PPL navigation exam
 

Hi All

I'm planning on taking my PPL nav exam soon. I've been using the PPL Confuser book for revision questions but am a bit confused when it comes to some of them. Some questions ask you to plan a nav route from A to B with diversion C, however they don't give you some of the info needed in the question e.g. wind velocity and TAS. They refer you to an appendix but that's a completed plan.

Does the actual exam provide you with completed route information, or is all this extra information supplied?

Cheers, Rob

From memory, it was a few years ago I sat that exam, they tell you use a current map and then say fly from A to B, not by airfield name but on co-ordinates. I think they give you an assumed met as well for the wind calculations.

My best advice is each question leads on from the previous one. The exam tells you to plog out the entire route then answer the questions, trouble is if you make a 2 or 3 degree error in the inital calculation, keeping in mind that this is still mutilple choice, you could be in a hopeless point by the end. Plot the first leg only, answer the question based on comparing the choices to your plog. Then once you have deceided on the right answer, use that as the base for the next leg and do-on.

Removes the chance of carrying a mistake all the way through and failing.

Good luck

Confused by the Confuser? surely not!

In fairness, that book has been out of print for a while now, either the PPL perfector or PPL simplifier seem much better.

In the real exam they don't tend to put 3 legs into one question, and they will give you all the info you need.

The fact you are finding a completed plog in the confuser, that is probably the one you're meant to refer to to check your answers. There may be a partially completed one elsewhere in the book which you are meant to use to actually do the answer. Worth double checking.

In the exam you'll be given an out of date half mil on which the exam is based. You will also be given a partially completed route log for the flight which usually contains the wind velocity and OAT amongst other things you'll need.

The exam is straight forward and if you have planned flights before you won't have a problem. Just double and triple check your measurements of distance and track and ensure you're measuring from the right points.

Also, remember that for each leg of the flight they give you a new wind velocity. This is quite easy to see on the log they give you but I completely forgot to re-do the CRP and didn't realise until I was checking it all, so look out for that.

In regards to the confused, there should be a partially filled at log at the end of the chapter which is part of the question. They just don't seem to tell you that! I never used the PPL Confuser but from what I've been told that is the case.

I found the actual exam easier than practice tests I did. Good luck! :ok:

If they don't give the information, then you either do not need it, or more likely, you have sufficient alternative information to work it out for yourself. TAS is something a pilot would normally calculate from IAS Altitude and Temperature.

Thanks everyone for replying. As billywhu said there is a part completed PLOG later in the book listed as a separate appendix, which is not refereed to in the question!

I have edition 6 of the Confuser and all of the information required is in the appendices as stated in the questions.