Lesson 17 - 15th August - Exam Time

Woke today to find the weather in Gloucester was not conducive to flying.  I decided I would head to the airfield anyway as it is over an hour away and the weather can often be very different.  Today was not one of those days, in fact the weather was worse.  I had decided that if I couldn't fly I would try and sit an exam and as Graham was there, he was able to officiate and set the exam and then mark it.

I have been studying Aircraft General for the last few weeks, so this was the one to sit.  I was a little surprised to find that it was a 50 question multiple choice paper with 1 hour 15 minutes to complete.  The previous 2 had been 20 questions and 30 or 45 minutes, if I remember correctly.

So 50 questions worth 2 marks each and a pass mark of 70.  I set about it, reading the questions out loud as that makes them sink in better for me.  I completed the paper in 50 minutes and then Graham came in to mark it.  I only got 3 questions wrong, so a pass mark of 94%, which I was very happy with.  One the 3 questions I had a complete guess at as it was to do with the type of acid in a lead acid battery and I had no idea.  The other 2, I should have known.

The first was to do with the wing tip vortices and when they apply the most drag.  I thought it was at high speed, but it is actually at low speed.  Graham explained the reason behind this, which made sense.

The other question was to do with the stall speed in a steep turn as to whether it increased, decreased or stayed the same.  I answered that it decreased, which is wrong, it increases.  Again Graham was able to explain the reason for this which, again, made sense.  In a steep 60 degree banked turn, the G force makes the aircraft twice as heavy so it is generating twice as much lift to counteract this though the increased pitch and engine power.  Due to all this extra lift (by a factor of 1.4), the stall speed is higher.

I took the chance to get some more dates in the diary but we will have to see what the great British weather can throw at us now we are approaching the Autumn.  Hopefully I can get back to flying circuits and other things and if not, I will start studying Human Performance ready to sit that exam.



Purchases this post

Exam £30

Totals

Total Costs = £3978.91

Total Hours Icarus C42 = 15 hours 50 minutes

Total Hours PA-28 = 1.05

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