Beat me master CASA Beat me.
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Beat me master CASA Beat me.
Over 20 years of flying in 4 different countries and Iv never seen anything like CASA. How any of you learn to fly here is beyond me. You must be very brillient and have more money than Fort Knox.
Publications are a mess with a pile of books requiring a carry on to the Exams when other countries can get there regulations in 2" paperback, ("WITH AN INDEX CASA ")
So lets look at this again. After 6 months here attempting the conversion iv spent over $20K just staying alive and keeping a roof over my head to take these exams. Each time you fail its a month before they let you take it again.
My hats off to anyone in this country who learns to fly here, either your all brilliant or just dam lucky to get through this. I know there are those who come here and get through it in just a couple of weeks, my question is how?. It took me the first month before I understood just how to find anything in the CAO (" THERE IS NO INDEX CASA"
). How can you publish a book without an index. Then they expect you to be able to find the answers with no tags ??. I spoke to one other guy at my last attempt at this exam and he said he had tried it 9 times before he passed . Others I spoke to said you can't fight it, just do it , CASA does not care how many attempts you make at there screwy exams, its all money to them and a pass is a pass. Even designated examiners have told me the same thing , "Flying is the easy part, understanding the exams is another story" I found this amazing but Im starting to believe its true when I see pilots laugh as they fail and then come back for more ( Beat me master CASA, Beat me ). He said CASA will just wipe you till you bleed money, and now I know how to pass the exams. "Rob a bank, shut up and push the key that says A,B,C or D. All of the above.
and pray....
Publications are a mess with a pile of books requiring a carry on to the Exams when other countries can get there regulations in 2" paperback, ("WITH AN INDEX CASA ")So lets look at this again. After 6 months here attempting the conversion iv spent over $20K just staying alive and keeping a roof over my head to take these exams. Each time you fail its a month before they let you take it again.
My hats off to anyone in this country who learns to fly here, either your all brilliant or just dam lucky to get through this. I know there are those who come here and get through it in just a couple of weeks, my question is how?. It took me the first month before I understood just how to find anything in the CAO (" THERE IS NO INDEX CASA"
). How can you publish a book without an index. Then they expect you to be able to find the answers with no tags ??. I spoke to one other guy at my last attempt at this exam and he said he had tried it 9 times before he passed . Others I spoke to said you can't fight it, just do it , CASA does not care how many attempts you make at there screwy exams, its all money to them and a pass is a pass. Even designated examiners have told me the same thing , "Flying is the easy part, understanding the exams is another story" I found this amazing but Im starting to believe its true when I see pilots laugh as they fail and then come back for more ( Beat me master CASA, Beat me ). He said CASA will just wipe you till you bleed money, and now I know how to pass the exams. "Rob a bank, shut up and push the key that says A,B,C or D. All of the above. and pray....
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I sympathise with you FOU. For most of their working existence, the nameless persons who set the written exams have justified their positions by writing and rewriting the exams so that the answers are never the same. Heaven forbid we should have the same situation as in the USA, where the answers are published for everyone to see. Go figure! The exams are more complex than the aircraft. So every would-be Aussie pilot has to work out how to think like the people writing the questions, then dutifully forget all the crap after passing and resort to knowing what to do when the oil pressure and oil temperature gauges are both reading high and whether to fly under the eastern side of a CB.
An index? You're kidding right? That would imply some sort of organisation and some knowledge of a good word processing software.
An index? You're kidding right? That would imply some sort of organisation and some knowledge of a good word processing software.
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yes, it appears that a favourite game of the examiners is 'what am i thinking of'. you have to kind of admire them, they always seem to have a way of making the next question more ambiguous and arbitrary then the last. the exams are more of an excersize in answering cleverly worded questions than a true test of the subject matter.
a trick i used for the CAO's was to go on the casa website and print off the CAO checklist and put that in the front of the CAO's. its pretty effective as an index, not sure if it's technically allowed but no one pulled me up on it. don't think there is something for the CARs though.
a trick i used for the CAO's was to go on the casa website and print off the CAO checklist and put that in the front of the CAO's. its pretty effective as an index, not sure if it's technically allowed but no one pulled me up on it. don't think there is something for the CARs though.
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I did my ATPL's prior to the ban on tagging but like everyone before me said, you find you don't use them because you know where everything is.
You don't need to know its exact location, just roughly where to look. I say that but know most checkers I've had know exact locations (if not quote word for word).
Have you thought about doing one of the many courses? You'd have spent far less money and have it done already.
You don't need to know its exact location, just roughly where to look. I say that but know most checkers I've had know exact locations (if not quote word for word).
Have you thought about doing one of the many courses? You'd have spent far less money and have it done already.
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My flying friends
I thank you all for your support. I will be taking the Exam again next week and maybe pissing another $165 into the CASA wind but Ill give it a go. I know people do get through this and it is true that it is an exersize in lack of common sense. But with no other way out and no job to go to there is no other options but to spend more money and prey. Iv been studying for the past couple of weeks again but I have no doubt I will be faced with yet another bank of questions off which Iv only seen %50 of in the past. Im looking for a Bar job on the beach now. Iv discovered that the reason you locals get through this is because you have been brought up knowing how to find things in books with no index, where as we in America had it laid out in black and white for us and every question and Answer is published for purchase by law under the freedom of information act. So a failure of any exam is rare. Each time Iv done this at least 1/3rd of the class fails something. My hats off to all of you who learned to fly here. I would have been bankrupt by now. 
Your either real smart or real lucky.
Your either real smart or real lucky.
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The Bridge of Death
" There it is, the bridge of death and there's the old man from scene 24." Whats he doing here"?. He is the keeper of the bridge of death. He asked each traveler 5 questions, " 3 questions", 3 question, he who answers the 5 questions, " 3 questions", 3 questions, may pass in safety.
"What happens if you get a questions wrong ?"
"Then you cast into the gorge of iternall perall "
" Oh Wacko".
"What happens if you get a questions wrong ?"
"Then you cast into the gorge of iternall perall "
" Oh Wacko".
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Bob Tait
Yes , did a bob Tait course. It helped a lot and my score was much better but still %2 short of a pass. Im tired now and very depressed about it all. Its very hard to spend 20 years flying and be told by a computer your an idiot. 
Im trying very hard to pull myself back together. Please tell me that once this is all over ( i see a year down the road) that I can just use these books to chock the tires on an Airbus. There so big they could stop an A380 from rolling away. I see that as being better use for them .
Im trying very hard to pull myself back together. Please tell me that once this is all over ( i see a year down the road) that I can just use these books to chock the tires on an Airbus. There so big they could stop an A380 from rolling away. I see that as being better use for them .
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Yes, those docs are typical of Australian bureaucracy... very frustrating and take a lot of getting used to. Not sure what licence you are converting, but I'd rather take even the dreaded IREX than attempt the CAA Instrument Rating - or is it JAA or something now... I reckon it would be even harder going the other way.
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Yea
I don't know about Europe but CASA told me its much harder going
CASA to FAA Bull
. I know the IREX in the states is study the Q and A sign up and take the test. Most people can do it in 1 day. The ATPL Written . I studied for it on line and took the test 4 hours later and passed with a %96 1500 possible questions and answers to study , 50 on the test. and each one of these test is just that 1 test. 1 private, 1 instrument, 1 commercial, 1 ATPL. In CASA I believe there are about 35 Exams total ( please correct me if Im wrong). lets see at about $160 an exam times 35 = $5600 assuming you pass them all first time around. FAA 4 exams times $60 = $240. Hello CASA you said its harder????. Wallet, time, cost to feed ones self during training and ground school. No wonder CASA can't answer my questions on the phone when they can't even do simple math. There is an old saying in flying KISS I think CASA was on the dunny swatting fly's when the teacher said this.
CASA to FAA Bull
. I know the IREX in the states is study the Q and A sign up and take the test. Most people can do it in 1 day. The ATPL Written . I studied for it on line and took the test 4 hours later and passed with a %96 1500 possible questions and answers to study , 50 on the test. and each one of these test is just that 1 test. 1 private, 1 instrument, 1 commercial, 1 ATPL. In CASA I believe there are about 35 Exams total ( please correct me if Im wrong). lets see at about $160 an exam times 35 = $5600 assuming you pass them all first time around. FAA 4 exams times $60 = $240. Hello CASA you said its harder????. Wallet, time, cost to feed ones self during training and ground school. No wonder CASA can't answer my questions on the phone when they can't even do simple math. There is an old saying in flying KISS I think CASA was on the dunny swatting fly's when the teacher said this.
It took me the first month before I understood just how to find anything in the CAO (" THERE IS NO INDEX CASA"
This looks like an index to me.
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FO Usedalot, unfortunately here in Oz we don't have an equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act of the US. My friends over there regularly pull off their own test records and other personal info from FAA for not much more than nickels and dimes.
I don't think CASA would forgo the current revenue stream though.
I don't think CASA would forgo the current revenue stream though.
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So I take it you're having trouble with Airlaw? This is one of the easier exams for both the CPL and ATPL.
And 9 attempts? Good luck that person getting a job anywhere that requires you to produce a Prerequisite Report.
And 9 attempts? Good luck that person getting a job anywhere that requires you to produce a Prerequisite Report.
lets see at about $160 an exam times 35 = $5600 assuming you pass them all first time around.
7 ATPL
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What has gone wrong?
When I sat my Australian ATPL exams in the mid '80s, they were tough, but extremely practical. With the help of a superb TAFE instructor, who was a retired RAF Navigator, most of our class passed first time.
In direct contrast, the UK exams were an exercise in Aviation History. The syllabus included the Decca Navigator. ¿Que? Decca was only ever installed in the UK and Brunei, and was designed for tanks on a battlefield!
Performance 'A' was a joke. I had flown Nimrods and understood jet performance very well. I then had to do a course on 'How to pass the Perf 'A' exam.' I passed the exam (thanks Alex & co) then flew a Perf 'A' aircraft, needing little of the gen required to pass the exam.
It seems that the examiners are out of touch with reality in the modern world of airline operations. I expect better things from the new boss at CASA, as he has recent experience of heavy jet airline ops.
That's not too much to expect, is it?
When I sat my Australian ATPL exams in the mid '80s, they were tough, but extremely practical. With the help of a superb TAFE instructor, who was a retired RAF Navigator, most of our class passed first time.
In direct contrast, the UK exams were an exercise in Aviation History. The syllabus included the Decca Navigator. ¿Que? Decca was only ever installed in the UK and Brunei, and was designed for tanks on a battlefield!
Performance 'A' was a joke. I had flown Nimrods and understood jet performance very well. I then had to do a course on 'How to pass the Perf 'A' exam.' I passed the exam (thanks Alex & co) then flew a Perf 'A' aircraft, needing little of the gen required to pass the exam.
It seems that the examiners are out of touch with reality in the modern world of airline operations. I expect better things from the new boss at CASA, as he has recent experience of heavy jet airline ops.
That's not too much to expect, is it?
Grandpa Aerotart
That's not too much to expect, is it?
FO Usedalot - plenty of people pass em - they have always been an english comprehension exercise - RTBQ=1/2FA - I passed them all when they were called Senior Commercial Pilots license Subjects with a maximum of 2 weeks study each (mostly home study - did a 2 week course for Performance)
How easy the FAA exams are is no recommendation for anything.
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I too bitched interminably when I failed the SCPL exams time and again in the 1960's. Then years later I went to England and bitched interminably. This time about the idiotic Air Law exams which asked me about the lights on tethered balloons. A lovely old English lady former school teacher with whom I was boarding at the time, had heard it all before with her students. She ever so gently told me to stop bitching and get on with it. She was right, of course. It was the best advice I ever had.
I realised then that my interminable bitching was never going to help me pass exams. People simply weren't interested in my problems. They had enough of their own.
My advice? Realise that most readers are genuinely sympathetic towards you. But try to stop bitching on Pprune because no one can pass the exams for you. You will get there eventually. Perstistence always pays of in the end.
I realised then that my interminable bitching was never going to help me pass exams. People simply weren't interested in my problems. They had enough of their own.
My advice? Realise that most readers are genuinely sympathetic towards you. But try to stop bitching on Pprune because no one can pass the exams for you. You will get there eventually. Perstistence always pays of in the end.
Last edited by A37575; 8th Jan 2011 at 05:55.
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F/O Usedalot
I hear you mate.
Keep trying though - you'll come through in the end. The sad reality is that these exam questions are just preparation for how ridiculous your interaction with CASA will be in the future. They are VERY removed from commercial reality, and are not very in touch with the industry that they are supposed to be regulating.
Good luck!
520
Keep trying though - you'll come through in the end. The sad reality is that these exam questions are just preparation for how ridiculous your interaction with CASA will be in the future. They are VERY removed from commercial reality, and are not very in touch with the industry that they are supposed to be regulating.
Good luck!
520