Hey Guys!
Just sat CPL Performance yesterday and walked away with a pass! 76% (Third time's a charm!)
I am writing this breakdown in the hope it helps other people sitting this challenging exam as it certainly tested me!
My exam was broken down as follows
32 questions
16 x 1 mark questions
12 x 2 mark questions
3 x 3 markers
1 x 4 markers
I worked from bottom to top for this exam and started with Q32 which was a 4 Mark PNR asking for the distance to the PNR for a simple flight from ALPHA - BRAVO, based on a return to ALPHA - big trick here is to make sure you don't accidentally add any holding requirements such as TEMPO at BRAVO to your safe endurance calculation, which was noted in my question as the question clearly states based on a RETURN to ALPHA, therefore no holding requirements at the destination need to be accounted for.
Also note that some PNR questions are 135 OPS requiring you to divide by 1.1 in your SE calculation, and others are 91 OPS so do NOT account for the 10% contingency - read the question really carefully.
1 x 3 marker was calculating the time required to fly to the ETP - big trick here is to make sure you account for ETAS and remember the formula, also make sure to the use the GS(O) for your time calculation if the question is asking as a time from A to the ETP, as it did in mine not the GS(H) as needed to work out the distance to ETP in the formula!
2 x 3 markers were Echo loading questions which asked you to place metal bars in the rear comp to balance the aircraft, I did my initial load sheet and noticed that my first plot on the graph was outside the forward limit, I then added a heap of weight (eg. 300kg in the rear comp) and then drew a line between the 2 points to see exactly where it crossed the forward limit. The metal bars will be in 10kg increments so provided you have plotted correctly, you should go close to reading off the weight and then simply dividing by 10 to work out how many bars needed to be loaded.
2 x 1 markers for calculating % MAC from a given weight (ie calculating the forward limit at x weight and then running it through the formula to determine % MAC, the second one gave you the MM AFT of the datum already so was really easy to just plug into the formula. I also had one floor loading intensity but asked how much it could weigh if placed in the rear comp.
The other 2 markers were mostly fuel calculations with most of them asking for the answer to the nearest whole KG just to try throw you off at the end so be aware of that, provided you know the Final Reserve requirements between 135 OPS and 91 OPS you should have no issues with these questions, leave all the rounding to the end!
I got 2 loading chart questions, one was asking for the COG position on a Charlie load sheet, and the other was an Alpha loading system asking how much baggage could be added.
I unfortunately got 6 take off and landing charts asking for a mix of both MTOW, LDR and TODR and a mix of charts between Cessna, Warrior and Echo, so be prepared for all of them. 4 of my 6 charts were key in answers so accuracy is paramount, make sure your lines are straight and do your best when interpolating between the values! Also make sure you draw a mud map of every runway to determine if you are using an upslope or a downslope! I had one question where the runways available was 07/25, wind 090 15kts but the slope was a 1.5% down to the south west, so using runway 07 you would need to plot a 1.5% upslope. The winds don't align with any runway directly in the CASA exam, so make sure you tab the wind chart in your AIP and read off the headwind, XW and tailwind component to determine the most suitable runway to use.
The one markers ranged from a few different topics, a lot of airspeed questions, understanding of terms such as MZFW and range/endurance and factors affecting (i.e low and slow for maximum endurance etc) I also had a few questions asking about aircraft performance decreasing or increasing with things such as "temperature, density height, stall speed etc)
This exam rattled me twice, and I delayed it multiple times, but I can confidently say that the Bob Tait exams are a game changer!
Exam 4 is very close to what you can expect in the real exam, and provided you are averaging 85-90% on those you should be okay in the CASA exam.
Thank you Bob and the team for all your resources and practice exams, I could not have passed without them!
That's 5/7 CPL exams! Just Aerodynamics and AGK to finish!
Good luck to anyone sitting soon, I wish you all the best.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Onwards to 2025.
