PPL Theory Kit — Volume 1 and 2 + Navigation

PPL Theory Kit — Bob Tait

The books that teach you the exam.

Your permitted materials kit gives you every document CASA allows in the exam room. This is what teaches you to answer the questions.

Why we recommend Bob Tait

There are two main study options for Australian PPL students, and this is the one we recommend for most people.

The reason is simplicity. The subjects are broken down and explained plainly, without assuming you already have a background in physics or aviation. If you're teaching yourself theory at a kitchen table on a Tuesday night after work, clarity matters more than depth — and this is the series that gets you there with the least friction.

The trade-off: some students want more technical depth than Bob Tait provides, particularly if you're coming from an engineering background or you're planning to push straight through to ATPL. If that's you, the Aviation Theory Centre series goes further. Not sure which suits you? Ask us — we'd rather you bought the right one.

What's included

Bob Tait PPL Volumes 1 and 2

The complete PPL theory syllabus, structured around what CASA actually examines.

Volume 1 covers the RPL syllabus. If you're sitting your RPL exam, this is the book you'll be working from.

Volume 2 picks up where it leaves off and takes you through the rest of the PPL. Together they cover the full PPLA syllabus.

Buying both now means you're not re-ordering mid-way through, and you'll find yourself going back to Volume 1 regularly while you work through Volume 2 — the material builds rather than replaces.

Navigation Workbook

Where the theory becomes practice.

Navigation isn't something you understand and then know — it's a sequence of actions you repeat until they're automatic. Calculate the heading, apply the wind, work out the ground speed, check the fuel, mark the time. The workbook drills that same process over and over, with enough questions and worked examples that the sequence stops being something you think about and becomes something you just do.

That's why we recommend it. The exam is where it pays off first, but the real value is in the aircraft — when you're on a nav leg, the workload is climbing, and you need to run the numbers without stopping to remember how. If you've done a hundred of these on paper, you don't stop.

Most students who come unstuck in the navigation exam didn't fail to read the chapter. They didn't do enough problems.

Getting the most out of it

Work the navigation problems on your exam charts. Do the practice on the same Sydney, Townsville and Bourke WACs you'll have in front of you on the day. Meeting those charts for the first time in the exam room is an avoidable way to lose marks.

Start the workbook earlier than feels necessary. Theory reading is passive; flight planning is a skill. It takes repetition, and there's no way to compress that into the fortnight before your exam.

Keep the legislation nearby. When the book tells you a fuel reserve figure, look it up in the Part 91 MOS. You'll remember it better, and you'll build the habit of finding answers in the source — which is what the exam is actually testing.

Good to know

• This is study material, not exam material. Textbooks can't be taken into a CASA exam. See our PPL Complete Kit for the permitted materials list.
• Pairs with: PPL Complete Kit — or buy them together and save.

Suits: Students preparing for the CASA PPLA exam.