Gday Todd,

The stats on the Echo are provided in the workbook you get when you sit the exam. The Echo is exactly the same (fuel flows/climb rates/MTOW etc..), as you'll find when you sit the exam. Good luck! I have to sit this one again in a couple of weeks. It destroyed me.

Cheers :laugh:

Ellzy beat me to the answer - you get some karma Ellzy 🙂

Bob's supplement has a few extra bits in it but it is an identical Echo. As Ellzy said, the fuel policy information will be supplied in either in the workbook or in the text of the question itself.

You will need to remember the requirements of CAAP 23-1 which recommends 45 minutes fixed reserve and a variable reserve which is 15% of the flight fuel. Also note that the variable reserve does not need to be applied to private flights.

Good luck!

Cheers

Rich

In my supplement, I have included fuel flow and TAS tables which will not be provided in the CASA exam. In the CASA exam any TAS and fuel flow information will be included in the question text. I decided to use the fuel flow and TAS tables for my examples for two reasons.
1 It saves a lot of words when creating questions.
2 Pilot's will need to extract that information in real aeroplanes once they get to fly in the 'real world'.
3 CASA syllabus does say that you are to be capable of extracting information from performance data.

Once again, don't panic because any exam questions that requires TAS or fuel flow information will have that information given in the question. The exam will be easier in that regard than the exercises in my book.

Good luck............

Bob

I'm splitting hairs, but you are allowed to take in CAAP 23-1 to the exam room so you don't 'have' to remember it, but really, it's not much to remember honestly and it's one less thing to remember to take. Thanks for the karma rich! I now equal you woot woot!

Again, good luck mate

Thanks for the karma rich! I now equal you woot woot!

Thank you all.
Todd

Hi Richard
Just a bit of clarification ..
"You will need to remember the requirements of CAAP 23-1 which recommends 45 minutes fixed reserve and a variable reserve which is 15% of the flight fuel. Also note that the variable reserve does not need to be applied to private flights."

Dose this mean that if the exam question says that the flight is 'Public Transport or Charter' then we MUST include the fixed and variable fuel reserves (even if not mentioned). If so, do we assume the fuel flow for these calculations are at cruise rate?

David

Just another quickie ..

I've calculated (correctly) that the fuel required for a flight (including reserves) = 230.3 litres. Clearly, if you have multiple choice, one of the choices would be 230 or 231.
However, if you had to write down (to the nearest whole litre) the minimum fuel required, your answer would have to be 231 (230 doesn't meet requirements).
As you have included these write down answer type q in the online beta program I need some clarification (I assume the exam doesn't have these.

Davdi

Hi David,

I'm pretty sure you won't find a reference to RPT flights in the exam, I never saw one, but if it says charter (and 99%) of them do, you need to add 15% variable reserve. Make sure you calculate it the way Bob says in the books otherwise you'll end up with an incorrect figure.

For example, 100L at start up, 20L fixed res, 5L taxi = 75L usable. 15% of 75L = 11.25L, so usable is 63.75L. I tried it this way a couple of times but.. percentages can get tricky.

If you do it the proper way, (100-20-5)/1.15, you get 65.2L. I know thats not what you're asking but I found I did it wrong a couple of times therefore the answer I got was off, so make sure this step is done right.

As for fuel flow, this will be in the text of the question. "Fuel flow for this flight is 80L/hr" or something, it will also either give you the fixed reserve required, "Fixed reserve is 50L". Or "Fixed reserve is 45 minutes calculated at cruise rate (which it would give you)" You won't need to assume anything in the exam.

Also look through the whole question text for the word Charter, it could be right at the end say after they have given you the fuel and distance and ETI and everything, at the very end they might ask "How much fuel is required at start up for this Charter flight". An easy one to miss.

[url= http://www.bobtait.com.au/index.php?option=com_kunena&func=view&catid=16&id=275&Itemid=126 ]Minimum fuel question[/url] <--- if you have a look here I did ask Bob the same question with regards to minimum fuel. I found in the actual cyberexam the multi choice options were further apart than the practice exam so if you're on the right track you can catch the answer pretty easily.

Good luck with it!

Michael

Hi Michael

Thanks for the reply ...
Calculating the Flight Fuel is not a problem .... the way Bob does it is the correct mathematical approach anyway ... you other example has significant flaws in it ...

So, if they mention a charter flight AND no mention is made of 15% reserve AND no mention made of fixed reserve fuel rate then I can assume the 15% IS included at the cruise rate. Remembering that CAAP 234-1(1) is only advisory.

With thanks
David

Hi David,

Ellzy has given an excellent answer to your question already so there's nothing really to add. Thanks Ellzy for passing on your recent experience with the exam. That's a big help for those about to sit.

As to David's questions:

The exam question will make it clear that it is a charter or private flight and you will then include or exclude the 15% reserve respectively. In real life though, most of us would probably include a 15% variable reserve all the time regardless - even though the CAAP doesn't say we really need one. Like that old saying that Bob quoted: "The only time you can have too much fuel is when you are on fire".

For the beta test written answers, I'll doublecheck but I think the answers for fuel required had a tolerance of +/- 0.5 meaning you could put the exact amount in or round to the nearest litre. In the exam though, it will be all multi-choice and the answers options will be more than 1 litre apart.

Take note of what Bob said about the answer "being closest to...". That's the key.

Again, this is all just exam technique. In real life, your company or flying school fuel policy will guide you e.g. round up to the next 5 litres.

Good luck with your exam mate. Fingers crossed! Not long now 🙂

Cheers,

Rich

with thanks ....

Have been looking forward to doing the Performance exam on Thursday ... but have been quite unwell the last few days (cold and chest infections stuff) ... even transferred the exam from Tuesday to Thursday (only option unless I went well into January) ...

Will let you know how I go ... either way ...

David

Hi David,

We crossed posts 🙂

OK, think about what the variable reserve is there for: it's a buffer for you to burn during the flight. You shouldn't be surprised if you use it up e.g. due headwinds etc.
It is 15% of your flight fuel and your flight fuel is planned at cruise so therefore the variable reserve will be at cruise as well. But, you don't have to worry about the rate used for the variable reserve though. It's simply 15% of the fuel quantity you already calculated.

Fixed reserves and holding allowances are different though.

Obviously holding reserves will be at some holding rate which must be specified by the examiner.

The fixed reserve is for unexpected circumstances e.g. a blocked runway. No one is going to hold at cruise power waiting for the runway to be cleared. So, the fixed reserve can logically be planned at holding rate. However, some fuel policies will specify that it is to be planned at cruise rates for the extra safety margin. Therefore, the examiner will have to specify what rate is used for the fixed reserve.

Does that make it any clearer?

Cheers,

Rich