Studying for the oral exam

I don't think the DE will ask you about the freq ranges. My checkride
oral exam consisted of: Paperwork needed for the plane, pilot
responsibilities, maintenance logbook items, weight and balance problems,
aero medical items, and lots of sectional and navigation questions.

If you did well on your written test he probably won't be as hard on you
then if you got a 70. Good luck.

JonKraus
PP-ASEL
Student-IA

Corky Scott wrote:

> I'm reading up on materials designed to prepare the student for the
> oral exam. Some are photocopies handed to me by the instructor. One
> is a specific prep book sold by ASA in Washington state. The prep
> book basically takes FAA questions and facts and repeats them.
> Why is it necessary to understand what the com frequency range is?
> The Nav frequency range? The NDB frequency range? This is a question
> I keep seeing being asked on various FAA study guides.
>
> You can't interchange them on the radios, can you? I mean if you have
> a VOR frequency, you cannot accidentally dial it into the Com side of
> the radio and have trouble communicating can you? The frequencies
> don't overlap do they?
>
> If the frequencies do not overlap, then how does it help the pilot to
> memorize frequency ranges? You learn where to look for com
> frequencies and where to find nav frequencies. NDB's look entirely
> different from VOR's so there's no danger of mistaking an NDB for a
> VOR.
>
> Thanks, Corky Scott

> If the frequencies do not overlap, then how does it help the pilot to
> memorize frequency ranges?

It's good to know as much as you can, but there are a few
aviation-related items that can be looked up when needed; just know
where to find it. When I did my oral, figured if I could answer 80-90%
of the questions off the top of my head, then the DE would be fairly
happy. There will be some questions you can't answer cold, and for
those you should be prepared to look them up in the stack of books you
brought with you. Frequency ranges just might be one of those!

Again, if you can address a good portion of the topics, I personally
wouldn't worry about memorizing frequency ranges. The DE will be
impressed if you can point to a page in the book though. Along those
lines, consider putting bookmark tabs on key pages in your FAR/AIM, so
you can quickly point to important pages (air space, runway markings,
etc.) Same with the mechanic's logbooks (flag the last ELT check,
etc.)

Good luck!

Scott