Part slip of the keyboard, part tired, but all common sense in a way.

Not all arrivals arrive via ABDAL. It's possible to have the aircraft routed tactically along the airway centreline towards MALBY/WOTAN/BADIM etc etc as it's cleaner technique to put the aircraft on the centreline from the north rather than taking it through and then bringing it back on from the south, especially if Bristol have stuff inbound from the north (you have to see it on radar for that to make sense ;) )

Anyway - it doesn't matter where on the airway that is. That traffic still has to be 80 or below, so the 90 "level at" is because of this to ensure separation in case you can't get further descent through Lyneham.

The end result is still the same - light aircraft trying to join at WOTAN can still struggle and so cause the odd problem.

FFF,

Although the FAA test is one piece only and flown in an aeroplane (as opposed to your suggestion for a 2 part exam; one on a sim) the rest of the format is very much as you suggest.

Examiner can dish out anything he or she likes, including route, approaches, sequence etc.

FD,

In theory, it's the same here. There are no set routes. It's just that there are so few airfields with instrument approaches which have enough spare capacity to do practice approaches that there aren't very many options of places to go that are within a reasonable flying distance. Even more so when you consider that somewhere either on the way there or the way back you've got to leave controlled airspace to do the general handling (not sure how you'd explain to ATC that you're going to do some unusual attitude recoveries in the middle of the airway.....)

Towards the end of my IR course, when I'd done all the "common" routes enough that I pretty much knew them by heart, my instructor had me fly to Liverpool in the sim. Apparently, one student had been taken to Liverpool for his test a couple of years previously when the examiner fancied a change. The problem is the airspace, though - the detour to get out of controlled airspace after following the SID makes the test extremely long, which is why Liverpool is so rarely used.

FFF
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