Aircraft General Knowledge: Airframe, Systems and Powerplant
This domain tests system logic and failure consequences, not memorised schematics. Build your knowledge around function, control, indication and failure effect for each system.
Airframe: primary and secondary structure, load paths, damage tolerance, pressurisation cycles and why fuselage cracks propagate from stress raisers. Hydraulics: reservoirs, pumps, accumulators, pressure relief, redundancy and what happens when a system is lost (which services remain). Electrics: buses, generators/alternators, paralleling, battery as emergency source, and the significance of a failed bus. Pneumatics and air conditioning: bleed sources, packs, pressurisation controllers. Fuel: tank arrangement, transfer, venting, jettison and unusable fuel. Ice and rain protection: thermal, chemical and pneumatic methods and their limits. Powerplant: for jets, the gas path, N1/N2/EGT, FADEC and thrust ratings; for pistons, mixture, detonation and pre-ignition.
Traps: assuming a warning light means a system is failed rather than out of tolerance; confusing N1 and N2 indications with fan and core speeds; and forgetting that unusable fuel is excluded from usable quantities. Questions often describe a symptom and ask for the most probable cause - reason from the system's power source and control path.
Worked example: both engine-driven hydraulic pumps fail, but the system still reads pressure. The accumulator alone cannot sustain flow; the likely source is an electric backup pump or a power transfer unit. Rule of thumb: follow the power - identify the energy source, the control valve, and the consumer, and the failure logic becomes obvious.