I must be retarded...
 

I must be retarded or something, I am trying to get ready for my CPL nav exam with my trusty Bob Tait book in hand and I just can't get my thick head around it. :ugh:
Am i wasting my time pursuing this pilot thing or has anyone else had the same woes???

Well first of all what bits are you having problems with?

Btw, don't worry too much because once it clicks you'll find most of it really easy. Also, don't question whether you want to be a pilot or not, I hope you're joking! If you really love it, then stick with it!

Wouldn't worry to much, I did my CPLs last year and must admit at times I did not think I had it in me. Nav was the one exam I did fail but went back a managed to get a reasonable score.

I never really studied at school and never went to Uni and as such had no study technique or really any idea where to start. What I did learn was that when something was really just making no sense at all, take a brake. Go and do something else, if you just keep pulling out hairs it gets you no where. You can read the same thing over and over again and will just keep making the same mistakes, come back with a fresh set of eyes.

Also I found studying at the pub works really well, not great for the more difficult bits but when just reading things nothing better than a pint to wash it down...

Most of it is the same as PPL Nav, just some CP's and PNR's to make it a little more difficult!

As QF2 said, what is it you are having problems with?

Mate happens to us all at some time during our career. The real test is how you deal with the problem.

Well that depends, have you actually bothered to attend some form of class on the subject or do you think so little of flying as a career that you think it's just like driving a car. Just a quick glance at the owners manual and off you go.

It sounds to me like it's the latter, if that's the case I'd suggest you look elsewhere.

Sorry guys, no disrespect intended. I just posted after a cruddy day at work and then 2 hours of getting nowhere with the study. It's not that I havn't considered taking a class, but with still working 4 days a week it makes it tough to get to my flying school by the time their classes start in the evening. I might have to go and speak to my instructor.
I understand the concept of the 1 in 60 stuff, but i just keep making mistakes with converging/diverging tracks, and always seem to be looking back at the instructions for calculating actual wind velocity, i just cant seem to make it all stick. If my answers are out by a degree or two is that make it a wrong answer?
Thanks for the feedback, its nice to know im not the only one who has trouble with this.
Kind regards,

Jet.

Don't stress too much mate.
Nav is my nemesis also, some classes and some good study sessions with my peers have helped and have passed all nav exams (ppl, cpl, ifr) now i'm working on ATPL.

Good luck.

Knox.

Stick with it!!! Nav can be tricky at times....... I found bobs questions to be a little bit harder then the actually questions i got in the Cyber Exam. The Cyber Exam questions are very simliar to bob or even the same at times. Because it is multiple choice you can sometimes work backwards to check your answer!!!

It helped me to purchase and work through bob's practise exams online.......:ok:

http://www.bobtait.com.au/

Good Luck..

Gday

Im not sure what Nav is like to self study as I took the class. I found the class helped, particularly with the more practical subjects like Nav and Performance. The next best thing might be your instructor who can sit down with you and show you how to work out the questions with accuracy and can help you get over any hurdles.

Out of interest have you commenced your navigation training? I took the course 8 months before I sat the exam and found that the navigation flying that I was doing helped me understand the concepts and with little revision sat the exam with no problems.

Any problems in particular just ask :ok:

Cheers,
Mo

You know; I try so hard to bite my tongue most times but occasionally when I read garbage like this load above I have no choice but to speak out.

Pull your head out of your ar@e Fanelli, plenty of us have self studied, passed and moved into good jobs. What makes you think that self study shows lack of commitment? You bonebrain!

Good luck to you Jethrolx.

bbbbbbbbzzzzzbbbbzzzzbexpleasebbbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Do as many practice exams as you can, learn how to answer the q's..

That was the best way for me to learn how to pass the exams cpl/atpl...

Also you will find many of the q's in practice papers on the actual exam...BONUS!!!

My personal experience.

Did the Trevor Thom self study for ppl. No real problems there.

Did the CPL course at Sydney Tech at night after work. Had to give up one of my part time jobs for that one. not sure how long it was back then, 12 weeks I think, 5 nights a week?

At the time they were running a CPL final course, 2 weeks fulltime. I took 2 weeks annual leave from my day job for that one. But if something like that is still available, I can say without doubt it was the best 2 weeks I ever spent! It really tied it all together.

ATPL. Back to Sydney Tech for, I think it was 6 months part time at night, 5 nights a week. Unlike the CPL course, lots of study at home as well for that one.

Whether or not the Tech courses are still available, or what their costs would be, I honestly couldn't say. But I hope it helps.

Best of luck with it. Even in today's climate it's still a challenging path. If you really want it, you will succeed.

It really :mad:s me when people post crud like this. The guy is genuinely asking for help and all you can do is S%^t cann him with no idea at all about his personal circumstances.

Ever consider that he can't get to a face to face class because hes working his butt off probably doing a job he hates so he can pay for his CPL???

I would suggest that the mere fact that hes going to spend at least $40K by the time he's done his CPL shows at least a little commitment..:ugh::ugh:

Peter Fanelli,

It must have been really easy for you the whole way through your career then given that you were obviously born knowing EVERYTHING and never had to ask anyone for help. :hmm:

jethrolx,

I used Bob Tait's books for my CPLs and for the most part found them really good and a pretty good representaion of what you will actually get in the Cyber Exams. I did find though that some of the stuff in his books was a bit light on for detail and often referred to a slightly more in depth explaination from another text if I couldn't understand it after reading Bob Tait.

Your flying school should have a few different texts from other people lying around. Ask if you can borrow one or just photocopy a few pages. Ask another student who has done/is doing CPLs if you can borrow their text or get them to explain it to you. Sometimes the same info explained a different way can make all the difference.

none of them...
 

None of the PF posts are particularly helpful. More about chest beating than anything..

I was exactly the same in the Irex exam. I used the Bob Tait book and dutifully read each line of the text, smiling more and more as my understanding of the topic grew. Then I’d get to the sample questions and low and behold would get stuck at the first one! I’d assume Bob had “made a mistake”:O and I would be the first to tell him… then of course after re-reading the SAME section four or five times, turns out Bob was right after all!! (shock, horror)
Then I'd move onto the second question…..

Point is it took me a good while to get the info into my head. Never had a problem with the other topics, just that one.
Happens to us all…..:)

All about proportions.

If you do so many miles in 12 mins, then how many miles in 60 mins?

Lets say you did 24 miles. 24/12 = ?/60

Simple maths or whiz wheel can help you there.

If you use a similar logic with all time, distance, speed calculations you might find it easier.

One on one with an instructor should sort out any confusion. If it doesn't, your instructor is no good at his/her job and you should seek one that can explain your query so that you fully understand the concepts. Don't go home confused.