BR-ANAC-R-VFRH common mistakes
BR-ANAC-R-VFRH · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating the 25 kg / 150 kg / 7 kg thresholds and the sub-25 kg class privileges as interchangeable, so the candidate applies the wrong rule set (registration, licence, insurance, VLOS limits) to a scenario aircraft.
The ANAC RBAC-E 94 rules are layered by maximum takeoff mass and by operation type (VLOS, BVLOS, over people, beyond 400 ft), and candidates memorise isolated numbers without building a decision tree from mass to applicable requirement.
What to do instead
Before answering, write the stated MTOM and operation type, then walk a fixed checklist: registration required? pilot licence/rating required? insurance? airspace authorisation? VLOS/altitude limits? Practice 20 scenarios with only the mass and operation given and derive every requirement from the checklist rather than from memory.
Confusing the roles and obligations of the RPAS pilot, the operator (explorador), and the remote observer, and attributing operator responsibilities (e.g. record keeping, accident reporting) to the pilot in command.
Regulatory text assigns duties to legal entities and to individuals separately, and candidates skim the articles that list operator obligations because they seem administrative rather than flight-related.
What to do instead
Build a two-column table (pilot vs operator) for each obligation: registration, insurance, logbooks, occurrence reporting, crew briefing, maintaining currency. Re-read only the articles that name each role and test yourself by covering one column.
Answering rotorcraft performance questions using aeroplane logic, e.g. treating translational lift, effective translational lift, and ground effect as the same phenomenon, or assuming power required always decreases with airspeed.
Fixed-wing training instils a single drag curve and a single takeoff/landing model, and candidates do not replace it with the helicopter power-required curve and the hover-to-forward-flight transition.
What to do instead
Redraw the power-required vs airspeed curve from memory and label hover out of ground effect, hover in ground effect, ETL, minimum power speed, and max range/endurance speeds. For every performance question, state which region of the curve the aircraft is in before choosing an answer.
Reading a density altitude or wind problem and plugging numbers into a formula before checking units and whether the chart/table is in feet, metres, knots, or km/h, producing a plausible but wrong figure.
ANAC material mixes metric and imperial units and candidates rush to compute, especially under time pressure, treating unit conversion as trivial.
What to do instead
Adopt a mandatory first step: convert every given value to a single working unit set and write the conversions down. Then estimate the answer's order of magnitude before computing, and reject options outside that band. Drill 15 mixed-unit performance and mass-and-balance items with the conversion written out each time.
Computing mass and balance by summing masses only, ignoring that the datum, arm, and moment must be tracked, or forgetting to re-check the CG after a fuel burn or a payload change.
Candidates treat W&B as an arithmetic exercise and stop once total mass is under MTOM, forgetting that CG limits are a separate constraint and that fuel burn moves the CG.
What to do instead
Use a fixed four-column table (item, mass, arm, moment) every time, sum moments, divide by mass, then plot or compare against both forward and aft limits. Always run a second pass at zero fuel and at the midpoint of the flight, and state explicitly whether the CG moves forward or aft.
Misjudging human factors items by choosing the answer that sounds most safety-conscious rather than the one describing actual behaviour, e.g. labelling every error a violation or confusing fatigue with hypoxia.
Human performance questions are worded to make the morally laudable option attractive, and candidates lack a clear taxonomy of error types, illusions, and incapacitation symptoms.
What to do instead
Learn the distinctions as definitions with one example each: slip vs mistake vs violation; spatial disorientation illusions (somatogravic, somatogyral, Coriolis); hypoxia vs hyperventilation vs fatigue. For each question, name the phenomenon first, then pick the option that matches that definition.
Interpreting weather reports and forecasts without decoding every group, e.g. reading a METAR visibility or a TAF change group as applying for the whole period, or ignoring the difference between TEMPO, BECMG, and PROB30.
Candidates learn the shape of METAR/TAF and pattern-match familiar groups, so change indicators and probability groups get skipped as boilerplate.
What to do instead
Decode two METARs and two TAFs daily, writing out each group in plain language including validity, change indicators, and probability. Make a one-page card of TEMPO/BECMG/PROB meanings and check every forecast question against it before answering.
Calculating a navigation leg using true track and distance but forgetting magnetic variation, wind correction, or the difference between ground speed and true airspeed.
Candidates solve the triangle for one quantity and stop, or apply variation in the wrong direction, because the sign convention is memorised rather than understood.
What to do instead
Use a fixed sequence: true track, wind triangle to get heading and ground speed, then apply variation (with the 'variation east, magnetic least' check) to get magnetic heading. Always sanity-check that the wind correction turns the nose into the wind and that ground speed matches the headwind/tailwind component.
Answering emergency and operational-procedure items with generic airmanship instead of the prescribed sequence, e.g. not stating lost-link behaviour, failsafe configuration, or the priority order of see-and-avoid over mission tasks.
Emergency procedures are learned as narrative rather than as ordered checkpoints, and candidates underestimate how specific the expected sequence is.
What to do instead
Write each procedure as a numbered list with the trigger condition, immediate actions, and the decision point (e.g. lost link: continue, hover, or return per programmed failsafe). Rehearse by covering the list and reciting the order aloud, then answer questions by matching the option to the correct stage.
Using non-standard or incomplete radio phraseology, omitting the station called, the callsign, or the readback of clearances, and confusing distress versus urgency prefixes.
Candidates treat RT as vocabulary rather than as a structured message with mandatory elements, and they practise reading phrases instead of transmitting them.
What to do instead
Use the standard order (station called, own callsign, message) and always read back clearances, hold short instructions, and frequency changes. Practise speaking full transmissions aloud, including MAYDAY vs PAN PAN scenarios, and check each answer for all mandatory elements before selecting it.