G'day Bob/Richard,

A couple of short queries for you please from the HPL Section of the BAK book (I have Issue 14 - December 2008):

Page 14.10 - Revision Test No 2 - Question 10: Alcohol can be detected in the blood for?
The answers say (a) 14 hrs after ingestion.

Also, in the same set of questions - Question 12: If it becomes necessary to take sleeping tablets, how much time should be allowed before flying?
Answer lists (b) 24hrs.

However, I wasn't able to find the answers for either of these questions within the text given in this book. Where do these answers come from?

Page 14.34 - Circulation and Respiration
This section/page looks like it may be incomplete. At the bottom of this page, the last sentence is: "There is no increase in carbon dioxide so the brain"
And then stops mid-sentence.
Page 14.35 goes onto Hypoxia.
Can I please just confirm that nothing important is missing here also?

Thanks very much for your help!

Ben.

Ben

Your BAK book is now 4 years old and there have been some changes and additions to the syllabus since then. The human performance section now includes threat and error management and we had to do some formatting changes to include that. The incomplete paragraph was a result of reformatting that section. It should read:

However the system cannot be relied on when we fly since a lack of oxygen at high altitude is not associated with physical exertion. There is no increase in carbon dioxide levels so the brain does not react by increasing the breathing rate.

The human performance questions at BAK level were not intended to be an exam, they were intended to be an indication of the kind of thing that your flying school might include in your BAK exam. So rather than go into a detailed medical explanation which is not really necessary, the question is asking you to estimate a time allowance and then compare your estimate with the correct answer.

Bob

No worries Bob. Thanks for the quick response.

I am only asking as I am looking to sit the PPL Theory exam quite soon.

I have taken into account any changes to the BAK book that you've detailed in the Update/Errata section of this website, and also downloaded the TEM section from the HPL Update page. I have also gone over CAAP 5.59-1(0).

I am hoping this should cover me for the HPL & TEM components of this exam.

Cheers,

Ben.

Sounds like you've put in a lot of preparation. Good luck with the exam, I'd like to know how you go....

Bob

G'day Bob,

This reply was a long time coming, but then so was my PPL(A).

93% for the PPL Theory exam done back in May.
A lesson learned there is that your first answer is usually the right one. With plenty of time to check and mull over my answers, I know of a couple of questions that I had right in the first place but had plenty of time to logically justify changing my answer!

Nevetheless, is all good. With sometimes a month gap between flights due to working away much of the time, I just completed the PPL flight test last Saturday and so am now pondering what is next.......a PPL(H) most likely!
As a loyal fan of your theory books, I'm just not sure what books to go with for Helicopter theory.....any recommendations?

Thanks again for your help and all the work on these forums. It's a superb resource and a wealth of information!

Cheers,

Ben.