Nav exam accuracy
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 9
Likes: 2
From: Hampshire
I'm with cotterpot. On that same shelf is my sextant. The last noon sight being some 30 years ago - in a sailboat not an aircraft ! Astro nav ? All but forgotten except for practice runs with out-of-date sight reduction tables.
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
From: Midlands
However, it is extremely time consuming so these days I'll use SkyDemon, and sense check it afterwards.
Mine sits on the shelf with my Trevor Thom books - where it has been for the 20 years since I gained my PPL. I have never used it since, and never in the air.
I know new pilots leave a substantial amount of their brain on the ground
I'd not leave the ground now w/o SD on 1 or 2 tablets/phone.
I was thinking more of the OP who is still training by the look of it.
This means he's not allowed to use GPS (or any electronic device) either dual or solo xc up to and including the test flight.
I found that a 'brain-freeze' or 'senior moment' during a diversion could be 're-booted' with the familiar mechanics of the whizz-wheel and certainly calcs. for GS and ETA would 'pop-out' automatically before SA re-emerged.
I still carry one around like a comfort thing!
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 470
Likes: 0
From: Oxfordshire
JJoe asked:
"Did you fail by much and in the areas you expected?"
Quite a bit, and I've no idea - never get told what questions I've got wrong for any of the exams I have passed at less than 100%.
I'd spent the week prior to the exam re-doing the Pooley's mock exams, and did well on them all. Sadly the exam didn't ask for any plotting or identifying things on charts, it asked purely mathematical questions to really test use of the whizz wheel for fuel calcs, speed / temp calcs etc. Stuff I simply hadn't practiced enough as I believed the exam would be testing my ability to plot a route and produce a plog whilst knowing all the stuff to avoid... what I thought of as navigating!
"Did you fail by much and in the areas you expected?"
Quite a bit, and I've no idea - never get told what questions I've got wrong for any of the exams I have passed at less than 100%.
I'd spent the week prior to the exam re-doing the Pooley's mock exams, and did well on them all. Sadly the exam didn't ask for any plotting or identifying things on charts, it asked purely mathematical questions to really test use of the whizz wheel for fuel calcs, speed / temp calcs etc. Stuff I simply hadn't practiced enough as I believed the exam would be testing my ability to plot a route and produce a plog whilst knowing all the stuff to avoid... what I thought of as navigating!
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 639
Likes: 4
From: Mare Imbrium
If a candidate fails the examiner may not discuss the answers to specific questions, but should indicate generally the areas of the syllabus that need more work.
If the candidate passes the examiner can discuss questions that were answered wrongly.
If the candidate passes the examiner can discuss questions that were answered wrongly.
