FAA Written Test

And I thought my test with six out of 100 questions
pertaining to radio navigation was a bit much. This
was back in the previous century, around 1990 or 1991.

I wonder how many pure gliders have VOR's or ADF's
in them?

Maybe the test should be changed and ask really important
questions on, say, GPS and ask, for instance, what
is the difference between GPS altitude and barometric
pressure altitude and how will this knowledge help
you fly better?

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA




At 16:54 16 August 2006, Greg Arnold wrote:
Mike wrote:
I am preparing to take my written Commercial Glider
exam and have been
using various test guides and on line practice tests.
I am curious as
to why there are questions pertaining to radio navigation
included in
the question pool. Has anyone ever used a VOR or ADF
in a glider?

Mike


I just took the commercial glider written exam, and
9 of the 100
questions on my exam pertained to this subject. As
for why the FAA
thinks such questions are relevant -- who knows?

Mike wrote:
I am preparing to take my written Commercial Glider exam and have been
using various test guides and on line practice tests. I am curious as
to why there are questions pertaining to radio navigation included in
the question pool. Has anyone ever used a VOR or ADF in a glider?

Mike

The bottom line is they have no place on the Glider PP, Com or CFIG
exams. If the SSA wanted to help us they would lobby to improve the
exam to remove the VOR, ADF and NDB questions as well as getting rid of
the outdated questions (am I going to push my Ventus onto it's nose
skid if I land hot?). The SSA should work with the FAA to make a more
meaningful exam. Just because a few percent of motorgliders (that
really should be classified as airplanes) might have one does not mean
it should be taught to most glider pilots.

I have not turned on the VOR in my power plane in four years. It is an
outdated system that should be allowed to die quickly.

Tim