Is the JAA PPL/IR question bank available freely?

[IO540]

I don't mean the ATPL question bank. That one is all over the P2P scene. I am talking about the 7 PPL/IR exams, which AFAIK are extracted from the ATPL question bank.

One can get access to this by paying £1000 to a ground school outfit, which is fair enough because that is (AIUI) the only route for going to Gatwick to sit them, but I would like to see them beforehand.

[S-Works]

Yes. Google Peters software.

[IO540]

Drawn a total blank on this one so far.

[FlyingStone]

Most ATPL question bank providers also provide seperate question banks for ATPL, CPL and IR (A/H). For example in Aviationexam you buy ATPL question bank, but you can choose from the following question banks: ATPL(A), ATPL(H), CPL(A), CPL(H), IR(A) and IR(H). So there is an option to "eliminate" all questions that aren't part of IR(A) question bank, but I think you will still have to pay the full (ATPL) price.

[S-Works]

Peters Software GmbH

Peters Software has the entire IR specific question bank as well as the CPL and ATPL. When I did my IR I used this software and sat and revised in the atrium at Gatwick on my laptop, when I went in and did the exams the questions were all identical.

The materials were originally in German when I did them several years ago but the actual questions as they were direct from the JAA question bank were in English! Now I think the software is English as well.

[IO540]

So there is an option to "eliminate" all questions that aren't part of IR(A) question bank, but I think you will still have to pay the full (ATPL) price.

As I mentioned earlier I can get the ATPL question bank - for free. It is sorting out the questions that apply to the PPL version. Peters software don't list anything I can see and don't reply to emails.

[S-Works]

Peters Software GmbH / EXAM IR(A)

Follow this link. It is Exam 11 IR that you want.

[IO540]

Is it legally possible, in the UK, to self study and just book the exams at LGW, or does one have to go through a ground school company?

That link lists 8 exams for what appears to be 84 euros, but there are 7 in reality.

[S-Works]

Unfortunately not. All training for the IR must be through an approved provider. Only the Head of Training can sign the exam application forms to say you have met the prescribed training requirements. This generally involves handing over a wad of cash for over priced materials and attending the ground school as required.

I have known situations where people have been given a complete set of manuals and still had to buy them again from the providers......

Somewhere like CATS does everything online now and then charges another £600 or so if you want printed manuals.

Some of the exam subjects are combined which is why it shows more subjects than exams.....

[Ultranomad]

Yes, the training has to be through an approved FTO.
Another source of exam materials is www.aviationexam.com - you can buy access to virtual exams for 2, 6 and 12 months. Brief explanations are provided for every question. As far as I know, there is no IR-specific subset of questions for each subject, you just sit fewer subjects. On the other hand, each EU country seems to have its own subset of the entire CQB, at least for the exams in the local language. For example, the list of ATPL questions in Czech leaked from the Czech CAA is a lot shorter than the CQB.

[IO540]

143 euros for all 14...

The questions are a subset e.g. all jet-related questions are supposed to have been removed. This is why I am after the PPL/IR question bank.

Anyway, heard some good news today... none of this is likely to be relevant

[englishal]

do tell !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LH2]

Originally Posted by Anton_K

For example, the list of ATPL questions in Czech leaked from the Czech CAA is a lot shorter than the CQB.

When I sat my ATPLs I was told a (probably apocryphal) story about the early days of the JAR.

As the story went, in the months after the JARs were put in place, ATPL results in Spain started to improve considerably sitting after sitting. Soon enough, foreigners without any knowledge of Spanish were flocking in and getting 100% marks. At some point the JAA decided to investigate and found out that the Spaniards, in all their pragmatism, had translated exactly enough questions for one paper on each subject.

My Spanish friends deny any knowledge of such a story, but say it wouldn't surprise them.

[421C]

I would be a bit cautious about European question software. I think there was an amendment to JAR-FCL on the IR syllabus and question bank a couple of years ago that has not been implemented in the UK. I may be totally wrong, but it might be worth checking.

For the IR, in my experience, the UK TK schools question banks are the best, or a least the most condensed. The school I used had a question bank less than half the size of the software QB I bought (Dauntless). It was better because you had a much more manageable volume of questions to practice, and I found the small question base absolutely appropriate preparation for the exams.

brgds
421C

[Ultranomad]

I have just gone through my first two 14-exam ATPL marathons (these two were for ground school graduation - one series on Internet, then one on paper, then there will be another one at the CAA). From my own impression, going over the entire question bank one by one is almost pointless. In most of these 14 disciplines, I sat a test on aviationexam.com before reading anything, just using what had precipitated in my memory by itself, or what could possibly be deduced from the well-known basics of physics and trigonometry, or what could be concluded through a formal logic analysis. As it turned out, with this "pure reason" alone, a 60-65% score is almost assured, the pass mark being 75%. So, the second iteration is checking the basic rules and laws of the given discipline. This usually gives you about 80% total. Only rarely does it make sense to check individual questions - such questions are mostly products of JAA's/EASA's infinite wisdom, but they are few. So, if you are on a first-name basis with physics, trigonometry, etc., don't worry much about question banks. I occasionally checked the old question banks from 2001 or 2002 against the 2010 version on aviationexam. They are almost the same - that is, if you know the answers to the old one by heart, you won't fail the new test, either.
As a dessert, my favourite problem, concocted by us from one of the exam problems during a tea/coffee break: You are flying from Edinburgh to Reykjavik at FL180, about halfway. The navigation system of your aircraft shows a right drift. You are flying a photo reconnaisance aircraft, and so have a high-altitude radio altimeter on your dashboard! Are its reading changing with time? If so, how? Let's not spoil the pleasure of thinking over it until tomorrow :-)

[LH2]

Originally Posted by Anton_K

I sat a test on aviationexam.com before reading anything, just using what had precipitated in my memory by itself, or what could possibly be deduced from the well-known basics of physics and trigonometry, or what could be concluded through a formal logic analysis. As it turned out, with this "pure reason" alone, a 60-65% score is almost assured, the pass mark being 75%. So, the second iteration is checking the basic rules and laws of the given discipline. This usually gives you about 80% total. Only rarely does it make sense to check individual questions - such questions are mostly products of JAA's/EASA's infinite wisdom, but they are few.

That's a correct assessment. Still, it makes things easier to be familiar with the questions--either it will save you time, or it will stop you from ticking the wrong box: i.e., the one that corresponds to the factually correct answer, but for whatever reason it's not the one they expect. Also the meaning of quite a few of the questions has been lost in the various rounds of translation, so it just makes life easier if you know you have to go for answer "C".

You are flying from Edinburgh to Reykjavik at FL180, about halfway. The navigation system of your aircraft shows a right drift. You are flying a photo reconnaisance aircraft, and so have a high-altitude radio altimeter on your dashboard! Are its reading changing with time? If so, how? Let's not spoil the pleasure of thinking over it until tomorrow :-)

Yup, you are descending. And it would have been less wordy and closer to home for most pilots if they had replaced the radio alt with a GPS, which would have shown the same tendency.

(Question: right drift means wind/current force from the left, correct? I always get left/right mixed up )

[Ultranomad]

Originally Posted by LH2

And it would have been less wordy and closer to home for most pilots if they had replaced the radio alt with a GPS, which would have shown the same tendency.

Absolutely right. The phrase about radio altimeter is in fact the confuser part of the question - one former FI instantly responded that the aircraft is drifting without bank, so the radio altitude won't change :-)

[IO540]

You are flying from Edinburgh to Reykjavik at FL180, about halfway. The navigation system of your aircraft shows a right drift. You are flying a photo reconnaisance aircraft, and so have a high-altitude radio altimeter on your dashboard! Are its reading changing with time? If so, how? Let's not spoil the pleasure of thinking over it until tomorrow :-)

I don't get this because it is ambiguous.

But one assumption might be that it is something to do with flying with wind from the left, therefore you are flying towards the centre of a low pressure, so you will be descending in terms of true altitude.

But the reason for the right drift could be something unrelated. Any half modern plane flying Edinburgh to Reykjavikwill be sitting on autopilot, tracking a GPS route, so there won't be any drift. Nobody will be flying seriously on dead reckoning these days.

Or, the "right drift" expression might mean that your heading is to the right of your GPS track, which means the wind is from the right, which suggests you are flying towards the centre of a high pressure, so you will be climbing.

right drift means wind/current force from the left, correct?

Yes but only if you are flying in the HDG mode. In NAV mode (tracking any kind of lateral guidance source) there won't be any "drift".

It's all artificial bollox, irrelevant to modern aviation.

And it would have been less wordy and closer to home for most pilots if they had replaced the radio alt with a GPS

Yes, a GPS will give you a more accurate true altitude than anything else you can carry in a plane (a proper IFR GPS, or a decent handheld like a G496, will have it corrected to true AMSL) but GPS altitude doesn't officially exist

[24Carrot]

Actually 'right drift' literally means your track is to the right of your heading, so the right drift will still be there even on the NAV setting. The autopilot will be 'heading off' to the left to stay on the VOR radial, or whatever track you are following.

So if you stay on FL180 you will be descending, as the question expects. Unless the air beneath you gets warmer as you head toward Reykjavik...

And if that were the least useful fact required for JAA IR TK, I would be a very much happier bunny.

[IO540]

Actually 'right drift' literally means your track is to the right of your heading,

Wind from the left means your heading will be a lower numeric figure than your track.

Saying the track is "to the right" of your heading is pretty confusing

so the right drift will still be there even on the NAV setting.

Depends on how good your autopilot is in integrating the error

Mine will get within about 100m of the GPS track, in almost any wind, eventually.

It's a deliberately confusing question.

And your correct statement about the air getting warmer just makes it impossible to answer correctly.