Airframe, Systems, Electrics, Powerplant and Emergency Equipment
This domain mixes structural knowledge with system logic. For airframes, understand primary and secondary structure, load paths, fail-safe and safe-life design, and the purpose of stringers, frames and skins. Know hydraulic system basics: reservoirs, pumps (engine-driven and electric), accumulators, pressure relief, and how a system is isolated. Electrical questions focus on DC/AC generation, busbar architecture, paralleling, protection (fuses, circuit breakers), and the significance of a generator trip.
Pneumatics and pressurisation questions test the meaning of bleed air, outflow valves, cabin differential pressure, and the operation of the pressurisation controller. Fuel system questions ask about tank venting, transfer, jettison and unusable fuel.
Powerplant: know the gas turbine cycle, the function of compressor, combustor and turbine stages, the meaning of EGT/ITT, N1/N2, and the difference between a hung start and a hot start. Piston engine questions test mixture, detonation and pre-ignition.
Emergency equipment: fire detection and extinguishing zones, portable extinguisher types, oxygen systems (diluter-demand versus pressure-demand), and life jacket/raft stowage.
Traps: assuming an accumulator provides continuous pressure; confusing a hot start with a hung start; and misreading which busbar is essential.
Worked example: a generator fails in flight; the battery does not power the whole aircraft. Identify the essential bus and the items shed, and remember that the battery's endurance is time-limited and voltage falls with load.