maybe not using ETAS would get closer to the 'exam' answers.

So in the exam, I didn't use ETAS and simply the extracted TAS. Seemed to work - got a mark that couldn't have been any better....


One other tip, for CP questions - simply work out a) the track length and b) a rough headwind/tailwind component. CP moves into wind therefore you may instantly discard several of the answers. Look at the HWC/TWC to see how strong or otherwise it is and one answer may be suddenly the only one possible. It worked for me - got 5 marks for about 2 minutes work.

Good luck (and I agree - it is an enjoyable subject - Air Law which I should be studying now is a completely different story!),

UTR