JimNtexas
Well-Known Member
I used the Dauntless iPad app to prepare for this test. I've used Shepard in the past, but didn't like being tied to one PC, and also didn't like their 1988 modem based update system, and didn't like to have to call them every now and then when something expired. I've heard they are better now, but I like the Dauntless iPad app.
Dauntless updates several times a week, so I'm sure I had a pretty current question bank.
I took the FOI exam about three months ago, and the exam followed Dauntless pretty closely.
That wasn't quite so true for today's FIA written.
What was interesting were the many questions in the Dauntless question bank that were not asked on the test. For example Dauntless asked a lot of interpolation questions, including at least one that required four interpolations on this chart:
There were NO interpolation questions on today's test.
There were NO graph reading exercises. Dauntless asked a ton of these. I especially did not miss the gliding graph where the answers were 11,12, or 13 or that landing distance nomogram that looks like an amusement park roller coaster.
There were NO 'plank balance' exercises. To be fair, Dauntless had only one in their question bank.
There were no questions of the form "if the needles moves ten degrees in five minutes, what is the distance and time to station"?
There were two or three CG questions, but they were all very straightforward, nothing tricky, and none involved table reading.
There were no questions involving twin engine airplanes.
They had three or four 'is this a skid or slip' word problem with a picture of a ball, and at least one where they describe a skidding or slipping turn and ask you to pick the balance of horizontal and centrifugal components in the given turn.
I recall two instrument questions, what is the bottom of the green arc on an airspeed indicator, and what happens if you use the alternate static source in an unpressurized airplane?
There were several very straightforward flight planning exercises that I recognized from Dauntless. My ASA CX1 calculator made short work of these. Nothing tricky.
There were about 3 questions of the form, you are airport A, if you fly to airport B what communications do you need to do? What's the top of the class D at Addison? And a few other general questions about reading a sectional. All were covered by Dauntless.
There was one question about Class C airspace in which the diagram made no sense.
There were a whole bunch of word questions that essentially required you to know all the parameters of rectangular patterns, lazy 8s, chandelles, and pylon eights. Questions of the form where on [this maneuver] is the [steepest bank, highest pitch]? If you [screw up] this maneuver where will be at the end of the maneuver? I know I took hits on some of these.
I think some of these word problems were not in the Dauntless database.
There were I think two of the airport sign questions I recalled from Dauntless. These irritate me, because instead of showing a picture of a sign, they ask you name the official name of the sign. For example, you know that when you are rolling out and tower says 'exit on Lima', you look for a yellow sign with an arrow pointing to taxiway lima. What you may not know is the official name of that yellow sign with the arrow on it, and they give at least two credible answers.
There were a fair number of cloud and visibility questions. As usual, the FAA is obsessed with people who fly in or near clouds in cat G airspace.
There were probably four or five weather questions involving reading METARS, FA's, and those funky square weather depiction chart symbols. I really appreciated that when they asked about the symbol for a dissipating warm front, they called it 'disappaiting' rather the 'frontolysis' used in the Dauntless question bank. There were no surprises with these.
There were about 3 questions of the form 'what happens if [cold | warm] overruns [warm | cold]. I bet I missed at least 2 of those 3. I could never keep that straight with the answers they wanted.
There was one of the infamous 'which airplane matches one of these VORs set to 180'. There were no RMI questions, no ADF questions.
There were several good questions about student pilot logbook endorsements. They didn't ask which AC contains the endorsements.
One straightforward question to see if you knew that a second class medical morphs into a third class after one calendar year.
All in all, I thought it was a very fair and reasonable test, especially compared to some I've taken in the past.
There were no completely absurd questions!
I made an 84, which for someone who remembers where he was when JFK was assassinated is not too bad!
Dauntless updates several times a week, so I'm sure I had a pretty current question bank.
I took the FOI exam about three months ago, and the exam followed Dauntless pretty closely.
That wasn't quite so true for today's FIA written.
What was interesting were the many questions in the Dauntless question bank that were not asked on the test. For example Dauntless asked a lot of interpolation questions, including at least one that required four interpolations on this chart:
There were NO interpolation questions on today's test.
There were NO graph reading exercises. Dauntless asked a ton of these. I especially did not miss the gliding graph where the answers were 11,12, or 13 or that landing distance nomogram that looks like an amusement park roller coaster.
There were NO 'plank balance' exercises. To be fair, Dauntless had only one in their question bank.
There were no questions of the form "if the needles moves ten degrees in five minutes, what is the distance and time to station"?
There were two or three CG questions, but they were all very straightforward, nothing tricky, and none involved table reading.
There were no questions involving twin engine airplanes.
They had three or four 'is this a skid or slip' word problem with a picture of a ball, and at least one where they describe a skidding or slipping turn and ask you to pick the balance of horizontal and centrifugal components in the given turn.
I recall two instrument questions, what is the bottom of the green arc on an airspeed indicator, and what happens if you use the alternate static source in an unpressurized airplane?
There were several very straightforward flight planning exercises that I recognized from Dauntless. My ASA CX1 calculator made short work of these. Nothing tricky.
There were about 3 questions of the form, you are airport A, if you fly to airport B what communications do you need to do? What's the top of the class D at Addison? And a few other general questions about reading a sectional. All were covered by Dauntless.
There was one question about Class C airspace in which the diagram made no sense.
There were a whole bunch of word questions that essentially required you to know all the parameters of rectangular patterns, lazy 8s, chandelles, and pylon eights. Questions of the form where on [this maneuver] is the [steepest bank, highest pitch]? If you [screw up] this maneuver where will be at the end of the maneuver? I know I took hits on some of these.
I think some of these word problems were not in the Dauntless database.
There were I think two of the airport sign questions I recalled from Dauntless. These irritate me, because instead of showing a picture of a sign, they ask you name the official name of the sign. For example, you know that when you are rolling out and tower says 'exit on Lima', you look for a yellow sign with an arrow pointing to taxiway lima. What you may not know is the official name of that yellow sign with the arrow on it, and they give at least two credible answers.
There were a fair number of cloud and visibility questions. As usual, the FAA is obsessed with people who fly in or near clouds in cat G airspace.
There were probably four or five weather questions involving reading METARS, FA's, and those funky square weather depiction chart symbols. I really appreciated that when they asked about the symbol for a dissipating warm front, they called it 'disappaiting' rather the 'frontolysis' used in the Dauntless question bank. There were no surprises with these.
There were about 3 questions of the form 'what happens if [cold | warm] overruns [warm | cold]. I bet I missed at least 2 of those 3. I could never keep that straight with the answers they wanted.
There was one of the infamous 'which airplane matches one of these VORs set to 180'. There were no RMI questions, no ADF questions.
There were several good questions about student pilot logbook endorsements. They didn't ask which AC contains the endorsements.
One straightforward question to see if you knew that a second class medical morphs into a third class after one calendar year.
All in all, I thought it was a very fair and reasonable test, especially compared to some I've taken in the past.
There were no completely absurd questions!
I made an 84, which for someone who remembers where he was when JFK was assassinated is not too bad!
