R/T written
 

Hi,
What sort of questions do you get in the R/T written exam?

Since they are not in the confuser, Im finding hard to get any insight into this written paper. I was wondering if people can give me some advise on this :)
Thanks very much :)

P16

Lots of "definitions" - what does "****" mean...

Few radio wave theory questions.

Callsigns and abbreviations.

Emergency procedures and phraseology.

Radio rules and procedures.

Anything else from CAP 413

You will need to study CAP413 thoroughly.

'R/T Theory' is a bit of a misnomer. Virtually nothing about radio theory, it's mostly about correct procedures and phraseology. So you need to have a reasonable understanding of things like Flight Information Service - and not to be able to calculate the length of a half-wave dipole element at aeronautical frequencies or things like that!

It's not hard - but you must study CAP 413!!

From memory, there were lots of questions relating to Mayday & Pan calls. Make sure you read these sections of CAP 413 very well as there are lots of easy marks to be had. (You need to make sure you get the easy marks as there are also some obscure "definition / semantics" type questions which seem to bear as much relevence to R/T as most of the Aviation Law exam questions had to that subject).

Otherwise go through CAP413 and make sure you know the differences between ATC, FIS & A/G and RIS & RAS services and the content of position reports and "Pass your message" calls.

As said above, everything you need is in CAP 413.

(For the practical exam,the Safety Sense leaflet on R/T is very useful as it gives example flights which are very similar to the ones you will be given, in terms of content & structure).

Good Luck,

Mr. W

Thanks very much everybody!! much appreciated :)

Anyone like to kindly add on about the R/T Oral examination?

As Mr Wolfie says, the best thing for the RT practical is the CAA Safety Sense Leaflet 22 (get it here), which contains a sample test, and a copy of CAP413. The test is all routine stuff, although make sure you know the exact format for a Pan/Mayday/relayed Mayday.

The RT Oral as you put it, is a practical test to see if you can put into practice the same things that you are questioned about in the written paper.

It sounds very much as though you are attempting both of these tests with no training; not uncommon, but not to be recommended from a safety perspective.

The RT Practical test is described in the Safety Sense Leaflet on Radiotelephony which can be downloaded from: http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/224/ssl22.pdf

It is also published in LASORS.

something I know a bit about...
 

As StrateandLevel said, i would seriously recommend the training. It's not like you're not gonna have any experience with the RT side of flying (you do your own in joining/departing and in circuit work anyway) but its consolidating those ideas that help a lot. I did at course at Marshalls of Cambridge Aerodrome December 2001. It was a three - four day long course and at the end, on the very same day i took my written and passed (cant hint too much at whats in that, but others have answered a lot to that effect already). The consolidation course involved things like airspace types, restrictions for basic PPL liscence holders, emergency procedure radio calls [EFATO, forced landing and the like], and gave some practice on all aspects of a flight from A - B including QDF(QDR/QDM/QTR) if you get lost, reporting or relaying a PANPAN or MAYDAY etc... Cant say all this was in the test, but its safe to know anyway.

I had a guy who flies 747 professionally with British Airways (Arwin Jones if you know him) take my RT practical. I remember him telling me I dont say Wilco enough (did that in December 2002). He made it really comfortable throughout, but I still slept well that night! The practical was also a complete flight and if Im correct in saying so, it includes everything tdw air-ground communications that anyone may encounter in their PFL or GFT, that means diversions, weather well below your liscence minima and danger to you or other pilots. There were many other little surprises in the test, including interaction with other people who were clearly not as good guiding me to my destination.

Basically you never know what a test has in store for you, but its a test. Just be sure to have the well rounded knowledge and it'll be like quizzing God on the laws of the universe.

Back to the written again... P16, you are correct, there is no R/T exam in the current version of the Confuser. But there is in the older versions! If you ask around your airfield, you should be able to find someone who did their PPL maybe 5 years ago, who might still have a copy of the old Confuser you can borrow. That's exactly what I did.

FFF
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P16, ask me very nicely and I'll send you a copy of the R/T confuser Q&A, which I keep in my desk drawer, just for situations like this.

PM your address if you are interested.