The ‘Bald’ (f)act!

The more positive minded go something like “I’d rather fail these exams in an exam hall, than someday in the field …..when temperatures are soaring, tempers are flaring, the required manuals go missing, and the aircraft sits nice and pretty on the tarmac rocking in silent laughter!”…..Basically, it’s a thought which leads up to being slightly better prepared, mentally, for the situations you will encounter in the days to come. Caution though, it’s a good passing thought only. Why? because, if you pin your hopes on that and only that…you’ll be balding by the time you pass C.A.R!

Oh, on the balding note- just a small distraction from our erstwhile topic the C.A.R - our powerplant instructor and principal of the institute in our days Mr. Jayaram, always asked us this one “Why do you think most AME’s are bald(ing)?” Your Answer something like: stress, or too much thinking, or say using the wrong (jet engine) oil for the hair? Nope! Mr. Jayaram’s answer was short and sweet, “They put their heads in the exhaust of the jet engine too often man! It blows away!!” Oh yes, he was bald!...and through some uncanny coincidence, ALL our instructors at the time were in some stage of balding!!

Now back to C.A.R.
For many reasons the C.A.R becomes a waterloo for a lot of aspiring AME’s. They sit…and sit again…and again…AND again for this exam and just don’t seem to get it!

To come straight to the point, the reason for this, from my interaction with a few folks in this dilemma, may just lie in their perception of the C.A.R as a whole. You see, when you read the C.A.R in the rookie years, you don’t quite see it as anything else other than pure Theory…Law Theory!. It’s very hard to understand the C.A.R until you actually apply it in the field. So, unless you pass the exam in the first few sessions, you tend to carry that initial perception of C.A.R Theory, through the years….and each time you open that ‘big-fat-folder’ to study for the exam, you end up with a mental block of sorts! A lot of people you meet will therefore tell you to ‘get it out-of-the-way’ in your early years itself. Though I believe that is a good piece of advice, it isn’t the right approach to a subject that is to become your bread and butter in future years. Well what then is the key to this…this…thing!