The CAR Conundrum

The 20...not the 80!

2009-09-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

If you are an advocate for the 80-20 rule even amongst professional circles, if not personal, you would quite easily understand the context of this post.
The importance of mindset for AME’s and AME students, covered in the last 3 posts, is that 20 percent of the solution that accounts for 80 percent of the problem. And it is precisely this 20 percent that you really need to build up during all the 3 years of AME training that you go through. No doubt there are academics to be engaged in, classes to attend and assignments to be completed on a daily basis. However, day after day, you need to remind yourself about this mindset you need to fit into.

The question to ask is, 3 years? Does it really take that long?? For some students, yes. Others pick up quicker, but then when you have 3 years, there is no real advantage to be had by picking up this mindset and start running a virtual rat race that really does not even exist! Most students start becoming impatient, trying to grasp more than they can really handle. I know, I did! Everyday you have the question “When am I going to become? When am I going to ‘arrive’? When can I really let myself loose (on all these nice airplanes?!”

Ease yourself into the curriculum, taking note of all there is to this vast, engrossing, exciting world that is Aviation. Try and get a wider or larger perspective to this world rather than limit yourself to immediate concerns of assignments, practicals, exams, competition (“I’m better than you!...any given day!!” mentality), syllabus, etc. Bear in mind you’re practically already in a profession. “Then why the 3 years of training?!” Do you really want to know? Well, quite simply, so that you don’t hurt yourself, and a thousand others, in your enthusiasm and excitement of having the opportunity to work and perform tasks on those “sleek/neat/awesome” flying machines! It is the ‘growing-up’ phase if you get what I mean.

In the following posts we’ll discuss how we can largely help ourselves, to focus our minds more on soaking in the larger picture that aviation is, rather than limit ourselves to the nitty-gritty daily’s.

The Solution - Part III - ...to a Mindset of Change

2009-08-22T22:56:00.000-07:00

While at AME school, we often had guest lecturers. Established gurus in the field of aircraft maintenance, through their many years of experience, taking time out of their schedules to have a talk with us. A simple walk through their various experiences in their careers was enough to make our day. Sometimes anecdotic, and other times lessons they learned, these talks were simply mesmerizing for us students…example, aircraft hydraulic systems in a whole new light, when our lecturer explained just how painful it can be when synthetic base hydraulic fluid gets into the eyes! A whole new light… truly!!
Mr. Anant Karnik, a retired Air India Director of Maintenance, would visit us more often than any other. He usually recommended reading material in the form of magazines, periodicals and even works of fiction. While most of his recommendations encompassed aviation topics, one particular recommendation I never really understood in the context of aviation. The book was called “Future Shock” – by Alvin Toffler. Well, I did pick up the book and read it almost halfway, and then, I put it aside. It was not so much the content of the book that prompted me to put it away for another day. I believe I was searching, in every page, the context of what was professed in relation with my life and career in aircraft maintenance. The search proved futile until almost a decade later when I picked up the book again and read a few lines. It didn’t take more than a page of reading to grasp just why Mr. Karnik recommended this book in an aircraft maintenance engineering classroom!

Change, is the only constant in aviation. In aircraft maintenance, everything from simple nuts and bolts to complex operating principles of turbine engines, gets redefined every few years. Nuts and bolts ? Redefined?! Absolutely. The drive is always towards faster, cheaper, cleaner, easier...the three E’s namely Economy, Efficiency, and Ecology, almost always in combination.

The emphasis then, is for us maintenance people to grasp change faster, better. Simply moving at the pace at which aircraft’s move from prototype to obsolescence, involves regular training sessions, examinations (written and practical), and application. The ‘learn-unlearn-relearn’ paradigm revisited!
New methods, processes, new technologies, terminologies, new concepts, they take their turn to bombard us every single day that they make their way into the aircraft we maintain. There is the constant need to be ‘ahead of your aircraft’.

Very early in our careers we need to shift our mindset to accept change more swiftly. We need to change our mindset, to a mindset of change.

The Solution - Part II - A Change of Mindset...

2009-08-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

When you move from college straight to AME school, you tend to carry habits along. Study habits, reporting time habits, sleeping and waking habits and so on. If you don’t shed these habits soon enough, they will get the better of you. Why? Quite simply because these habits just don’t fit-in with the world of aircraft maintenance. They are simply, UNACCEPTABLE.
You have to begin to understand that the methods you so successfully employed to get you through school and college, will actually work against you in AME school.

You have to learn to change, from the mindset of:
fixed study topics, to a mindset of applying knowledge between topics and even between subjects;
fixed type of solutions to fixed type of questions, to a mindset of screening all possibilities for a given problem;
fixed type of problems, to a mindset of a problem that changes every time you turn around to fetch a wrench;
fixed syllabus for every subject for every exam, to a mindset of …”syllabus? What’s that??”;
fixed study schedules and timeframes, to a mindset of catching a few words of exam preparation in between flights;
‘fixed’, to a mindset of ‘change’.

The only thing fixed, IS Change.
The transition is difficult, no doubt, even for 18year olds. But, some manage it, and it serves them well.

The Solution - Part I - A Catharsis

2009-08-13T04:16:00.000-07:00

We know now that studying for the CAR examinations, by picking through questions from a ‘special-latest-edition’ question bank, only exacerbates the problem for any person desiring to make a career in aircraft maintenance. So what’s the solution?
“Let’s get beyond the problem and the preachy statements shall we!”
“Yes, let’s have some real, practical, tangible and obviously executable methods!”

From the outset, I admit, the solution is not an easy one and neither is it a one-fit-all.

From time immemorial we’ve been studying for our subjects by memorizing, by attempting to learn without completing understanding a topic, clamoring for that one extra mark to outdo the person next to us. At school we did it and discovered great success. In college we got even better at grabbing; 96.77% is no-where near 96.76 right! Oh yes, it makes all the difference! Between making it to a great college and not, between getting the choicest subjects or being stuck with the ‘third- rate’ subjects that only losers take up voluntarily! It makes all the difference when you go to get those ‘in-demand’ jobs doesn’t it.

Ok, now that’s a trend today, and this is not the place to tide against it. This is a discussion on the field of aviation, and more precisely aircraft maintenance. This is an area of study that prepares you in a highly professional, disciplined and intensive vocation. Here, application of knowledge is more significant than the mere possession of it . Examinations are a constant, and your mark being 10 or even 20 percentile higher than your colleagues’, is no differentiator of who is more successful, at getting the job, or even keeping it.
The job itself entails several challenges. Responsibility is high; decision making skills are put to the test with safety on the one end and operational limitations on the other, in an environment that can be hostile even for the more seasoned professionals.
You respect Time, or it leaves you behind…far behind!

Retribution?

2009-07-15T07:10:00.000-07:00

No. I do not want to sound like it, and certainly not wish it on anyone – regardless of their method of study. Without sounding pedantic about an aviation regulation examination, my intention is to highlight how and why short cuts, even in increasingly competitive and difficult times, never lead to an ultimate goal. Cliché though it might be, in aviation, short cuts lead to disaster.

From both Case # 1 and Case # 2, it’s clear that Failure is an end result. But, perhaps more important, and the cause of prime concern, is that someone avidly interested & passionate about aviation can quite easily venture down this path of frustration & disgruntlement & mediocrity - “All my friends are studying from question banks! What a fool I’ll look like when they pass and I fail!!”

There is one big assumption I have made in the last post - that a person gets through all examinations and tests, right to the edge (and beyond) of being granted the privilege to certify an aircraft for flight. In the real world, such people never really get that far. In most countries there are enough built-in provisions in their licensing systems to ‘weed out’ those who are basically incompetent not only in terms of knowledge & skills, but also in terms of decision making of the magnitude explained earlier.

Yet students venture down this question-bank-study-method approach. Maybe because it tends to give a sense of a shorter, quicker, easier path to achieving and experiencing their ‘dream’ - A somewhat hazy yet distinct and undeniable picture of standing by, watching their aircraft slide silently off the runway into the sky.
Unfortunately, it is a sad ending to a Dream, a Passion, a Drive that brought them out to AME school every morning all perked up and bushy tailed.

Retribution? I think not, again. A drive to churn out better, happier and more successful careers whilst making our skies safer? Just about right!

Case # 2 - Question Bank Study - Pass (-age to Failure)!

2009-07-01T04:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, at the opposite end of the spectrum (and as mentioned in my previous post), say you answer quite a few questions correctly; enough to pass the exam. When the results emerge, you absolutely erupt! I know, I did!!

Let’s not take into account here how many attempts it took you to get past that illusive Paper I – Regulations. We’re only considering here that you studied primarily from previous exam Questions (Question banks), and on D-Day, came up triumphs.
Obviously, this method of study now becomes your mantra for all other exams you appear in toward the path of becoming an AME. You may even be successful, even wildly so, using this method, to conquer all-and-behold! – Paper 2, Paper 3, & Paper 4 (Type/Specific).
Well, what next? You’ve been flattered to deceive…yourself!

The day arrives that you have to make a go-no go decision for an airliner carrying 400 people across the Atlantic. As charismatic as that may sound, you won’t find answers to make that decision in any book, or manual, or a single ‘support device’. Suddenly, you will find yourself at the centre of making the mother of all decisions you’ve ever made in your life. And everyone around you (the wide eyed technicians and juniors, the hand-on-hip pilot, the clock watching management executive…), will be looking straight at you! And then there will be those, “Now, Wait …wait…let’s just see how he reacts!”, “Will he? Won’t he?”
I think I can guess what will be going through your mind, “Now What?!” If you ever find yourself in that position, here are my two words of encouragement for you, in advance, “Good Luck!”

Case # 1 - Question Bank Study - Failure

2009-06-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Say you prepared hard from your Question Banks but you had that one bad day on the day of the exam. Nothing went to plan.
After you’re done analyzing why you didn’t pass, maybe by the narrowest of margins, you get back to your ‘routine’…which one?...the one about preparing from question banks! Why? Let’s look at the possible thoughts in your mind right now.

“well, maybe I forgot a couple of correct answers to certain questions…”
“Maybe the examiner mixed up some of the options and wordings, so I’m going to be ready for that next time around!”
“I’ve come too far already now to go back and pound through leaflets and leaflets of jargon!”
You force yourself to pick up your regulations book once again, go through a few pages of that ‘jargon’ and – “Ah, I know this! This is that question…the answer to this is that…I know it all!”
“I think I need more questions. There are probably some questions I’ve not covered…let me buy that other question bank by that other author. More questions…more…more…collect more…collect…collect !”
And now that you’ve got a whole lot more questions, “Now we’ll see who’s smarter!”

In all likelihood, you’ll follow the question bank approach until you pass…finally! The thing about it is that you’ll have passed an exam, without much clue about the subject matter.
“Who cares?!”

Well, let’s see how this has actually brought you closer to failure, than success, to your goal of becoming an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer at a major airline.

Let's put this in perspective

2009-06-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

With regards to taking ‘assistance’ from question banks for exam preparation, I’ve been there too. However, it has, as it should be, been associated with getting mentally attuned to an upcoming examination. It’s important to get the brain ready for an exam in the format it’s to be taken. One example of this is how sportsmen (any sport, from athletics, to tennis, to swimming, etc.) get themselves ready, even psyched up, before an important event.
So, using question banks is a great way to get into the ‘exam-mindset’. However, making it a core for your exam preparation is preparing for failure!

Lets draw an analogy with sports. Any training coach will always have his/her player/athlete go through rigorous physical training and development programs run to a likely tight schedule, before even picking up say a racquet to strike a tennis ball. Why? When an athlete goes into an important event, just prior to the start, the adrenalin starts to pump; in anticipation of ‘the big moment’. No matter how much practice you’ve put in, no matter how many hours of training, nothing can simulate the experience just prior to what can easily be labeled a ‘make-or-break’ event. If your body is not prepared adequately through rigorous physical training routines, the surge of adrenalin, before and during the event, can quite easily result in a disastrous and potentially very painful injury; ruling you out for weeks maybe months. The strain put on the muscles and tissues by powerful and sudden surges of adrenalin, is tremendous; and has led to tragedy on the sports field on various occasions.

So, what’s the comparison with writing the CAR exam? You’re not seriously implying I’ll have a heart failure when I see the exam paper?
No. maybe not. But maybe I can guide you closer to an answer by asking you if you’ve ever had the experience of sitting in an exam hall for an important exam, with maybe a hundred others (or alone, which is scarier by the way!) around you, and staring alternatively between the question in your exam paper and the mosaic/marble tiling/carpeted flooring just above and beyond your question paper? You have no idea whatsoever, about the topic the question is about let alone the answer to it! Blank! “what do I do now?”?? Now that, is the effect of your emotional brain. Powerful? Oh yes!
So, you can read, learn, mug all the questions and answers in those question banks. When you get the exam paper in front of your eyes, you will likely have difficulty recognizing the question (which you will realize later, was taken out directly from the question bank you were reading that same morning!), let alone having doubts about the correct answer to it!
That is through my own personal experience and the experience of many others I’ve spoken to through the years. And that is why, preparing ONLY from q banks, is preparing yourself, for failure!

Today's Students

2009-06-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

Since a while I’ve been struggling a bit regards the direction this blog should take. Most AME Students I’ve talked to realize the importance of Air Regulations to Aircraft Maintenance, and making that perception core to their exam prep. However, going by their opinions it is not entirely an ‘effective’ way of getting through the exams.
There are other concerns with respect to passing these exams as well, about which, beyond mention, I am not getting into greater depth. These include rigging of exam results, corruption, incorrect markings etc.
The most reliable method, apparently, of getting through then is based on collecting questions from students appearing in these exams. The physical papers are not a take-away item, from the exam hall, (un)fortunately! So, questions from recent exams, question banks as their usually referred to. This does seem to be the ‘tried-and-tested’ method; as I’m guessing for most competitive exams.

“We go over the questions and their answers, again and again, until the question itself sits in our mind!” says one student about to appear in the July 2009 session. “Our seniors have passed it the same way. So will we.” “Do you have a somewhat clear idea of the subject matter associated with the question?” my question seems to draw a couple of sniggers. “Who Cares!”, “Passing, the exam, getting our license is what matters. Once we get a job in an airline, all these regulations come automatically”

This is ground reality. My reaction will need some reflecting. But your comments are welcome, particularly if you happen to be part of a community that travels by air frequently!

Step # 2 : Break down the C.A.R language!

2008-09-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

I have covered this topic in greater depth in previous posts namely: DGCA and the English Language Part 1 and Part 2.

Briefly put, the idea is to simplify things for yourself. The DGCA has their own reasons to put language in the C.A.R in the way they do. Probably it’s something to do with it’s legal nature and probably ALL legal documents and legal notices are worded that way. However for you to write an exam you just HAVE to break that language up into simpler, meaningful and less complicated…. I will include more example of how you can ‘decipher’ the language in further posts.
The importance of this particular step cannot be overemphasized for it’s importance. There are lots of arguments (mostly in the study groups I talked about earlier) that do the rounds in classrooms on one particular perspective here and another one there. The bottomline with the C.A.R is, there is only one perspective; that of the DGCA! Understanding this perspective takes time and experience. But breaking up the language atleast makes the language easier; and that is where you can begin with making notes.
CAUTION: Most people are somehow of the opinion that breaking up sentences and paragraphs is usually to make learning them easier. Not here.
This step is meant to derive a summary/notes out of. That actually takes us to step 3 which follows soon. Re-iterating then, to break down the C.A.R language is Not to learn, not to memorize

Study Groups

2008-09-11T23:51:00.001-07:00

Another very effective way of ‘troubleshooting’ your C.A.R doubts is to make study groups. It works more often than you’d like to believe! There are problems with study groups and we will cover that in time, however, if you keep the groups goal consistent and the discussion relevant, study groups help more than even self study!

Step # 1

2008-09-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

So the first step should be to have a clear Understanding of the C.A.R part vis-à-vis the Series.
Yes, you do need guidance with understanding and that is where your AME school C.A.R instructor comes in. If there are certain aspects of the C.A.R you don’t understand during the course of normal lectures ASK questions! (we always did!)
In the highly regrettable circumstance that you feel shy, or feel you’ll make an idiot of yourself, contact the instructor in his/her spare time and am sure they would atleast make an attempt to iron out your doubts.
If you’re still not able to get to grasp with it, you’re free to ask questions on this blog(via the comments link) and I would try my best to help you out.

How to really study the CAR

2008-09-07T03:43:00.000-07:00

The C.A.R is not your ordinary 12th grade text book with a chapter, followed by a summary and notes on the chapter, and finally questions. This fact in itself makes the C.A.R a very difficult thing to really study for an examination. A good first thought to overcome this is to create your own summary of every part and pick out questions on it. However, given the nature of aviation law, it is first appropriate to understand the content of the C.A.R part you’re covering. Without doing that not only is it quite difficult to make notes, but also one that makes for a very dry activity!

What we’re going to do is put down some steps on how you can really go about studying the C.A.R.
We’ll include tips and even examples from the sister blog Aircraft Maintenance Special, wherever possible, and in the course of time if I do come up with any additional tips to these steps, I’ll continue to make these additions as ‘comments’ to the primary post.

The Objective …re-visited!

2008-09-05T04:53:00.000-07:00

Running parallel blogs associated with aircraft maintenance is admittedly not an easy task! To differentiate between the two, is not quite my intention here though. It is important to review just what we’re planning with this blog, in light of the new parallel blog, Aircraft maintenance Special.

The CAR conundrum is about making a great start in the aviation maintenance Industry. Paper I – C.A.R Section 2 Airworthiness is your first interface with the art of writing exams. Why do we need to learn this art? Put it simply, you will be writing them all the time in the aviation industry…all the time! Whether it’s basic papers (papers I, II and III – more on the AM special), or the Specific Aircraft or Engine type papers. You’ll have to be at it all the time. Let's face it, the aviation industry is at the leading edge of innovation and technology, it has all the ingredients of a very exciting career. However, as new technologies make their way into your hangar, you're going to have to adapt to it...and learn, and....write exams! Certifying an aircraft that's going to carry sometimes an odd 400 passengers, does not leave room to 'learn from mistakes'.

Irrespective, the start is important and making a good start with is what The Car Conundrum is all about.

Hope that clears things up.

Aircraft Maintenance Special

2008-09-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

After some research and theorizing, I decided to start a parallel blog that deals with many issues associated with the Aircraft Maintenance Industry, but those that fall outside the domain of The CAR Conundrum.
The blog is called Aircraft Maintenance Special, and you may check it out for matters that are more general in nature, in the context of this blog. Aircraft Maintenance Special will deal with far broader domains than just the C.A.R. It will include discussions on Airframe and powerplant maintenance, new technologies that are in the pipeline or already existent.
The textbooks on Aircraft maintenance are being re-written ever so often. And the reason behind that is the evolution of aircraft maintenance, driven by economics and the environment. We can no longer have in the cockpit items that are “good-to-know”. What we have now is what “we NEED to know”…just that…no unnecessary items…no clutter. It calls for simpler presentation, simpler components, and proportionately simpler maintenance tasks. But, there are stumbling blocks here too! Read more at the AM special blog!

[SPECIAL NOTE: Leave memorizing for the exams...only!]

2008-08-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

While on the subject of committing to memory, a very important point comes to mind.
One may be inclined to believe that memorizing will also help us immensely when we become AME’s. Not really. As AME’s, you will be encouraged to REFER constantly to the C.A.R before you take actions in the field. I will be doing disservice to you and the industry if I recommend you to use memory in your actions while in the field as an AME. Ask yourself, would you trade the lives of several people in the aircraft you’re about to sign out, with your memory?? I wouldn’t! No! Lives are important to protect just as is my job! Bottomline, never use memory while executing actions on aircrafts. Always refer refer refer ….
Here is a industry voice on the same topic:“My personal advice though would be, if you need to memorize certain things by all means go ahead. However, do not ACT in the field based on that memory! ALWAYS refer the latest copy of the C.A.R before you perform any actions associated with maintenance/inspection of the aircraft. If certain other documents need to be referred such as the maintenance system manual or Quality Control manual etc. refer those too. This cannot be overemphasized enough. There are those who perform ‘straight forward’ activities on an A/c and get into serious trouble in the chance of an incident/accident taking place.”

The Key….Explained!

2008-08-28T04:35:00.000-07:00

It might occur to you why we make such a great deal of noise about coming-to-terms-with the C.A.R. Look, let’s face it. You, the first year AME student in a DGCA approved AME training school is quite simply put, a newcomer to the vast and complicated world of aviation. It takes some time and doing within this industry to understand that the suggested vastness and complication of it has a lot to do with the drive to make air travel safe, what in aviation jargon we call Air Safety. No other mode of travel is given so much time and attention in terms of Safety, as in Aviation. Maybe that’s why statistics show that far greater road and rail accidents each year account for lives lost while traveling between cities. To a large extent it is true that air travel in our country also accounts for a very small population of people. However, that is digressing from the point that, Air Safety and all the contributing factors are given a lot of importance compared to other modes of travel. Considering this fact, the regulations governing Air Safety are also made out to be correspondingly vast, all-encompassing, and hence, complicated. What we need to do to master the regulations, is disconnect ourselves from all these facts surrounding the need for regulations to be made so complicated. Just forget for a moment that for us AME’s Air Safety is all-important; and the world starts with it, and ends with it! Lets just forget that and focus on the regulations themselves instead. For simplicity, we could use another term for ‘regulations’. I prefer ‘guidelines’; guidelines for making airworthiness happen. What we’re trying to do then is simplifying an overly complicated set of guidelines into something that’s not just easier to understand (and don’t forget, execute… when you do become AME’s!), but also something that can be committed to memory for exams purposes.That said, the memory requirement is limited only to exams! Unfortunately, not many of us have great memory! I don’t, and though it was not the only reason for failing C.A.R three successive times, it did have a significant role to play in the fourth attempt, which I did pass! Nevertheless, for those with not such great memory, or those who don’t like the idea of having to MUG, there are other ways to remember key points and still be able to get through with the exam. One of those is to convert the language in the C.A.R to a form of communication. Or, in a way that the written media actually talks! In the sentence taken from the C.A.R in my previous topic, my version of it is made out in a way that it actually conveys something, rather than simply stating it. Read it again if you have to. Anything that communicates to you, even via written media, is far easier to commit to memory and recall effectively, as during exams.

The Key!

2008-08-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

In effect, what appeared to be a somewhat complicated statement, was transformed into simple and easy to come-to-terms-with written communication.
That is therefore the key to better understanding the C.A.R.

Break it up into smaller shorter sentences that make ‘sense’ and transform it from written statements, to written 'communication'.

DGCA and the English Language!...Part 2

2008-08-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, let’s take this example for the reader who still insists that the C.A.R is a death penalty of sorts.
This is an extract from C.A.R Section2- Airworthiness- Series ‘A’ Part IV. The subject of this Part is : Airworthiness Regulation and Safety Oversight of Engineering Activities of Operators. Let’s take a really long sentence. We don’t have to go far! Look under the Objective, first paragraph, that is 1.1, starting mid paragraph:
“The Safety oversight airworthiness program is aimed to detect the weaknesses in the engineering activities of the operators, maintenance and other related organizations so that necessary corrective measures can be taken in time before they become a potential safety hazard and that the capability of the organization to exercise airworthiness control be maintained at or above the level required by the regulations.”
Regards the contents, that was one sentence of nothing but repetition and jargon!
Phew! Midway through that my mind was almost screaming at me “Stop! Please!!” And that is after having passed the exam almost a decade ago.
A few amongst us will have absolutely no problem in identifying what is being said in that sentence. Not unusual though, a lot of us will have to read it and re-read it over and over again a few times to try and understand firstly what it means, and then, in what context!

Let’s try and decipher this sentence and see if we can make it any easier for ourselves to grasp. I’d write this whole sentence of jargon in 2-3 sentences and make much greater sense of it, as follows:
“The aim is to detect the weaknesses in the engineering activities of the operators, maintenance and other related organizations. This will validate necessary corrective measures to be taken in time before they become a potential safety hazard. It will also ensure the organization maintains airworthiness control at or above the level required by the regulations.”

Now that is 3 sentences, and it still not as lengthy! Most importantly, it has greater clarity, without taking out the relevance, the emphasis, or the urgency of the terms used.
Still like to argue that the C.A.R is a river full of crocodiles waiting to gobble you up?!

DGCA and the English Language!...Part 1

2008-08-18T17:56:00.001-07:00

Just what is it with DGCA and the English Language?!
Or maybe it’s to with Regulations, or law, and long-winded sentences! Why can’t they simply write the same thing in short-sweet sentences that, most definitely, will not take up any more additional lines (and subsequently sheets) on paper, than create bewilderment of the tallest nature to the poor soul reading it !
If you’ve read the C.A.R, and the statement I’ve just written (above), you’re likely to draw a comparison blindfolded!
That’s exactly how the C.A.R is…long, and seemingly complicated! There-in lies the source of the greatest intimidation or fear that the C.A.R creates in all those who have to read it and worse still, write an exam based on it.
We are simple aviation mechanics, most of us brand new to this thing they call “Aviation” who’ve passed they’re 10+2 and gotten here with the hope that it’ll take them to their career of liking, without anymore nasty derivations/calculations/formulae etc of BSc./BCom, that require plain mugging! Where on Earth did this C.A.R pop it’s ugly head from?! Nobody told us we’re going to require to learn law when we signed up for the course! We didn’t sign up to become part lawyers! We want to be AME’S! Do you here that?!!
That pretty much sums up how I felt those days and can’t help but still feel that way sometimes.

The bottomline is, the C.A.R Appears complicated. Truth is quite the opposite!

The Problem with the ‘Only Question-Answer’ based Approach.

2008-08-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

Without exception, every topic you read must be followed up by questions. This is important to ascertain your understanding of the topic and remember key points from it from an exam perspective. There is another band of thinking that encourages reading the questions (Only) FIRST, before even reading the topic. This too is a very good way of understanding what you’re about to read in this particular topic/Series/Part. Whichever one you select is quite up to you. Both have the effect of providing increased clarity on the subject and getting rid of the clutter, or what I call ‘the fillers’! There is however, a very strong urge with the latter method (reading questions first off), to read the questions, find their answers, and move on!
Quite often what I’ve noticed people doing, and regrettably something which I’ve practiced myself without much luck, is that they rush to the section on questions, read, and try answering the questions by ‘cross-checking’ from the Series/Part! The actual matter in the Series/Part is forgotten about altogether! This is more often than not a result of ‘less time’ for preparation, the ‘huge syllabus’, and an imposing, almost desperate need, to pass the exams. IT DOES NOT HAPPEN! Simple as that.
The reason for the questions to be provided is as mentioned above. Trying out shortcuts leads to the LONGEST way around! Making the correct use of questions is important. I agree it is very tempting to read just the question and answers and make matters easier for yourself rather than read the entire C.A.R. but there ARE no shortcuts.

The real problem for a person reading only questions and answers for an exam is something he/she realizes only after a few failed sittings. That is, the DGCA twists and turns the questions in the exams to an extent that is frustrating to even those best prepared for it! You can read the question and re-read it and even memorize it. But come next sitting, you will find an entirely new way in which they’ve presented the question! It almost seems as though they, have nothing better to do!

The choice is your then. It is my personal belief that if you make incorrect use of questions/question banks, you are taking a risk. The consequences of that risk are solely yours to bear.

Example Based Learning.

2008-08-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

Before we get onto tips to go through the C.A.R, I just want to highlight the importance of Example Based Learning.
Examples always bring to light the relevance of a particular topic being studied.
The other reason I prefer to take an Example Based Approach to Learning is the association with the topic, helps remember key aspects of the topic without outright memorizing.

Now what examples are we talking about here?
Some of these are examples that you will gather from your AME training classes (if your instructor is the type we had!). There is a wealth of experiential knowledge to be gained from industry/trade magazines and students are encouraged to get copies of these and read (and grasp!), as much as you possibly can. A lot of what you read will be applicable to your C.A.R lessons. Just read with an eye to pick up such examples.
As we get along, I will try and share some examples from my own AME training days and
others that I have acquired over the course of time and my little experience in aviation. And, if there are any AME’s out there who would like to bring their experience to the fore, please feel free!

Summary

2008-08-08T16:49:00.001-07:00

First Days
We’re in now! There’s no turning back! Amongst other things, learning there’s no Highway in the sky!

Now then the C.A.R
The importance of the C.A.R to an AME.

Exams…exams…exams
They don’t always go like you’d planned!
Whatever you do, do not take the DGCA’s language proficiency seriously when writing an exam(only)!

The ‘bald’ (f)act!
How and why the C.A.R has the potential to become a ‘theoretical’ nightmare for some.

An Animal ?
Not really. ASK questions whenever in doubt….ANY kind of doubt(provided it’s got some degree of relevance to the Part/Series being covered).

Of Much Use ?
Not just a mugfest! Understand the meaning behind all that ‘paperwork’!

How the dreaded C.A.R was overcome…!
Why it’s so important to pass your C.A.R exam early in your innings.
YOUR first interface…make it a good one!

So, what is ‘The CAR Conundrum’ all about…
We’re just about ready…!

So, what is ‘The CAR Conundrum’ all about…

2008-08-04T11:18:00.000-07:00

By now the reader would be aware that yours truly was more of an average student, who struggled with the C.A.R, and with a bit of luck did manage to conquer it with sufficient élan to be able to tell you about it!...albeit a lot many years later than I would have preferred to.
The reason I put this all out for you to read is from the understanding that there are a lot of others out there with not much different a perspective of the C.A.R as I had…that is, until the day I was declared passed!
We had all the tools at our behest in our days of preparing for the C.A.R exams, including question banks, advisory circulars, even relevant NOTAMS (Notices to Airmen), and some really good lecturers. What I sorely missed was really a method of going through the preparation for an exam as unique as the C.A.R. It’s everything you need to know as an AME, yet it is thrust at you right when you’re still building a foundation of your AME training! Somewhat lopsided, as is the education system in our country, however, lets find a way around this rather than complain shall we!

The CAR Conundrum will not give you tailor-made solutions. It will try and remove that glaze of confusion and intimidation that the Civil Aviation Regulations creates; and, try and show you that it really isn’t all that difficult. Along the way we’ll add a few tips that will help you with your preparation for the C.A.R exam.
Remember, this is your first interface with the D.G.C.A. Passing or failing is not as vital as your attitude towards it. Keep it positive, the results will become a mere spectator!

How the dreaded C.A.R was overcome…!

2008-08-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

It was a combination of making notes, summarizing rather than expanding, selective memorizing, followed by question banks.

Making notes is something everybody can do with most topics. With the C.A.R, you have to be careful. Adding/removing one word can very easily change the whole context of what is mentioned. It is law, after-all!

Now Why is it so important to pass the C.A.R exam in the first few attempts?
As already mentioned, the C.A.R exam is not just the first exam you write, it’s also YOUR first interface with the D.G.C.A.
No matter who your boss is, in no matter how high profile a company, the D.G.C.A will always remain the authority you are responsible to as licensed AME in India. Now it is not my intent to get into the governing powers or prowess (!) of the D.G.C.A here. All I will say is that, in this first interface with the D.G.C.A, it is in your hands whether you make it a positive or negative experience for yourself. Believe me, if you’re in aviation for the long-haul, it will matter!
Secondly, passing the C.A.R, or for that matter any exam, in the first few attempts, is always a GREAT feeling! ‘Well begun is half done’…heard that? That cliché sure holds good here! Not only is it the fist in a series of exams you’ll be sitting in your goal to becoming an AME, it is also your first few steps in your career in Aviation. A good beginning makes all the difference.

Now a domino effect of not passing the C.A.R quickly (in the first few attempts) is that every now and then the D.G.C.A comes up with amendments to Parts or even whole Series at times. It’s all to do with changing times, changing demands of the aviation sector, improvements to air safety, etc. Though this is in the interest of Air Safety and making sure Indian Air Regulations are at par with other countries vis-à-vis the ICAO, how does it affect you the student, preparing to write the examination? On first glance, it ‘adds-on’ to what you have to know/study and makes it more voluminous. What it also does sometimes is it requires you to ‘un-learn’ and ‘re-learn’ a certain paragraph of a Part, or even the whole Part! This does create a whole plethora of problems. If you ask why? For a person studying the C.A.R, the various Series and Parts are very much like a ‘sequence-of-events’….break/add/modify any one, and the whole thing needs to be re-understood in the new context! If you’ve been halfway through the C.A.R, you’ll know what I mean by that!

Of Much Use?

2008-07-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

Now this is something I’ve heard a lot of students talk about. “There’s no use of the C.A.R!” or a slightly more debatable one, “Where in the field, while you’re working on an aircraft in heat/cold/rain with passengers waiting to board, and your boss breathing down your neck, will you go looking for the C.A.R?!... and some other times like, “C.A.R is all paperwork!”

In my first ‘meeting’ with the C.A.R, on several occasions, I struggled to understand it’s relevance. For example, Just what does a Type Certificate have to do with airworthiness, and where does the Certificate of Airworthiness fit into the jigsaw; or, just what is ‘dry’ lease and how does it differ from ‘wet’ lease…and why on earth do I, training to be an AME, have to know these things?!”
It was a bitter struggle for me in the months leading up to the first few examination attempts. “Should I try and understand it first and make notes to remember? Should I just read the question banks? Should I simply MUG para-by-para?! What should I do?”

To me, just the fact that I was in a professional Aircraft Maintenance stream was such an inspiration, something in there just refused to want to memorize like college subjects! Besides, and to tell you the truth, the sheer volume of the C.A.R was intimidating enough! You have to remember here, as already mentioned, in our days we had objective AND essay type questions. The essay type questions did require a whole lot of memorizing. But memorizing without understanding things like the sheer relevance of certain Parts or even Series, isn’t easy for some people. It wasn’t for me.

So, how did I get through this potentially hazardous obstacle?

An Animal?!...Ask Questions.

2008-07-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

An Animal ?
Going over the last few notes I’ve made, I’m inclined to think, there’s a lot more to C.A.R than just the dreaded ‘law’ thing…which past and present students and teachers alike will tell, needs to be ‘memorized’. Every exam you write requires certain if not large amounts of memorizing. However, if you just care to stop, look and understand the C.A.R and read every series and every part through real life examples, this animal (as it may seem), isn’t all that bad you know!

In our time, going back to the days we had classes with Mr. Nair, we were lucky that Mr. Nair had a vast amount of experience to draw on every time we had difficulty in understanding something. So, he’d bring to fore his experiences and that of his colleagues and go to great lengths to explain things to us. Not every AME school can boast of instructors not just vastly experienced, but also WILLING to go to great lengths to actually explain the the C.A.R!
That said, it was not until YOU asked the questions..!- If all you do is sit and watch and wonder, ANY teacher would find it hard to know exactly what it is that is going on in your mind! And so we found that happen all too often in our class too. The first few days is always like, “Oh! If I ask this question, will it be appropriate? What would the guys sitting in front/behind/beside me think? let it be, just sit tight! And hope and pray he doesn’t ask you a question!” In all candor, I have nothing but regret in admitting to this form of thought. And we realized it soon enough. A friend Ashwin Kolhatkar and I used to sit together in those CAR lessons. While we were still sitting in utter bewilderment about ‘A’ particular topic, Mr. Nair had already moved on to the next Series/Part. Not his fault! Nobody had any questions!! In a matter of days we were rushing through the dreaded CAR at breakneck speed and it all seemed to be going over! Anyhow, we soon started tugging at his pace…with ‘doubts’…sometimes funny and irrelevant, but that’s how we realized, no matter how stupid your question is, if you don’t ask, you shall never find out….oh yes you might find out, but the circumstances will most certainly not be to your choice, and in most cases not to your liking either!
So, the bottomline is, if you’ve got a question today, ASK!
And that is the whole point of the CAR, it’s about reading it, understanding it, learning some things, and then questioning or testing yourself. Mr. Nair was huge help here too. He had an endless list of questions that he’d collected over the years from students who sat the exam. Here again there’s a problem. Now, I haven’t written a lot many exams dealing with ‘the Babus’, but atleast the DGCA takes back the question papers after the exam. So, it’s all upto memory for students to sit down straight after the exam and write out as many questions that came to mind. But, believe me, those question banks, they really prepare you well. Having said that, breaking the sequence of things and going through questions without having read and understood the CAR, is in one word, madness! I know, I’ve tried it!

The ‘Bald’ (f)act!

2008-07-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

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!

Exams...Exams....Exams....!

2008-07-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Exams…exams….exams
Now, this wonderful topic called the C.A.R (wonderful only in hindsight mind you!), happens to be the topic of the very first examination that the D.G.C.A puts you through in your quest to becoming an AME. Though a student does not appear in this examination before the best part of a year (a year and half in our times!) after the beginning of the training curriculum at an AME institute, It is not a happy first… that is a surety.

Today, after long prolonging the al-so-mighty DGCA has removed the Subjective style or the Essay type questions….and I still hear some students sitting this exam, whining!

Oh! you should have seen those essay type questions!! As I found out through three failed attempts to pass this exam, you think you’ve figured out exactly what a question has asked …in English ofcourse! And so you write…and write…and feel real good, “Ah, I know my stuff!”…Bam in the middle of it all you happen to glance at the question again, and then you start to wonder, all and sundry, in slow motion, “Is this… Really… the… answer to this question! “Oh.My.God!” and then it went something like this “Quick, get another supplement!…quick, what’s the time!...run…run…run…oh for everything’s sake what did Series D part II deal with??!”...and then you have second thoughts…until, frozen with panic, all you end up doing is stare at your wrist and watch the clock tick away! “I’m a gonner!” You get used to that…by that I mean, sitting in the middle of a hot, dingy, hangar, on a rickety wooden chair with an even more shaky table with everyone around you huffing and puffing in no different a condition!
And then there are the times when you write exams and you feel, “oh yeah, this time I think I’ll get through”…until Bam come the results!
In the days of before October 1998, the DGCA even refrained from letting you know your score. So all it read was a ‘Pass’ or a dreaded ‘fail’. Well, after seeing the latter all too often you kind of get used to it! Failure is just another part of the whole CAR conundrum.
And honestly coming to terms with that, helps… that, and learning not to take the DGCA’s exam language proficiency too seriously!

Now then, the C.A.R.

2008-07-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

Eventually, we understood the C.A.R, in the context of AME’s, to be Civil Aviation Requirements – Section 2 Airworthiness…! Huh?1 Where did Section 1 get to?? Well, our civil aviation rules are a bit like that…a puzzle...and with the outright potential of intimidating the best of professionals on first reading!
Personally, I didn’t realize that the Civil Aviation Requirements had 8 sections until the DGCA had all the CAR’s loaded on their official website. Till date, the search function on that website is what it’s always been….defunct!
So it dawned on us, like everything else did after the first few days at AME school, that C.A.R was like a bible for the AME. That it was to be given no less reverence than our very own jobs! It also dawned on us that when you ink your name on a document associated with the airworthiness of the aircraft or any of it’s components under your area of authorization, you automatically declare that the job has been done as per the C.A.R, and, if found in contravention of it thereafter, would lead to suspension or even cancellation of your license…if you were lucky! No doubt, that would mean you go home and confess, “Honey, I lost my job!”
However, On the other hand, if all goes well & you’ve done your job per the rules, you get to go home, keep your job, and in all likelihood, sleep in piece! Until the next time, that is…! So, that’s how the importance of the CAR was embossed into our very DNA!

First Days

2008-07-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

“ Aiiye bhaisaab…do ka dus….do ka dus…dekhiye…sirf dus me do…!” the guy was getting in my way even as I tried to dodge amongst a sea of people in the evening rush hour! “What nonsense!” I hissed under my breath… “Arre Jaane do bhaai” ….The guy becomes arrogant now – “Hahn jao na!”

What A Day! It’s the 17th of July 1996, on the footpath outside the VT station (Oh, that’s CST Railway station for the new generation) and I am on my way to Sterling Book House …after attending a long day at The Bombay Flying Club. Rendezvous? To Buy The CAR. Now, there was lots of students at the institute that insisted on getting photocopies from the senior students and buying/borrowing the amendments…not me! “I am an approved student of an Approved AME Institute…oh yeah! and I must have my own brand new copy of it”…I admit, I was a bit of a stuck up! Against popular belief, it does help….sometimes…!
Well, I knew the CAR was a large hard cover file like thing…but I never knew it would be so large that it would refuse to fit in my backpack until it was stretched out to all corners! And so there I was…the center of all annoyance as I clambered into a crowded train with the bag knocking people each time I attempted to turn or move. That was how the C.A.R came to me….grand!
It wasn’t until I opened the sacred file and attempted to make some sense of it that I realized that the poor backpack wasn’t the only one that would require accommodating this large ‘thing’…!

The next day, our C.A.R teacher Mr. V.N.C Nair, retired Air India engineer (and a highly inspiring person to be around, as I found out all through my years of association with B.F.C), took us through the CAR – “What is C…A…R…?”… Suddenly it strikes me“O mi gosh! what is it?!”… Some students chorused “Civil Aviation Requirements”…some others said- “No, It’s Civil Airworthiness Requirements”…….Mr. Nair looms along the two groups of benches, a silent smile wide across his face, just nodding and observing everyone of us… every now and then stopping by a bench and nodding at a person to get his/her opinion of “What is C…A…R…?”….. the agony called C.A.R had begun..!

Well C.A.R for the layman is like LAW…civil air law. It lays down the guidelines under which we AME’s are expected to maintain commercial aircraft. An AME is entrusted with the responsibility of certifying an Aircraft including Aircraft components and items of equipment on an aircraft as airworthy; or, fit-for-flight. Safety is paramount, however, the AME task’s also have to be completed in as short a time interval as possible for the Aircraft to do what it was made to do – Fly!
An AME’s job is one of great responsibility, in many ways greater than a Pilot’s. The pilot too is dependant on you …after all “There’s no Highway in the sky.” In the days to come, we would be told this very same thing, in different phrases and with different forms of emphasis and… exaggeration as well! But, this was drilled into us all, right at the inception, all to well. There is more than one person I know that works on those guidelines till date, and it serves him/her well.