DGCA ATPL Air Navigation study guide
DGCA ATPL Air Navigation · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Air Navigation paper is one of the technical knowledge examinations that a candidate must pass to hold an Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India. It is aimed at pilots progressing from the Commercial Pilot Licence towards the ATPL, and at holders building the theoretical knowledge required before the licence is issued. The DGCA ATPL Air Navigation study guide has 8 sections and about 1,919 words.
01General Navigation: Charts, Direction, Time, Magnetism and Dead Reckoning
You must be fluent with the properties of the Lambert conformal conic, Mercator and polar stereographic projections: where the great circle, rhumb line, scale and convergence of meridians behave as they do. On a Lambert chart a straight line is approximately a great circle; on a Mercator it is a rhumb line.
268 words, about 1 min02Radio Navigation: Ground Aids, Radar and GNSS
Understand the VOR radial concept: a selected radial is a line from the station, and the CDI sense reverses depending on whether you are tracking to or from. Trap: confusing the OBS-selected radial with the aircraft's actual bearing from the station.
264 words, about 1 min03Flight Planning and In-Flight Monitoring
A candidate must build a navigation log: route, tracks, distances, winds aloft, TAS, groundspeed, ETA, fuel. Know how to use the wind triangle for each leg and how to compute leg time and fuel burn.
254 words, about 1 min04Meteorology Applied to Navigation: Upper Winds, Temperatures and Altimetry
Read winds aloft from forecasts and charts: direction is from which the wind blows, and speeds increase with altitude in the jet stream. Understand how to interpolate wind between levels and how temperature lapse affects TAS and true altitude.
255 words, about 1 min05Mass and Balance
Know basic empty mass, dry operating mass, take-off mass, landing mass, zero-fuel mass and payload. Understand MTOM, MLM, MZFM and the regulated limits.
244 words, about 1 min06Performance: Take-off, Climb, Cruise and Landing
Understand the take-off distances: TODA, TORA, ASDA, LDA, and the meaning of V1, VR and V2. Know how density altitude, wind, slope, mass and contamination affect performance.
202 words, about 1 min07Instruments and Navigation Systems Integration
Understand pitot-static and gyroscopic instruments: ASI, altimeter, VSI, attitude indicator, heading indicator and turn coordinator. Know the errors: position error, compressibility, density, instrument and manoeuvre errors.
220 words, about 1 min08Operational Procedures and Navigation Regulations
Know the differences between IFR and VFR, the semicircular rule for flight levels, and the meaning of controlled, uncontrolled and special-use airspace. Understand the transition altitude/level and the rules for setting the altimeter.
212 words, about 1 min