LAE Written Essay Guide

WRITTEN QUESTION GUIDE

When marking a question, it must be borne in mind that the minimum experience required can be as little as 1 years maintenance of operating aircraft, therefore the knowledge required should be that which may be reasonably be expected of an engineer with this minimum experience.

The answer given may be based on a system in an aircraft that an engineer may not be familiar with and it is important in these cases that consideration is given to this before marking the question. It should be remembered that it is riot a type examination. If the system described is unusual and found only on a military aircraft the answer will not be acceptable. When explaining the inspection I testing of a system, the answer must describe the nature of the check and not just state "the system must be checked". The answer should show the candidate's ability to express himself in technical English.

The examiner will read the answer and look for "key points" comments or phrases. A mark will then entered in the right hand column of the answer sheet, dependant upon the value of the answer up to the maximum allocated for each key point.

After this exercise has been completed if required, the points deduction table can be referred to and applied. Where there is "significant error" in a key point, or if the standard of English writing or expression is below the required standard, then points may be deducted from an answer. The rationale for the deduction and the number of points allocated are to be written in "RED" pen at the bottom of the question paper.

The following table illustrates the considered reasons for deducting points. When a reduction of marks has been applied that will result in a question failure, the rationale for the deduction should be discussed and agreed with another examiner.

The minimum pass mark for each essay question is 75% and all four questions have to reach the minimum pass mark of 75% to achieve a module pass.

Points Deduction Table
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Significant Error

Improper or incorrect safety precautions 20 Improper techniques or practices 10 Dangerous techniques or practices 15 Good answer to wrong question 30

Incorrect English Unreadable writing 30 Total use of diagram 30 Extremely difficult to read or comprehend 20 Diagram used to detriment of text 15 Difficult to read or comprehend 10 Text to terse or abbreviated statements 15 Bad sentence structuring 10 Incorrect/lack of appropriate terminology 15 Excessive use bulletin points / itemisation 10 Illogical sequence of events 15

Note: This list shows the maximum number of points that may be deducted for errors or poor English. As a rough guide the percentage mark allocated should reflect the following:

below 65 Poor Many or most key points missed
65           Unacceptable Just below minimum key points
75             Acceptable Main key points
85            Good Majority of key points quoted
95             Very Good Very good key presentation
over 95     Excellent Has shown understanding of the subject to a high level

KEY POINTS
1. Plan, collect ideas and points; brainstorm
2. Select key information
3. Logical order
4. Safety first
5. Presentation clearly laid out
6. Collection, selection, order presentation
7. Express your knowledge of the subject
8. Keep it simple (KIS)
9. Spelling not vital
10. Grammar must be adequate
11. Spell out acronyms first time
12. Write headings using strong verbs and nouns
13. Sentence between 10 and 20 words
14. Write in personal style
15. Write plain English
16. Introduction and summary to the point and relevant

Debrief the pilot (What, where, when ,why, how indications actions?) Ensure that there is a Tech log entry (no fault = no fix) Check the Tech Log for recent maintenance history (repeated replacements, ADD entries... etc) Implement safety precautions (warning notices, safety men, fire extinguishers.. etc) Consult the maintenance manual Fault Diagnosis Check the Minimum Equipment List (rather than ground the aircraft you may be able to transfer the defect to the ADD log)

Rectify in accordance with the maintenance manual (you should have an attempt at diagnosing the defect and rectifying the problem) THE MAJORITY OF MARKS WILL BE AWARDED UNDER THIS HEADING

• Use only approved parts (there is a problem with bogus parts in the aircraft industry)
• Complete documentation - Log Books, Labels, Serial numbers, etc
• Duplicate inspections (on flying control systems and anything else your not sure of) Consider raising a Mandatory Occurrence Report Clear Tech Log entry

Some Questions 
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1) airframe repair
2) jar ops (subpart m)
3) hirf protection
4) hand over written
5) stress - environmental
6) obtaining jar 66
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1. you are an engineer in charge of a major structural repair describe in detail how you would breif the oncoming shift with regards to work in progress, materials etc.
2. describe the A.N.O., BCAR's, JAR's and AWN's detailing their relationships with each other and any awn's related to engineer licencing.
3. an aircraft requires replacement of a P.C.B., explain in detail how you would carry out this task.
4. H.I.R.F. has been attributed to a fault and written in the tech log of an aircraft, explain how you would inspect and what checks you would carry out to return the aircraft to service. *******************************************************