The99percenter wrote:
In my experience, the amount of random, useless & irrelevant stuff they ask in the PPL exam is so high
I’m with @Peter on this one. The degrees I have – matter as they may or may not – I got through exams interacting with other human beings judging whether I understood the content being tested. Not so for PPL. An infinite amount of time studying an infinite amount theory would PROB50 not have gotten me the result I got by practicing the question banks (which mirrored the actual exam crazy closely). And I don’t have an infinite amount of time.
philipus wrote:
As I understand it there’s a requirement that one does the EASA theory at an ATO so I guess it isn’t as simple as just buying another solution and then do the exams
Regarding the original question: As I understand it, there is no official set of books or theory, only an EASA mandated syllabus . An ATO can teach this syllabus in a way they see fit provided it meets national authority standards and lives up to inspection. Some ATOs (Orbit as mentioned already for example) implement a full self learning and remote brush-up solution. Once your ATO considers you “ready” (courses followed, materials absorbed, checks in order) they can endorse you for your exam which you can take in pretty much any location that accepts all-comers
Thanks for all the replies. Apologies that it took a while to write back.
Looking closer at what Orbit offers in terms of learning platform, it is this:
EDIT >> I have now found out that they also use an online quiz for exam prep: www.pplexamquiz.nl.
NicoKM wrote:
The best resource were the videos from CAE Oxford, very comprehensive and a lot more “entertaining” than the big books or a cold e-learning app with text and pictures only.
I looked at CAE as I’ve heard good things about them, but I don’t think they offer remote learning for PPL theory unfortunately.
Peter wrote:
I would generally advise a very fast read of the books – depending to some extent on your previous flying experience – and then just hammering the computer question bank (QB).
I’ve found two books available for free on the FAA site: Airplane Flying Handbook (2021) and Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (2016). Would they be a starting point at all or would I be better off buying Pooley’s, PadPilot or something else specifically aimed at EASA PPL?
philipus wrote:
I’ve found two books available for free on the FAA site: Airplane Flying Handbook (2021) and Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (2016). Would they be a starting point at all or would I be better off buying Pooley’s, PadPilot or something else specifically aimed at EASA PPL?
I’ve used the books for my own preparation. IMO they are pretty good, except for air law.
sw1969 wrote:
I’ve used the books for my own preparation. IMO they are pretty good, except for air law.
Thank you very much Stefan, that is helpful to know.
cheers
Philip
I purchased 2 Pooleys books for PPL: Flying Training (not for theory) and Aeroplane Technical. While the first one is good if you are starting from scratch, the theoretical one I wouldn’t rebuy. I didn’t read it completely and did not buy the other subjects either.
I agree with Peter, too much stuff compared to what you really need.
Going through the e-learning apps is usually more than enough to cover the syllabus, and then you practice the questions.
The books are good if you really want to a very exhaustive source of information, most of which is not needed for the exam, and if you don’t get bored reading 20 pages for a topic that could be covered in 2 slides :)
@philipus
After a quick review i think all chapters of the “Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge” except for chapters 13 to 15 are useable for the EASA PPL.
For “weather services”, “airspace structure” and airport operations i recommend local sources of your country. For example parts of “airport operations” of the FAA book are located in “air law” and “communications” in the EASA world.
For my own preparation i’ve used the FAA books, the Aviation Exam PPL QB and, required by the ATO of my club, the CAT self study course. As an aircraft mechanic with about 15 years experience, now product engineering for aircraft parts, my focus was on weather, navigation and air law..
NicoKM wrote:
The books are good if you really want to a very exhaustive source of information, most of which is not needed for the exam, and if you don’t get bored reading 20 pages for a topic that could be covered in 2 slides :)
Thanks Nico, this is helpful. I am wondering if I am not overthinking having books. But perhaps that first Pooley you mention could be interesting.
sw1969 wrote:
the CAT self study course.
Thank you very much for having a look at the Pilot’s Handbook. About CATS, would that be this one – https://www.catsaviation.com/courses/ppl.html? I came across it the other day and was surprised that it is (depending on which version one buys) so inexpensive compared to Orbit. The drawback is, it seems, that one has to come to the UK to do the tests (or?).
PPL self study is different from CPL/IR self study.
The former you need to know a bit of to fly a small plane safely. The syllabus is also highly country dependent. Compare UK and Switzerland for example! How much you need to learn is strongly dependent on your previous experience/exposure, education (science, etc), occupation (engineer?), and whether you want to actually fly or the PPL is just a bucket list item like it is for so many. The trick is knowing which 90% is crap 
The latter is based on a question bank produced in the 1990s under JAA whose creation was for political reasons spread out around the EU and which ended up a huge mess, and nearly all of the material is irrelevant crap. And even if you did study it rigorously and survived that (it is about 1m shelf space of A4 ring binders) you would never use most of it because you will be going for an airline job where the required knowledge profile is very different.
I suspect nearly all of CATS business is CPL/IR.
philipus wrote:
Thank you very much for having a look at the Pilot’s Handbook. About CATS, would that be this one – https://www.catsaviation.com/courses/ppl.html? I came across it the other day and was surprised that it is (depending on which version one buys) so inexpensive compared to Orbit. The drawback is, it seems, that one has to come to the UK to do the tests (or?).
It was the following course: CAT Europe PPL Theory Course . I was not very impressed.
Thanks for the further replies. Incidentally, I’m making good progress in the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook (2021) which I think is really well written and easy to understand.
Peter wrote:
The trick is knowing which 90% is crap
Thank you Peter. I’ve actually read in a lot of threads here that so much of the PPL theory is crap. The view seems quite pervasive so I understand there must be some truth to it.
I guess the challenge for someone like me, who is starting out (and yes, really want to fly; it is not a bucket list thing), is that I have to go through it. But to be honest, there’s been a lot of crap and unnecessary fluff in all of the various university and other professional degrees I’ve accumulated so far in my life, so I guess that’s just part of “teaching”. Few people, and particularly academics and teachers, are on point.
Add to this that it is nigh on impossible to know which course has the least crap, and it becomes and impossible equation to solve. I guess I’ll just go with Orbit and get it over with haha.
sw1969 wrote:
It was the following course: CAT Europe PPL Theory Course . I was not very impressed
Thank you once again Stefan. Noted, I will stay clear of that one then.
