EASA PPL Exams by Robert McPhee
Is an app on iOS which is effectively the same answers as the real questions. It’s 9 quid.
I would suggest hit the above question bank and that’s it. The content of the PPL exams is so irrelevant to day to day flying these days I simply wouldn’t worry about it.
I can never understand why an earth people pay 1000 pounds to do PPL groundschool course in a week. When all they do anyway is teach you the answers to the questions.
I do agree that the Trevor Thom/pooleys books are too wordy and for that reason I prefer the Jeremy Pratt series (although I still think these are too long-winded) however some of the books are currently out of print. With updated editions taking into account of the latest EASA regulations to come available soon.
If your son got a load of experience flying he might be a good candidate to do a LAPL as only 30 hours are required.
What I found is that those conversion markings are confusing. They can be used in at least two ways i.e. it’s not obvious what to align them with unless you learn it exactly. Others I knew found the same problem.
I found it easier to remember stuff like 1 USG = 3.78 litres, UK mph = aviation mph i.e. knots x 1.15, feet = metres x 3.2 etc.
Strangely enough, the last thing I would use the slide rule for is multiplication/division. For the wind calcs I can see it but a scientific calculator will be better, in conjunction with drawing the wind triangle on a bit of paper.
CRP1 has the aeronautical conversions on it, so that is of use
That means the slide rule cannot be mandatory anymore.
Well, it could be, but what would be the point if you can bring in a calculator which can do trig?
Myth buster time!
Scientific calculators are perfectly acceptable – CAA Standards Document 11 para 2.7.11 refers
It’s true in theory that you could do it all from books but there is the issue of motivation, which is hard for many younger people, especially nowadays.
It isn’t that you have a question which needs clarification. You might have hundreds of them, and on most forums you would just get ignored or flamed.
Many young people open the Air Law book and chuck it all away, there and then. It’s really common.
Older people, with jobs etc, have developed methods for learning boring stuff. They set aside the time and grind through it.
@DavidS – in my JAA IR, 2011, one was allowed to use any calculator provided the memory was cleared. The supervisor went around everybody’s calculators and pressed the C button 
But I don’t think the PPL is the same.
Who would need a classroom course to prepare for a written exam? Or even a book?
Just read your lessons on the internet, practice with a QB, and that’s it!
What value could a teacher add? Any question you might have will be answered within minutes on pprune, here or on flyer.
I would double-check that calculator rule.
My recollection for both PPL and IR in the UK was that non-programmable calculators were allowed. So in theory you could work out the wind with sine and cosine functions on the calculator, but I suspect the CRAP-x would be faster and more reliable for most people, me included.
That still leaves lots of multiplication/division etc which is much faster on a calculator. For unit conversions I learned the factors, and used the calculator. For the IR I used a Casio fx-85GT without any complaint.
Peter wrote:
The use of the slide rule (of which the “CRAP-1” etc is just a version wrapped around in a circle, and I do know how a slide rule works since I used them at school in CZ 1965-69) even for multiplication and division has absolutely zero place in the latter part of the 20th century, onwards.
Fortunately I have not even heard about the slide rule either in my PPL training or anywhere else. I have googled it now and still don’t understand why on earth anyone would use such a device in 2016.
It’s a bloody shame that normal calculators are not allowed.
Yes, it is. In Hungary, fortunately, they are allowed. I only realized that ca. 5 minutes before the exam so I asked the NAA inviligator if she could lend me one. And she could.
I don’t recall using a calculator, not even for my IR theoretical.
