L-1 Maintenance Course/Exam

[SDQDI]

I still haven't even looked at this test yet, when do we have to have it done by to keep our priviliges?

 

Mark I prefer solder myself but I thought I have read somewhere that it is a no no on an plane?

 

 

[jetjr]

Yes the solder vs crimp thing is debatable

 

Teh thought currently is that well skilled people can solder its great

 

Something like 75% of solder done by others was faulty so crimping is better

 

Think this was from RAAF investigation??

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

There are horses for courses...it did not say a wire to a spade or a terminal it just said connection to wires. Now if I am doing something in my aircraft and I want ti join 2 wires they are soldered and heatshrinked. If I am connecting to a instrument I use the CORRECT crimp terminal and crimpers to do that job. The question did not say that it was generic call about the best way to join wires. Their answer in the test is WRONG. Why would I use crimp terminals to join wires..high resistance joint in the making over time. Soldering can suffer from vibration but done correctly I defy any crimp joint to outlast a correctly done solder joint.

 

In my 40 plus years of the electrical industry and concurrent 30 years in the electronics/radio industry I think I may have just a little bit of experience "joining wires"

 

Certainly more than who picked that stupid question in the exam

 

Rant Over

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

I still haven't even looked at this test yet, when do we have to have it done by to keep our priviliges?

I did mine because someone posted on FB it has to be done by the 1st of Feb

 

 

[Ron5335]

You have to take into account the Amish approach to aviation engineering.

 

It was not that long ago that all the Amish Society of Engineers came out to bag a builder who cabled tied an electrical cable to a fuel line.

 

That was in spite of the fact that since the late nineties, millions of cars are driving around with an electric pump that is mounted inside the fuel tank without incident.

 

Here we are in 2017 and the only accepted method of spark generation is from technology that was used to power a putt putt boat.

 

Now that's a rant !!!

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I still haven't even looked at this test yet, when do we have to have it done by to keep our priviliges?...

Tomorrow midnight.

 

 

[jetjr]

I "heard" there may be extension in time as some who had problems with online need written method.

 

.........Complete rumour, highly likely not true.......

 

As discussed questions with ambiguous shouldn't be in exams.

 

However if it what industry recommends there's not much choice than to follow

 

 

[Kyle Communications]

That fuel hose with the cable tie I do have to agree that it was not the correct thing to do...as a emergency maybe ok but anything long term...nah Cable ties break after exposure to heat and temperature cycles. Cant beat a solid correctly fitted metal worm or interleaved clamp to do the job..even those squeeze metal clamps that are used all over vehicles now. But I do get what you are saying...This is why most of GA are flying behind engines designed in the 1940 and 50's and there isnt a very big push to modernise anything for them

 

 

[facthunter]

If zip ties are so ineffective why is it so hard to get them off?. Nev

 

 

[Geoff13]

I did the online L1 course last night. I got 90% all in all it was pretty easy and mostly common sense EXCEPT there are a couple of very ambiguous questions...I got a email after telling me what questions I got wrong so looks like they have fixed that area which is good. Mostly all of the ones I got wrong were ambiguous and I think 1 was me not reading the questions properly. But stupid question like what is the best way to do a electrical connection for a wire...the best way is to solder it..I put that but I know the other answer they took was to use a crimp and the correct crimp pliers....sorry I am a sparky as well as a radio tech and I say soldering is the best way...except of course when you are going to a spade terminal etc...BUT they did not say that in the question...stupid question really without qualifying itAnyway its done now with basically no study at all just a couple of the downloadable documents on the puter and they were easy to find anyway for the questions.

 

Mark

And then of course there is wire wrapping.

 

 

[Riley]

There are horses for courses...it did not say a wire to a spade or a terminal it just said connection to wires. Now if I am doing something in my aircraft and I want ti join 2 wires they are soldered and heatshrinked. If I am connecting to a instrument I use the CORRECT crimp terminal and crimpers to do that job. The question did not say that it was generic call about the best way to join wires. Their answer in the test is WRONG. Why would I use crimp terminals to join wires..high resistance joint in the making over time. Soldering can suffer from vibration but done correctly I defy any crimp joint to outlast a correctly done solder joint.In my 40 plus years of the electrical industry and concurrent 30 years in the electronics/radio industry I think I may have just a little bit of experience "joining wires"

 

Certainly more than who picked that stupid question in the exam

 

Rant Over

Keep ranting KC. There are a lot more stupid, vague, ambiguous and absolutely wrong answers in the 200-odd exam questions. If enough of us keep rubbing their (CASA, RAA and Canvas') collective noses in it, eventually the proletariat might educate the higher-paid help in things aviation. Considering that it was their 'professionally-prepared, standards-setting, education venture' for the masses, it beggars belief that it was so poorly prepared and poorly vetted before presentation to the troops. Though it shouldn't be necessary, having recently done the rounds with Tech, I'm fairly confident that it will get cleaned up when people protest enough. cheers

 

 

[SDQDI]

Just had a go and managed a 45 out of 50 but haven't got the email showing which ones I got wrong yet.

 

Seems to be a few questions that have no relevance to maintenance but otherwise seemed ok.

 

 

[Nightmare]

Just had a go and managed a 45 out of 50 but haven't got the email showing which ones I got wrong yet.Seems to be a few questions that have no relevance to maintenance but otherwise seemed ok.

If it's anything like mine which I did today, you will get a total of 3 emails soon. One confirming that you passed with an attachment that you can print and put with your license, the next with what appears to be the same attachment but with the questions you got wrong, and the third one saying your assignment has been graded.... not real sure of the point of the last one.... Then you will have a new endorsement (Owner/Maintainer) on your RAAus member portal.

 

 

[Geoff13]

Just did it no real problems. I would say 4 of the questions I got were pure pilot questions not maintainer based.

 

I must bite my tongue. Having some experience in teaching of a technical nature I found it very difficult to accept that someone who wrote those questions has any qualifications to asses any one.

 

Many of the questions simply would not pass muster on a basic educators course of any type.

 

I did say the same thing about the 5 exams I did whilst doing my RPC.

 

Very poor question technique.

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

Mr FV did his L1 and passed well. Got the Qns he got wrong: - one he missed the word "after" and gave the "during" answer, another he picked the first answer before he finished reading the Qn or the rest of the options, another he disagreed with the study material - one should always give the examiner what he wants. Multi choice exams are not the place to pick an argument. He passed first time, so didn't bother re-sitting to get higher.

 

Now reading the clobber for the W&B.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

...one should always give the examiner what he wants. Multi choice exams are not the place to pick an argument...

All true Sue, but I think some people are being a bit tough on our organisation. Multiple choice exams are pretty much the only viable way to assess large numbers of people, particularly across a whole continent. Examiners do their best but I can tell you that setting these tests is a devilishly hard task, especially with a technical subject such as this. Even large professional organisations, with all their resources and experience, can let mistakes slip through. This L1 exam wasn't perfect, but it's a pretty good start for a small organisation like ours. It's up to us to support our people and suggest improvements.

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

All true Sue, but I think some people are being a bit tough on our organisation. Multiple choice exams are pretty much the only viable way to assess large numbers of people, particularly across a whole continent. Examiners do their best but I can tell you that setting these tests is a devilishly hard task, especially with a technical subject such as this. Even large professional organisations, with all their resources and experience, can let mistakes slip through. This L1 exam wasn't perfect, but it's a pretty good start for a small organisation like ours. It's up to us to support our people and suggest improvements.

In this case he disagreed with what the documentation said, so he put what he thought rather than what the study material said. If it was a "write an essay on this" type of question he could argue his case with convincing evidence. I think he did well for a year 6 education, but lots of experience. I certainly agree that writing question and answers is much harder than people realise (like writing children's books). I have printed out all the material for the W&B course and he has been reading that. I haven't bothered doing the L1 because I don't have an RAA plane in my name. I am having too much fun doing short Uni courses through Future Learn - free and lots of subjects - doing "Why Do We Age? The Molecular Mechanisms of Ageing", Did "World War I in 100 Stories" - looked at the Flying Corps, and "Liver Diseases"

 

 

[facthunter]

I was a teacher in the NSW State Education system when multi choice was first introduced, and therefore spent a lot of time learning how to prepare them and have constructed many "in print" surveys which can suffer from the same issues if not designed, vetted and proof read properly. The most favourable aspect of multi choice is absolute ease of marking. It's a labour saving method, but has been constantly plagued with the issues brought up on this forum. The only remedy is to put the EFFORT in to do it properly at the outset. If the examiner doesn't FULLY know the subject, it's unlikely to come out well. The persons who sit the exam are the losers. They may know far more than the setter of the exam and indeed be appropriately regarded as an authority on the subject by their peers and still do poorly. Passing the exam under these circumstances is not accurately based on the knowledge of the candidate so it fails to achieve it's aim of ASSESSING a required standard/level of knowledge (and understanding) of aviation matters. It also denies the person examined a "genuine" proof of achievement statement. I passed the thing anyhow is not enough. Nev

 

 

[The Therm]

Did the L1 about a month ago and have heard nothing. Though just passed sign off on 3 axis and submitted paperwork and the response via email was, we'll be in touch in 7 - 15 business days. Shoddy service!

 

 

[Nightmare]

Did the L1 about a month ago and have heard nothing. Though just passed sign off on 3 axis and submitted paperwork and the response via email was, we'll be in touch in 7 - 15 business days. Shoddy service!

Have you checked your Member login on the RAAus website? When I did mine, it just showed up there with no other correspondence.

[The Therm]

Hi Tony, yes just did that, cheers! It was there; I thought it would have been communicated to us but anyway, there it is

 

 

[scre80]

I have to sit mine. Any recommendations? did you find the online training material informative enough?

 

 

[The Therm]

Hi Scre, TBH I was caught out on a couple of questions and had to go back to revise, I have only recently gone to 3 Axis from Weight Shift and the bias was obviously centered on that, I guess my mechanical skills were not quite up to speed . I enjoyed it though. Yes Training information was good and the exam was comprehensive.

 

Good luck and Enjoy

 

 

[Birdseye]

I was a teacher in the NSW State Education system when multi choice was first introduced, and therefore spent a lot of time learning how to prepare them and have constructed many "in print" surveys which can suffer from the same issues if not designed, vetted and proof read properly. The most favourable aspect of multi choice is absolute ease of marking. It's a labour saving method, but has been constantly plagued with the issues brought up on this forum. The only remedy is to put the EFFORT in to do it properly at the outset. If the examiner doesn't FULLY know the subject, it's unlikely to come out well. The persons who sit the exam are the losers. They may know far more than the setter of the exam and indeed be appropriately regarded as an authority on the subject by their peers and still do poorly. Passing the exam under these circumstances is not accurately based on the knowledge of the candidate so it fails to achieve it's aim of ASSESSING a required standard/level of knowledge (and understanding) of aviation matters. It also denies the person examined a "genuine" proof of achievement statement. I passed the thing anyhow is not enough. Nev

Agree.

Properly constructed, multi-choice can be very effective. It may identify not only that a person has the necessary knowledge, but if done correctly, it may also identify where a person has not really got hold of the right end of the stick. I exclude any assessment where nonsense such as "d) All of the above" is used.

 

Like any technical document it should be written by people with the expertise in effective assessment and the technical subject knowledge. The worst scenario in my experience is to put the project in the hands solely of the technical subject matter expert. Before release, some basic testing with a small range of individuals will serve to identify any deficiencies in the assessment.

 

 

[Kenlsa]

Scott, did mine on iPad and it was a nightmare (during the trial period) as I couldn't toggle between the references that were given/supplied. I had a read of the info and sat the exam. Still passed but had to work from my memory and knowledge. Do it on a desk top with Windows. It should be far easier than an iPad unless they have fixed it.

 

I sent a letter to the editor and supplied feedback as to my problems. I am a firm believer in on the job training or hands on courses- so I did the jab course last year to complete my learning ( to Level 1) to my satisfaction and I suggest that all should do a hands on course for their particular aircraft if available . I recon that you attend a Rotax course to expand your knowledge as it would be money well spent.

 

Ken