Navigation
Navigation questions combine geometry, chart reading, and calculation. Understand the Earth's coordinate system: latitude, longitude, great circles, and rhumb lines. Know the difference between true, magnetic, and compass headings, and how variation and deviation combine. The conversion is a reliable exam calculation: True Virgins Make Dull Company - True plus Variation gives Magnetic, plus Deviation gives Compass; reverse the signs going the other way.
Learn the triangle of velocities: true airspeed and heading, wind velocity, and the resulting track and groundspeed. Be able to solve for any missing element using the wind triangle, and understand drift and the correction angle. Chart reading requires familiarity with symbols, airspace boundaries, and obstacles.
Time, speed, and distance calculations appear throughout: distance equals groundspeed times time, and fuel flow times time gives fuel used. Understand the principles of VOR, ADF, and GNSS, and how to interpret radials and bearings.
Worked example
Aircraft true heading 090°, variation 5°W, deviation 2°E. Magnetic = 090 + 5 = 095°. Compass = 095 − 2 = 093°. Apply variation and deviation in the correct direction.
Traps include adding variation when it should be subtracted, confusing track with heading, and mixing units of time.