What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

King A & P course

RV7Guy

Well Known Member
Anyone out there use this course to prep for the A & P exams?

Part 2, anyone one the programs you'd like to part with.
 
No experience with King but I ordered the three ASA books with the Big Year stamped on the cover. All three through amazon was less than $60 and they have more than prepared me to pass the tests. I used the FAA books to look up stuff I didn't understand but the ASA books also give a description of why the answer is correct. My biggest hurdle was getting the FAA to sign my 8610-2. If you haven't done that yet, best of luck with it.

Nick
 
Absolute garbage. I sent the king junk back for a refund. It has not been updated since the wright brothers were building. Get the online gleim course and knock out the writtens in a few weeks. Then call baker school near nashville and do their 3 day oral and practical prep course. Guaranteed pass or they will retrain you for free for ul to a year.
 
I used it last year and found that the questions matched the questions in the actual test pool exactly - in other words, I didn't see any questions on the written that weren't in the King course. This is just using it for test prep - not actual learning, since I already had forty years of working on flying machines. There were a couple of topics that were new - fire suppression systems on turbine aircraft, for instance - and I learned those well enough to pass the tests with high scores.

It's pretty apparent that the King's don't really know the material themselves (at least not very well), and it is fun to watch their hair and waist lines change drastically from one topic to the next....but if going through all of the test questions is how you prepare for written tests, they worked fine.

I don't think it does much good to pass them on, becasue they get online registered by serial number, and I think most of the functionality of the test prep questions goes away.

That's my experience - you probably already know how FAA test prep works best for you.

Paul
 
Last edited:
I used checkride dot com for the written. It's just the question bank, but it's pretty good. The questions all have explanations, and for the ones that didn't immediately make sense a plethora of info was only a quick google search away. Don't bother trying to memorize the questions/answers, just use it to bone up on the subject matter. I spent a few weeks going through all the questions and took my tests, all 3 in one shot. That was a $450 morning! (Yes, they ding you $150 for each test.)

After going through this the oral was a breeze. The written has all kinds of stuff about vapor cycle air conditioners and such, but my oral stuck pretty much to GA. Where he had to go into the big iron stuff the written prep had me plenty prepared.

If you've built an RV, the practical will be pretty straightforward as well. The FAA wants you doing things by the book, which means for everything on the test they give you all the manuals and instructions that you need. The prep courses are nice for guys coming out of the military who've never timed a mag, but may be a bit redundant for people who weren't so specialized. I cannot emphasize enough using the manuals. As homebuilt guys we know our aircraft and don't have the luxury of a factory mx manual. As such we've become very comfortable working without one. That won't fly. Even if you know what you doing have the book out, reference it, and make sure the examiner knows you are.

As Nick said, if you haven't gotten your 8610 yet, do that first. They will do them, but they don't hand them out like candy. When I got mine the FSDO was very helpful, and walked me through the process. But even at that I still had to submit a couple letters, work resume, phone meetings, and an in person meeting. On top of that they called around and asked mutual acquaintances about me.

DEM
 
I got mine from a Kings school, but NOT John and Martha King. It was in Tennessee maybe 25 years or so ago, maybe it changed to the Baker school. Guaranteed to pass was attractive.
We went over each of the FAA written questions, WITH ONLY THE CORRECT ANSWER SHOWING, several times! I think I maxed it because that right answer jumped out at you like it was written in red when I finally took the test.. They followed up with an oral and practical at a nearby airport. I highly recommend such a method, there is no way one person could ever experience all the areas needed.
 
A&P test prep

The Gleim practice test worked really well. Get at least three 90s in a row on all the subject areas there and you will score well on all the FAA tests. For the O&P use the Jeppensen study guides for all three areas. They keep their guides up to date with the current question pool and the answers are exact.

The oral questions are assigned by the FAA when the DME requests them for your application. The practical is assigned by the DME usually based on the experience of the applicant.

Tyler
A&P studying for my IA
 
The oral questions are assigned by the FAA when the DME requests them for your application. The practical is assigned by the DME usually based on the experience of the applicant.

Tyler
A&P studying for my IA

Actually, I was told (by my test prep school and the DME) that the FAA also assigns which practical projects he has to give you, teh same way they do for the Oral. In other words, the DME has no leeway in what you get - they?re really just proctoring the exam questions assigned by OKC.
 
This is a timely question indeed. I worked with the Nashville FSDO to get my application signed, and they were very helpful and easy to deal with. I had to send build logs (I'm a digital pack rat which helps), and meet the FAA examiner for a brief interview to get the signature.

I used Gleim online for my written tests, and took all 3 at once with no problems.

For the oral and practical, I went to the 3 day Bakers school in Nashville, then used one of the DMEs they work with regularly. I seriously doubt there's an easier, less stressful way to get through the O&P. In fact, I just passed my oral and practical about 6 hours ago :)

As Paul said, the FAA assigned our questions, and practical tasks. There were 4 of us testing this morning, and I was the only one who got assigned the "demonstrate starting an aircraft engine" task. The funny thing is that I'm the only pilot of the group, so I got lucky on that one. It all went pretty quickly, and after melting some ice from the truck, I managed to escape the freezing rain just in time.

Cheers,
Rusty

PS- Thanks Paul for your earlier encouragement!
 
This is a timely question indeed. I worked with the Nashville FSDO to get my application signed, and they were very helpful and easy to deal with. I had to send build logs (I'm a digital pack rat which helps), and meet the FAA examiner for a brief interview to get the signature.

I used Gleim online for my written tests, and took all 3 at once with no problems.

For the oral and practical, I went to the 3 day Bakers school in Nashville, then used one of the DMEs they work with regularly. I seriously doubt there's an easier, less stressful way to get through the O&P. In fact, I just passed my oral and practical about 6 hours ago :)

As Paul said, the FAA assigned our questions, and practical tasks. There were 4 of us testing this morning, and I was the only one who got assigned the "demonstrate starting an aircraft engine" task. The funny thing is that I'm the only pilot of the group, so I got lucky on that one. It all went pretty quickly, and after melting some ice from the truck, I managed to escape the freezing rain just in time.

Cheers,
Rusty

PS- Thanks Paul for your earlier encouragement!

Rusty,
I am not to far from you in the Chattanooga Area! I had a quick question about the A&P (sorry to go off thread topic). Did you use your aircraft build to meet the time requirements for the A&P?

I am really wanting to get the A&P at some point, but my field of work is quite different than aviation, and I am not sure I could ever find enough time to work with a shop to have someone sign off on my hours. I have read some folks were able to use the time they spent on their build for the requirement, and was wondering if you did the same.

If so, I'd like to pick your brain on it a bit if you dont mind.
 
Rusty,
I am not to far from you in the Chattanooga Area! I had a quick question about the A&P (sorry to go off thread topic). Did you use your aircraft build to meet the time requirements for the A&P?

I am really wanting to get the A&P at some point, but my field of work is quite different than aviation, and I am not sure I could ever find enough time to work with a shop to have someone sign off on my hours. I have read some folks were able to use the time they spent on their build for the requirement, and was wondering if you did the same.

If so, I'd like to pick your brain on it a bit if you dont mind.

Hi Lynn,

My day job is quite different as well (tech support for MRI scanners). Over the years I've built 5 aircraft, so it wasn't just a single build. The following page shows some good info, and the FAA inspector also pointed out that maintaining your experimental plane counts towards the hours as well. Years ago, this was nearly impossible, but they've relaxed the rules a bit, and more FAA offices are taking homebuilders more seriously it seems.

https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/aviation.../a-and-p-license-and-amateur-built-experience

Cheers,
Rusty
 
Back
Top