Module 2 is over!!!

For the last two months, me and me classmates have been studying hard to complete our 2nd module. For us, this included Radio Navigation, Instruments, Performance and Flight planning. 

I've discussed Radio Nav in my previous post, so I won't go on about it (although it's my favourite subject). 

Instruments. Where do I begin. To start with, I found that I really struggled with it. I couldn't get my head around a lot of the topics and initially, I was quite worried. Luckily, after a lot of hard work, it seemed to click and I actually really enjoyed it! 
Instruments, as the name may have suggested, teaches us how aircraft instruments function as well as what consequences may occur under different external influences i.e. icing. We studied the ASI (Airspeed Indicator), VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator), the autopilot/ autoland system, TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System), GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) and approximately a thousand other acronyms. 

The third subject in module 2, was Performance. We used graphs and charts in CAP 698 (don't worry you'll get used to the various different CAPS in Mass and Balance, Performance and Flight Planning) to calculate the Take-off / landing distances for Single-engine pistons, Multi-engine pistons and Medium Range Jets as these figures can change with varying factors such as head/tailwinds, runway contamination and temperatures. You'll also have to remember many many different V-speeds, such as the well know V₁ and V₂ as well as V_mbe, V_s0, V_s1, V_at, V_ref, etc etc. 

Flight Planning was really fun to study. It mainly focused on using Airport charts and Navigation Charts from the Jeppesen Airway Manual, along side fuel calculations, such as calculating alternate fuel, final reserve fuel, contingency fuel, Point of Equal time and Point of Safe return.

After studying for Module 1, I found that I really developed my revision/study technique. To be honest, it helped that it was a more interesting module. After a few weeks of hard study after the end of our last lesson, we had our CAA exams. With the CAA, we receive our exams results via email, the day after our last exams. The morning after, I was woken up by the sound of my housemate celebrating his results. My heart sank as I knew the results were in. Gingerly, I opened my emails up on my phone to see all 4 exam result emails were sitting in my inbox. All my hard work, hard been rewarded, I had achieved 97% in Radio Navigation, 94% in Instruments, 93% in Performance and 96% in Flight Planning, averaging 95% for module 2.