ANAC IBAV common mistakes
ANAC IBAV · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating RBAC (Regulamento Brasileiro da Aviação Civil) rules as identical to ICAO Annex text or to FAA/EASA rules, and answering from memory of those foreign sources instead of the Brazilian regulation.
Most study material available online is ICAO-, FAA- or EASA-based; candidates assume harmonisation is complete and skip the RBAC wording, missing Brazil-specific differences in licensing, medical validity and documentation.
What to do instead
Build a one-page comparison table of the RBAC items that differ from ICAO/FAA/EASA (licence validity, medical certificate classes and renewal ages, document carriage, crew duty limits) and review it weekly; for every practice question, cite the RBAC item number before choosing an answer.
Confusing aircraft mass-and-balance terms and their effects: mixing basic empty mass, dry operating mass and take-off mass, and misjudging how moving a mass affects the centre of gravity.
The definitions look similar and candidates memorise formulas without the physical picture, so they apply the correct arithmetic to the wrong quantity or move the CG in the wrong direction.
What to do instead
Draw a side-view aircraft with the datum, arms and each mass labelled, then work five loading problems by hand, stating in words 'mass moved aft moves CG aft' before computing; verify each result by checking whether the CG shift direction matches the direction the load moved.
Answering principle-of-flight questions by intuition about what 'feels right' (for example assuming a heavier aircraft always stalls at a higher indicated airspeed) rather than applying the lift equation and load-factor relationships.
Everyday experience suggests heavier means faster, but in the 1g stall the indicated stall speed depends on weight only through the square root and many candidates forget the load-factor term entirely.
What to do instead
For each stall or performance question, write the lift equation and the stall-speed relationship (speed proportional to square root of load factor) on scratch paper first, then substitute; practise a set of questions where weight changes but load factor is held at 1, and another where load factor changes at constant weight.
Computing take-off or landing distance with the wrong input set, such as using pressure altitude instead of density altitude, omitting wind and slope corrections, or applying a correction in the wrong direction.
Charts and tables are dense and candidates rush to the final number, skipping the intermediate step of converting temperature and elevation into density altitude and losing track of which correction increases or decreases distance.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed written sequence for every performance problem (elevation, QNH to pressure altitude, temperature to density altitude, then mass, wind, slope, surface) and write each intermediate value with its unit; check the final answer against a sanity rule such as 'uphill, downwind, hot and heavy all lengthen the take-off run'.
Mixing units and conventions in navigation calculations: hours and minutes versus decimal hours, magnetic versus true direction, and kilometres versus nautical miles.
The exam mixes conventions and candidates convert mentally under time pressure, dropping the variation sign or the 60-factor in the one-in-sixty rule.
What to do instead
Standardise on one written layout: convert all times to decimal hours or all to minutes before dividing, always write T and M suffixes on every heading, and apply variation with an explicit sign check ('east is least, west is best' for converting true to magnetic). Do ten timed drills until the layout is automatic.
Reading a meteorological report or forecast and answering from the general picture rather than the specific coded group, for example missing a TEMPO or BECMG change group, a windshear or freezing-rain indicator, or misreading the cloud and visibility trend.
Candidates decode the first line and stop, or treat the trend groups as part of the prevailing conditions, so they answer about weather that applies only during a two-hour window or only temporarily.
What to do instead
Decode METAR and TAF line by line in a fixed order (wind, visibility, weather, cloud, temperature, pressure, then trend groups), writing 'temporarily' or 'becoming' next to each trend group; practise with reports that contain both a prevailing condition and a contradicting TEMPO group.
Underestimating or misidentifying hypoxia and hyperventilation symptoms in human-performance questions, and confusing the two when choosing a response.
Early hypoxia produces a sense of well-being and impaired self-criticism, and the textbook symptom lists overlap with hyperventilation, so candidates pick the plausible-sounding symptom rather than the defining one.
What to do instead
Learn a short contrast table: hyperventilation gives dizziness, tingling and muscle spasm with normal or low oxygen, hypoxia gives euphoria, impaired judgement and cyanosis; memorise that the correct response to suspected hypoxia is always supplemental oxygen and descent, and to hyperventilation is controlled breathing rate.
Using non-standard or incomplete radiotelephony phraseology, or answering a readback question with what the controller 'meant' rather than the exact required readback items.
Candidates speak the way they would in a simulator chat, dropping the callsign or omitting mandatory readback elements such as runway, hold-short instruction, altitude and frequency.
What to do instead
Memorise the list of items that must always be read back (clearances, runway in use, hold-short, altitudes, headings, frequencies) and rehearse full exchanges aloud with callsign first and last; in written questions, check the answer includes every mandatory element, not just the correct-sounding phrase.
Confusing emergency and urgency situations and their corresponding signals, prefixes and priority handling (MAYDAY versus PAN PAN, and the associated squawk and phraseology).
Both are distress-related and candidates remember only that one is 'more serious', so they misapply the prefix, the frequency to use, or the readback and reporting obligations.
What to do instead
Write a two-column card: distress (MAYDAY, grave and imminent danger, immediate assistance) versus urgency (PAN PAN, urgent but no immediate danger), each with its spoken phrase three times, the associated transponder code and the required follow-up report; test yourself by classifying ten short scenarios into the correct column.
Answering operational-procedure questions from general airmanship instead of the specific published procedure, for example improvising a rejected take-off decision, an engine-failure after-take-off action, or a fuel-diversion decision.
Candidates have flown or simulated these situations and trust habit, but the exam tests the documented sequence, decision speeds and stated criteria, which often differ from what feels natural.
What to do instead
For each major abnormal case, memorise the decision point and the first three actions in the published order, plus the stated criteria (for example the speed below which a take-off is rejected); rehearse them as a numbered list and, in questions, eliminate any option that adds an action before the published first step.