Anyone know what a "KDR" is?

[wags]

My wife recently sat her PPL exam paper and received a "KDR" from CASA as a result.

 

I was somewhat interested to know about this "KDR" thingo... it's got to be the biggest destroyer of confidence for a pilot that CASA ever invented bless their hearts and souls!

 

A "KDR" is a "Knowledge Deficiency Report".

 

It states that you sat the exam and says whether or not you passed (she did easily) and what you scored.... BUT then it says although you have in essence passed the exam you have a hole in your knowledge base and therefore you cannot progress any further with your flying training until you have been questioned by a suitable examiner "to rectify your knowledge deficiency"!

 

So when is a "Pass" not regarded as a "Pass"... when you sit the CASA PPL exam!

 

I have never seen such a small piece of paper destroy confidence in one easy swipe!

 

CASA really is living on another planet... or am I missing something in not understanding why a "Pass" is not really a "Pass"!

 

 

[richo]

Hey Wags. Chin up....

 

I think the point of the KDR is simply to point the examiner in the flight test to some areas of weakness in the theory. If your KDR showed some weakness in, say, loading and balance, you'd expect a few questions on that while your taking your flight test.

 

Your wife passed the exam, so well done to her. If she passed it easily, i wouldnt think there'd be much on the KDR. Everybody gets one.

 

thats my thoughts anyway.

 

cheers and good luck.

 

richo

 

 

[flyinghigh]

First off, give your wife a big CONGRATULATIONS from me. We don't know each other, but in my mind, anyone who passes any exam deserves a congratulations for the efforts made.

 

Don't read to much into the 'KDR'. A 'KDR' is issued for the questions that were answered incorrectly. You take the 'KDR' back to your school, sit down with a suitable instructor, and revise the areas that you were 'deficient' in. The instructor will ask a few questions to determine how deficient your knowledge actually is (i.e. did you just make a mistake in interpreting the question, or do you really have a hole in your knowledge), and will take steps to rectify. My experience was that this was pretty simple, took maybe an hour of discussion for the questions I had wrong on my PPL. CASA (and your school) just want to ensure that you do understand what the subject is all about. To me, this is way better than "well done, you received 85%, see you later".

 

As an instructor, I follow the same process in RAAus when students sit a test. Start with 'well done, you passed'. Then go through the questions answered incorrectly and discuss/understand why the student gave the wrong answer, filling knowledge gaps as required.

 

 

[djpacro]

Just adding to flyinghigh's answer.

 

Some years back some-one in CASA came up with the idea that a pilot should get things 100% right. eg if a pilot passed the exam but happened to get every question related to weight and balance wrong then that suggests a deficiency requiring attention.

 

My last CASA exam was at the other end of the scale - I passed easily but the KDR mentioned almost every subject in the syllabus.

 

When your wife does her PPL test, the ATO must check that she knows enough of the KDR items. In my case it took the ATO about 10 seconds. In my other example, with that lack of knowledge of weight and balance one would expect to do example calculations and have a discussion about it.

 

It as a line item on the PPL Test Form and the ATO will need the KDR for the test.

 

I used to advise young engineering students/graduates on a similar theme. 50% was their pass mark for the Uni exams but a real engineering job needs to be done pretty much 100% right. I recall a brief discussion with one student who did a small job for me: "Most of the job is good" ... "You made a mistake at the start - the outcome is rubbish."

 

 

[wags]

Confidence is paramount.

 

Thanks for the input guys... my wife doesn't seem to care too much ... it is me who thinks she has been dealt a big blow - to her confidence. Maybe I'm just "on edge" when it comes to the way CASA do things. After 40 years+ of dealing with them I am sick of their approach - to the back teeth and that's why I support RAAus. All we want to do is aviate for fun with a minimum of fuss and those that want to fly big time can join in the fun with CASA to their hearts content.

 

Confidence that a student has in their instructor and their own ability is paramount to getting a good result and when it is 'squashed" (confidence) in a manner such as this I suggest the CASA guys who implemented this KDR crap should go and do a week of study on "Human Factors". It could have been handled confidentially between CASA and the instructor at the flying school and nobody gets damaged that way.

 

I also used to quietly chat with students who made a meal of their exam, be it practical or written. A quiet discussion soon reveals if they have a weakness or not and then you can take steps to fix the deficiency without destroying their confidence in themselves.

 

The good thing about all this is she knows she can fly OK... so it's downhill from here to get a PPL and therefore get through that pesky CTA when one needs to and not be forced to fly over tiger country.

 

Now I've had my say I'm feeling a little better!

 

 

[Guest check-in]

Unfortunately KDR is not a very touchy-feely name, but what else to call it? However, as far as CASA is concerned it is not sinister at all. It just requires the testing officer to go through the questions that were answered incorrectly. My better schoolteachers always did this - usually with a red pen (and sometimes sarcastic comments) - and I did not end up traumatised as a result.

 

Better a KDR than sailing through life under the false impression that because you passed one of the many waypoints in aviation you know all that needs to be known about that subject.

 

 

[shags_j]

When your wife does her PPL test, the ATO must check that she knows enough of the KDR items. In my case it took the ATO about 10 seconds. In my other example, with that lack of knowledge of weight and balance one would expect to do example calculations and have a discussion about it.

It as a line item on the PPL Test Form and the ATO will need the KDR for the test.

You know you've been an accountant too long if you spent 5 mins trying to work out why the Tax Office wants to know these things...

 

 

[Simonflyer]

Ive always found them to pretty helpful..

 

When your wife sits her PPL flight test she will most likely have to chat through the things on the KDR and show she has looked into it a bit more, but i found it to be a really informative chat with the ATO..Its a good thing to keep building on the knowledge, and flying would be one hobby/job/passion where the learning never really stops...

 

Congrats to the wife on passing!

 

 

[facthunter]

Useful. KDR.

 

In principle, the revision of areas found to be inadequately understood, is hard to object to.

 

When I sat exams in Weight and Balance, AND fuel management , the pass mark was 100%. This can be a bit hard if the question is not worded clearly, but also in these 2 topics a thorough knowledge is essential. I see the process as necessary follow-up, and it could pick up errors in the exam questions as well. (Been known to happen). Nev