Air Law, Comms and Mock exams!

Eight weeks have flown by (pun intended!) which means that our mock exams are literally just around the corner. CTC require us to pass a set of mocks, starting on Monday, before they let us take the real ones. It's all good practice though, so there isn't much inconvenience to us and it gives us a chance to find out where we are with our learning. The real ones are in two weeks, so still plenty of time to iron out the creases in our knowledge.

International Rules of the Air

Today brought to an end the taught aspect of the first seven topics, having finished Air Law in a flurry of seemingly random numbers and letters. I have heard it referred to as Air Bore, and I can see why as it is just a lot of facts to learn. There is no rhyme or reasoning to it either so it is just a case of going through as many practice questions as possible. Studying for ATPL exams is made considerably easier by the existence of "question bank", various online databases of actual/similar questions to the exams. It's a great tool for us to pass our exams but it isn't the best way of truly learning the material. There are differing opinions on the use of question bank but considering the short space of time in which we have to learn it all, it's unavoidably invaluable to us.

Next thing. We finished both VFR (visual flight rules) and IFR (instrument flight rules) communications last week. They are both very small topics with only 150 possible questions each in the question bank and two timetabled teaching days. Very important none the less and impossible to fly without communication, especially with the number of aircraft flying through our skies. It is also something that has to be demonstrated to high standard to get onto a pilot training program, so if you want to be an airline pilot learn how to communicate effectively.

Unfortunately, due to them being fully booked with cadets in their final stages of training, there has been no trip in the simulator. Having a background in Aerospace engineering, and a relatively large amount of flying experience, this doesn't bother me so much as I can relate what we are doing to the flying I have done. For the less experienced on the course it's a pretty important thing to do so that what we have been learning in lessons can be seen in practice, rather than just theory written on a piece of paper. It would also have helped to make sense of the more complicated principles. It's a bit late now as we have to revise, but hopefully we might get a go after our exams. Speaking of which, I'm going back to revision, so wish me luck!