Exams: take 2

Well the mocks are over. I am now on study leave for my module 2 exams, which I take in a few weeks time. This time around I will be doing:

• General Navigation
• Radio Navigation
• Mass and Balance
• Human Performance and Limitations
• Performance
• Operations
• Flight Planning

These subjects are a lot more "hands on" and "piloty" than those in module 1 as they are a lot more practical. 

GNav is one of the subjects I have found the hardest in this module, I think mainly due to the formulas (I am not a lover of maths...). However it is very practical and includes charts as well as working out various times and dates in different time zones etc just by using coordinates.

RNav is mainly to do with radio aids and equipment such as radar and GPS. There are a few formulas you need to know, but apart from that it is just a case of learning all of the necessary information. 

Mass and Balance can be particularly tricky, as there are very few questions in the exam and each one can be worth a fair few marks, meaning there is very, very little room for error. 

HPL is one of my favourite subjects in this module, as I find it highly interesting (and we watched plenty of case study videos!). Learning about how our senses work, our minds and just exactly how flying is going to be affecting our bodies. 

Performance, 'lovingly' known as "POF 2" is actually not as bad as POF for me. I consider it as POF with fewer numbers. There are graphs to read lots of the answers off of and there are a lot more wordy questions.

Operations is another of my favourites. It is a bit like Air Law in module 1, although more orientated around airline work.

Flight Planning is a bit like GNav in the sense that there are some questions which can take a fair while to get an answer. There is a lot of chart work, SIDS and STARS (departure/arrival procedures at various airports) as well as fuel, time and distance calculations. 

All in all I am in a strange way looking forward to taking these exams, as I know that New Zealand is just on the other side of them. 

The CRP5 flight computer has been a key piece of equipment in module 2

An example of one of the flight planning tables we need to use

A bit more flight planning! 

Module 2 - so far!

Well I'm a few weeks into module 2 now where I am studying for the next seven exams. So far, we have completed Performance and Mass & Balance and are almost done with GNav, leaving RNav, Human Performance, Operations and Flight Planning. These subjects are a lot more practical than those we did in the first module and there are a lot more 'pilot-y' things to do. GNav is a massive subject and each question takes a fair amount of time to work out. Mass & Balance questions can also be quite lengthy, although it is only a small subject which lasted for two days. I'm looking forward to RNav, as we have been told there is a good chance we spend the afternoons in the simulators in pairs and also Flight Planning, as again, it is a very practical and useful subject.

I received my Mod 1 results on Tuesday and overall am very happy with them! Unfortunately I failed POF with 70%, so will retake that in July, just before I do my Mod 2 exams. With just several more weeks to go of ground school, the time really is flying by very fast!

Some familiar sights from GNav