CPL Written Test

Skysurfer1 · Post by **Skysurfer1** » Thu May 03, 2007 1:08 pm

Hello,

I was wondering if people who have recently written the Transport CPL exam for some advice. I am just ready to write it, but terrified of the unknown! If you could give me a heads up what to expect that would be greatly appreciated!!

Skysurfer

FlyYukon · Post by **FlyYukon** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:47 pm

My opinion: If you think you are ready, go! You'll do fine! Just read the full question out! Ive found doing the questions in order on the exam usually works out best for me, as Nav, I believe is last section, and the more time consumeing one,

canpilot · Post by **canpilot** » Fri May 04, 2007 5:33 pm

Great question!!!

What are people finding helps with prep? Do the exams mirror the transport exams decently? Has anyone used the sharper edge commercial prep booklets? It seems like that exam booklets are VERY heavy on ADF/ RMI. Are the tranport exams equally heavy on this stuff?

thanks all!

let the cram begin...wait..it already has.

Skysurfer1 · Post by **Skysurfer1** » Fri May 04, 2007 6:22 pm

Hey,
I have been studying for months. I find i can't seem to wrap my brain around certain questions regarding Fixed ADF cards. Pretty much anything to do with VOR's ie. Position fixes, intercepting radials etc, is pretty straight forward, but when it comes to that wonderful ADF formula Mh + Rb = BTS etc and mixing it up if you dont know RB and when to convert to BFS etc...just so confusing. I just can't see it!

IF you have anything on this cpl exam, i'm writing Wednesday May 9!

Thx

canpilot · Post by **canpilot** » Fri May 04, 2007 7:05 pm

shit man..

Same! VOR and all that is a easy as hell...same with the descent/ climb crap. I CAN'T STAND ADF!!! ITS FREAKING ME OUT! I'm not writing before the 9th..So if you don't mind..let me know how she goes?

GOOD LUCK! and your not the only one who detests ADF!

Rio Bravo · Post by **Rio Bravo** » Fri May 04, 2007 10:56 pm

ooohhhhh shit..........
U GUYS ARE SCREWED.......if you dont know ADF inside and out then you might as well not even try wirting.

hahahah, just kidding fellas, there isnt much on ADF, maybe a question or two, just remember the formula, MH+RB=BTS then BTS+180=BFS

The exam isnt that bad, if you have studied for months than you'll be fine.

anyways, have fun and DFU

Skysurfer1 · Post by **Skysurfer1** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:05 am

Who says we are all fella's

Its ok, majority are...but anyways.

I've done the books, and some independent books as well. I'm down to the crunch now.

Do you know for Air Law if a big portion is on Air Taxi. I find if they try to mix and shake the question a bit, its hard to remember which numbers and qualifcations go where. Single Pilot IFR etc...

I know, I know....RTFQ.....but still....

Thx

Skysurfer

canpilot · Post by **canpilot** » Sat May 05, 2007 9:59 am

Thanks!!

You scared me for a second there LOL! " Studied for a month" -AHHH! I've been going hardcore for about two weeks now doing exams, going over topics I didn't do so well on and basically repeat that same thing over and over again. Hopefully, i'm not screwed here.

Rio Bravo · Post by **Rio Bravo** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:46 pm

well no matter how much u have studied, dont get stressed about it, its not going to help u in the end, a little stress keeps u on your toes but anything more wont help you in the long run.

And watch that ADF stuff, it will kill ya............

HAHAH, jk

767 · Post by **767** » Mon May 07, 2007 9:46 am

all of you guys talking about ADF's.. i just wrote mine about a week nd half ago (2 weeks) and i did not pass nav.. i just want you to know that when you are doing the questions, they seem very easy but they are not. there is always something hidden in them, READ THE QUESTIONS CAREFULLY!! other than nav, the gen was pissing me off.. there were 35 gen questions, which was stupid! i managed to deal with it but i was close to failing.. air law and met is not that hard, its mostly memorization. last thing i want to point out, when you get your reccomend, give yourself another week to study, dont just go in and write it the day after, whichis what i did and i was not completely satisfied with the results. have fun good luck!

my thread, maybe related:

http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=30384

victory_aviation · Post by **victory_aviation** » Wed May 09, 2007 5:27 pm

http://www.victoryaviationcanada.com

I have about 50% of the CPL practice exam finished. Sorry I havent found the time to finish it yet but you or anyone else is welcome to try whats done. There is a complete PPL exam if anyone else wants to try it.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed May 09, 2007 5:36 pm

Are there any BFO questions in the ADF questions?

Ref Plus 10 · Post by **Ref Plus 10** » Wed May 09, 2007 5:47 pm

Best advice I can give for those guys (and gals) having trouble with ADF bearings and such is draw a picture. Plot it out, and take your time. You have 3 hours, use it all.

I don't remember any BFO questions being on the exam, nothing too technical

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:07 pm

I don't remember any BFO questions being on the exam, nothing too technical

There is nothing technical about the BFO selection on an ADF, in fact it is sometimes the only way you can find the relative position of the station you have tuned in.

You would think that something as important as using the BFO selection on an ADF would at least be taught.

I can recall many times I had no other way of identifying the relative position of a station.

Ref Plus 10 · Post by **Ref Plus 10** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:16 pm

Cat Driver wrote:You would think that something as important as using the BFO selection on an ADF would at least be taught.

I can recall many times I had no other way of identifying the relative position of a station.

Yet many of the people I talk to (at flight schools) have little understanding of the seemingly basic operation of such instruments. Nowadays especially I see a heavy reliance on GPS...oops, there goes that circuit breaker. Don't suppose the astro-compass takes a data card

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:30 pm

GPS is eons ahead of the ADF, in fact I'm amazed the ADF is still in use.

However if they are still using the ADF then it should be taught thouroughly.

Ref Plus 10 · Post by **Ref Plus 10** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:47 pm

I completely agree and could never badmouth the GPS, unfortunately (as I'm sure you well know) up north, most approaches are still ADF, as out-dated as it is

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:51 pm

up north, most approaches are still ADF, as out-dated as it is

Yeh, and the same can be said all around the world.

But even when flying an ADF approach I still used to be thankful for GPS.....

Ref Plus 10 · Post by **Ref Plus 10** » Wed May 09, 2007 6:57 pm

True dat. OBS and moving map alllll the way

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Wed May 09, 2007 7:10 pm

We have used hand held GPS's for many years flying all over the world.

I have only ever had two very brief signal failures both due to bad positioning of the antenna.

The first was approaching Bamaco Mali and the second was near Bordeaux France....that is way more reliable than a lot of ADF information.

And I have done countless ADF approaches with ADF info so erratic it was almost useless.

Tango01 · Post by **Tango01** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:27 am

BFO is not really applicable here in North America, maybe in other parts of the world.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Thu May 10, 2007 10:42 am

BFO is not really applicable here in North America, maybe in other parts of the world.

It isn't?

Oh well it used to be.

Can you elaborate on what has changed in atmospherics in North America that has not changed in other parts of the world?

Lets assume you are flying in the high Arctic and all you have is an ADF with a BFO function and the ADF needle just swings around in circles and does not point to the station you have tuned.

What has changed in North America to prevent you from using the BFO function to determine the relative position of the tuned station?

Tango01 · Post by **Tango01** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:54 pm

Cat, BFO injects a 1KHz signal used to verify stations that use CW carriers, you will get the same effect as being in ADF mode, but with an added "ident". Its for stations that don't modulate an audiable voice or Morse Code signal. Its not antenna mode. If the station signal is unreliable or your sense line is bad, your needle will rotate from null to null with or without BFO.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Thu May 10, 2007 3:03 pm

Well any ADF that I ever used that had a BFO selection on it would give an aural null when you turned the ADF needle with the ADF manual control.

Aural nulling was the way we first learned to find stations by using a handle in the roof that manually rotated the loop antenna. That was in the early fifties, when we also navigated by sound using the Radio Range.

In later ADF's they had BFO selections and we rotated the loop antenna electronically. There were many times when aural nulling allowed us to confirm the relative position of a station.

Have you ever used an ADF with the BFO selection to aural null for position?

Unless of course my mind is gone and I am imagining things.

Skysurfer1 · Post by **Skysurfer1** » Thu May 10, 2007 4:16 pm

Hey all,
I did my exam today.
Just like 744, I partial the exam too. It too was in Nav. I found it quite dificult and pretty much all pratical questions.

I also found the Gen. Know difficult and like 744, just squeeked by. As far as met goes, mostly theory and maybe 5 questions on practical stuff. Air law, was by far the easiest. dont forget to RTFQ!

Thanks for all your help and after May 24 i can re-write the nav section which i will do!!

Skysurfer