Hi Bob, Richard. As per my last post I passed this exam quite easily thanks to your great study text.

Question #1 calculate the 'tail wind' on a runway. So I just used the reciprocal of the cross/head winds from the ERSA conversions GEN-CON-6 and got it wrong.

Question #2 was really good. Your ARFOR tells you cloud is BKN ST 3000 AGL (note AGL) and then asks what is the lowest VFR quadrantal level travelling 000Magnetic - so: NO upper cloud tops are mentioned. Options are A035 A055 A075 A095 - I chose A035 becasue it could well be that the ground is well above sea level and I would be clear of cloud and VFR under 5000. WRONG

Other questions were

* simple 1:60 and X Track errors (about 15 questions).

* 2 minutes late at the first fix, how late at the arrival point

* calculate latest departure time using the EOD tables

* to get a later EOD which direction would you fly in summer in the southern hemisphere

* If you are at 170 West and you want to fly to 170 East which is the shortest route and what direction.

* couple of simple TAS / GS

* simple max distance with x flight fuel

Apart from the usual couple of questions that leave you scratching your head, most were very straight forward..

On the GK now and then finally HPF.

Well done on the pass Brenton =)

What would have been your second choice for #2? Strange that they make a mention of AMSL on an ARFOR when it's always AMSL. A035 wouldn't allow for 1000ft vertical from cloud (above 3k and below 10k), assuming it's Class G. So I guess it'd be A055.

I would have answered #1 the same way. They're still being tricky buggers eh..

G'day Ellzy.

Yes this question makes no sense what so ever; and yes ARFOR is always AMSL not AGL (why they would do this is beyond me). A smarter answer for them to provide would have been A015 because that allows for the 1000 feet vertical - or due to stress of weather, clear of cloud and above ground at any height. It is extremely frustrating when we all work our rings off to get a good mark and they give you a question that is totally wrong and costs you a mark (or two).

Anyway, only two more subjects to go then I'll do the flight test; then I can concentrate of flying instead of worrying about this nonsense.

Just a pitty those in the ivory tower won't engage with the REAL people who actually do these exams to get valid feedback on the reality of what they are pumping out... But as I have said before they know it all don't they...

PS: still havn't recevied any emails from you to my private email...

I Just did my Nav exam today, and got the same question about the cloud on ground as Brenton - I chose A055 and got it right! My reasoning was because the forecast said cloud was GL/3000, i assumed it meant from ground level with tops of 3000. I did not chose A035 because if the cloud top was 3000, cruising at A035 would not meet the VFR requirements of maintaining 1000FT vertical separation from cloud. So this left A055 as the question required us to fly to the VFR cruising levels, automatically disqualifying the A045 and A065 cruising levels.


The exam

With regards to the questions I got asked, they were all along the lines of what Brenton has mentioned above.

I got a couple of questions on the limitations/errors of VOR and ADF's, and having only skimmed through them, made a guess for these. Got 1 right and 1 wrong, so definitely worth reading over them in the book.

Also got a question in relation to cancelling SAR Time when on the ground, luckily I had read over someone's post earlier in this section about a similar question they got and had some idea on how to approach it, so it certainly pays to read through the forum!

Remember when calculating the latest departure time, when trying to get in before EOD, to include the 10 mins in your calc. I got asked to calculate a latest departure time, and only on my second time around checking my questions did i pick up that i had forgotten about the 10 mins before EOD! Phew!!

Overall, Nav is a pretty good exam, if you do the 1 in 60 exercises in Bob's book, you should have no surprises with regards to these questions. If you've done performance prior to nav (which i did), the very few fuel calculation questions i got were reasonably straight forward.


Only Airlaw left now! Woohoo!