PPL skills test advice
 

Hello,

I'm finally booked in for my skills test next week after a majorly protracted PPL (started in 2008, various gaps due to personal problems).

Assuming the weather holds out and I can fly, I was wondering if anyone had any tips?

For example, on what kind of points can an applicant fail?

I currently have a couple of concerns with my flying. The main one is that I've had difficulty identifying built up areas during my navigation lessons. On my mock tests my instructor had to drop some small hints to help me (eg, there is a railway here, a lake there) and on one occassion had to correct my identification of a built up area when I was looking to work out my track error. Would any of this result in a fail on the real test?

I also had issues with practice forced landings without power. What is the examiner looking for with respect to these? Unfortunately during my final lesson practising these, the nature of the local area (built up) meant we couldn't take it too far down due to the 500ft rule and a lot of the tries weren't completed because of this, my instructor is happy with what I did do though.

If I do something to fail the test during the flight, will the examiner let me know immediately and cut the flight short? And in this scenario, what is it that I would have to repeat? For example, if I made a mistake with an approach/landing would I need to repeat the entire handling section of the test, including the parts I did well in, or would I only need to do some circuits with the examiner?

Any other advice/tips in general for the skills test would also be greatly appreciated!

Thanks again

Odai.

My advice is, if it all goes pete tong, just stay calm and fly the aircraft. On my skills test I failed to identify the village the examiner had asked for. I was uncertain of position, but managed to get a fix by using two VOR radials. I was convinced I had failed but, to my astonishment, the examiner passed me because he was happy that, even though I'd screwed up the nav, I'd remained calm and flown the aircraft, and managed to get things back on track.

Very best of luck with it.... You may be in that Cirrus sooner than you think :ok:

My examiner told me after my test when we were chatting that basically what he looks for is would I let my family fly with this guy?

I wouldn't worry about making mistakes as such, it's how you react when you make them that counts.

Totally agree - as my instructor said, it as how you managed the situations that counted, I messed up a few things on my skills test but flew the aircraft safely, managed to find my way back to the home airfield and passed.

Main thing is fly the aircraft, navigate then communicate (that should be drilled into you) and dont be worried if something doesnt go to plan - if you are safe and carry on, its likely that you will get a pass with a long debrief. Try to stay confident dont get rattled if you go off track or you mess up the PFL. Just go back to flying.

The main thing is fly the aircraft and be safe and try not to get lost :)

Up to you, but my instrucor also told me to tell him what was going through my mind, so when I was trying to work out what town it was I was saying it out loud - he could then see my thought pattern, when doing the PFL I again said everything so it was clear what drills I was doing and what field I was aiming for - it helped me..

Good luck and enjoy - its the best feeling driving home after he gives you the thumbs up:)

The main thing is to not get too uptight and nervous (as easy as that may sound) all he is looking for is general safety, if your radio, general handling and landings are good you will have no problems.

The nav is as hard as you make it, but again you have to really screw up to fail on the nav i.e get totally lost and panic and not rectify it. Personally I'd would not have booked a test until you was sure you could nail the nav no problem just to make sure.

It's been posted so many times before but I still think it's worthwhile knowing: the train of thought the examiners usually have is "would I want to allow this pilot to fly my children" so safety and the ability to handle the plane is paramount - if you make a mistake, DON'T dwell on it, correct it, FLY the plane.

When I did my PFL, I totally forgot about taking wind direction into my calculations so came in way too fast for the field I had selected but instead of getting into a mess, just said "oops, am too high and fast, I'll go for that one over there instead" - at the end of the day, he's not expecting perfection, the learning curve of a pilot continues AFTER you pass your skills test and you start to expand your horizons, the examiner just wants to see that you are in control of the plane......

As for Nav, use all aids you have at your disposal to confirm to yourself you are where you believe you are - VRPs, VOR etc. Your preparation for the flight will help you too.......

Odai

I failed the NAV section on my PPL when I did it. I had to divert to Fenlans which is a small field in amongst a number of others, and isnt the easiest airfield to find. My mistake wasnt so much I couldnt find it, but that I didnt apply logic in identifying built up apear properly. I mistook one large town for another.

A good instructor I flew with subsequently told me to positively identify three things about the town or built up area you are trying to identify e.g. does that road running north.south correspond to the map?, does that river running east/west correspond with the map?, does that trainline to the southwest correspond with the map? There are many more examples using lakes, other towns, VRP's and so on. The point is dont take just one feature of that town and accept that is what you think it is on the map.

If you fail either the NAV or the General Handling, then you get a partial pass and you just do the failed part again another time. I found out on the way back after passing the general handling bit, but it wasnt a surprise really given my adventures around the Fenland area ;-)

Good luck though BTW :-)

Extra mile?? No, w&b and the briefs should be automatic. What I would say is to treat your examiner as a passenger who is asking to see certain aspects of flying, take the attitude that YOU are the captain (with the rider of course that if he calls "I have control" or TELLS you do do something he IS actually the boss).
If your instructor is happy then you should be ok.
Good luck and enjoy it:ok:

Piperarcher, Fenland is a very harsh target for a nav diversion! I flew in there over the summer. Found it okay (it's a lovely place) but when I departed I took off and turned to set course over the field, and realised I couldn't see it :eek:... It took me a good few orbits before I was able to locate it again. Really difficult to spot as it's smaller than the surrounding fields, and doesn't have many resident aircraft.

There's a lot of information in previous threads in this forum - search for "skills test".

SD

It certainly is. I have been back a few times recently, and even though I am now armed with a GNS430, a NATS Aware Device and an iPad, I actually dont have any problems finding it visually without this equipment. I think thats partly because I am now 7 years more experienced, but also the aforementioned equipment and using VOR's etc means I am more relaxed during flight and have adapted my planning and flying to a way that suits me and reduces in flight workload.

And note on the map the max drift at 2000ft and/or 5000ft so you can make fairly decent corrections in your head as go along. I find this easier than picturing a clock face on the DI and doing other maths in my head.

Two issues with that.

1) This assumes that you have a new map for each trip (or use crayons on laminated maps)

2) It also assumes that the wind will *never* change. As an average skills test takes 90 minutes, that means there is easy enough time for the wind to change direction.

The examiner isn't expecting perfection, just wants to see that the candidate is in full control of the plane.

As for EFATO, isn't that always on the cards? Have spoken to a few of my fellow pilots and all of them confirmed that, 500 - 700 feet up, the examiner called "engine failure", pulled the throttle back to idle and asked "what are you going to do now?"

But what is also good to refresh yourself with are your emergency procedures because the chances are, he will ask you the memory part of the lists - ie, what are you supposed to do if there is a fire, engine failure before take-off, etc....

Well, you might think that using up a map for the skills test is worthwhile! Personally I use laminated maps, draw anything I like on them. (I'm told the RAF use a new map for each trip, just tear off the bit you're going to need.)

Oh, and when you're not using the DI bug for anything else, put the wind on there as well if you're expecting a PFL :)

1) most pilots in the UK use laminated (or print one off a computer program these days), so new ones no problem either way.
Personally I would not want to fly with a map that I could not at least draw my track on, and certainly teach putting on wind arrows and max drift.

2) Yes winds change, but not normally so much over the duration of a skills test (including the time to get off the ground) that it should be much of a problem, wind arrow is for guidance only anyway.

Many thanks everyone for all the great advice.

So would I be right in saying that even if I fail on one specific point in either the navigation or handling section I'd have to repeat that entire section, even if the rest of the exercises are done well?

Stop panicking and do it. You'll be OK.

PPL skills test advice
 

Couldn't they do afato during circuit stage?

Cant remember if mine was done on circuits or efato

Either way, your instructor would not let you go if he didn't think you are safe and competent. Its normal to doubt what you know in nervous situations. Rest knowing the above, if your instructor sent people who were not ready, the examiners would be having chats with him/her

One tip I was given when I did my skills test was that when making radio contact with ATC or seeking an information service I should identify myself as:

"G-XXXX student pilot on skills test"

All those I spoke to on the radio that day were very helpful.

Best of luck!