Pilot Study Guide

[cpt2times]

Hi fellow seamen! Is there a study guide in existence for the chart portion of the Pilot's exam?

[anchorman]

Hi fellow seamen! Is there a study guide in existence for the chart portion of the Pilot's exam?

Good question. I never heard of one, but the chart itself, that you have to know by memory, seems to me, the only thing you would need to know, and of course, any local knowledge of controlling depth, bridge crossings, etc.. that might be found in the Coast Pilot.
Calling the local REC might be the best bet since these tests are locally produced.

[Tugz]

A blank chart with land mass outlines should be available from your REC. You have to draw in variation, shoals, all landmarks, all nav aids for your route, etc. Rule of thumb is accuracy to the width of a dime.

Pick a point and measure everything up/down left/right from it. Make that coordinates on an x/y axis table. Commit table to memory. It is just like memorizing a really long phone number.

Soon as you get in the exam room regurgitate everything onto a piece of paper and start drawing.

Should take you a week of 6 hour days studying to memorize a relatively normal chart.

[injunear]

Hi fellow seamen! Is there a study guide in existence for the chart portion of the Pilot's exam?

Try www.riti.com. I have several friends that are now pilots and I believe this is the company they used.

[captbbrucato]

In my experience, the chartlets that were available from the REC were marginal at best, some were too small to really get the tighter spots on the chart.
If you make your own tracings ( landmass, True North, and scale) you have to be careful not to allow the drawing to have any pin-points or "tells". The proctor used to (and probably still would) hold up a tracing to inspect for just that. Then after the work is complete, there's a good chance he will lay it on the actual chart and correct it. The tolerances used to be within a tenth of a nm. and some leeway was granted for shoal areas and such. Bouys, ranges, local variation corrected to date, wrecks, least depth over the course lines, channel width, it's extensive.
My practice for an especially large piece of pilotage (NY Lower Bay from Sea to the Narrows) involved making a tracing and having it transferred to an acetate film that would fit a large tracing pad (18" x 24" or so). I would trace each practice sheet, then my last tracing went to the exam room. Not sure what is done in the RECs these days. My method was labor intensive, yes, subject to the lazy way of correcting, no. It was still perfectly proportioned but it wouldn't be the right size to lay on the original chart. The proctor would have to pick up dividers and a set of triangles to inspect the work.
The study part is straightforward learning by rote, be as neat as you can be. Repeatedly drawing the chart until you have it cold. I took about a month to practice each piece, but I was helping my wife chase a toddler around the house at the time too. I'd be interested to see how it's being done these days since graphics are so much better now that there's no need to rely on mimeograph renderings. Some of the REC provided chartlets were so distorted, there wasn't any way to get your marks where they should be.