Speed Distance Time for Dummies

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InaSpin

Nope. Not many go home now unless you V/w or fail aptitude for say WSO and don't wish to continue with another branch. Or if you are untterly USELESS at interview and I mean USELESS as they try and keep on as many as possible for the planning exercises and to give people a chance to give OASC a go.

duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. Why did you say that! I'll fail the interview now :frown:

Reply 21

Lady Venom

Oh do get some self confidence.....

Reply 22

Q_M

InaSpin

Oh do get some self confidence.....

I do I do. Its the day before that I'm most worried about.

Reply 23

gunner068

at oasc when doing the s/d/t is it all in your head or can you use pen and paper to work out???

Reply 24

Q_M

ooooo your at RAF Odiham? I'm going there on wednesday! And then OASC on sunday!

You can use pens and paper in the planning exercises, but I'm not sure about the aptitude questions.

Reply 25

gunner068

thanks mate :smile:

im having trouble working out time questions when the speed is greater than 60 mph!! ie You are called to an airbase 210 miles away. How long will it take you to get there if you travel at 175mph?

using the method in this post where it was 20 mph it was simple as 20 goes into 60 nicely but what when the speed is high like 175???? cheers

Reply 26

Q_M

gunner068

thanks mate :smile:

You need to cancel it down so that it does go into 60 mate.

So...for that particular example.

Ok I've done the method slightly wrong but basically

42/35 (thats no good)

6/5 (thats fine)

6 x 12 = 72 minutes

= 1 hour 12 minutes.

Hope that helps.

QM :smile:

Reply 27

gunner068

oh ok i get it i think, cool thanks. i will practise and see how i get along. its the only thing im really worried about going to oasc as your either good at it or not and ive not done any maths since i left school 14 years ago lol.

Reply 28

gunner068

hmmm ok so im being a dummy how did you cancel 210 and 175 down to 42/35

Reply 29

Q_M

gunner068

hmmm ok so im being a dummy how did you cancel 210 and 175 down to 42/35

Cancelled it down by 5. There was probably a better/faster way of doing it.

Reply 30

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

To be fair, I think it is highly unlikely that you will get a sum to do in your head with 175mph - we fly in figures based on 6, so the question would almost certainly be 180 mph/kts. Even if you do get some random number like 175, it's close enough to call it 180 which is 3 miles a minute, which means it takes 70 minutes to fly 210 miles - easy!

Reply 31

adi88

do you need to do a station visit and will they ask why you havent? im doin intel and its a long way for me to go and its restricted anyways

Reply 32

Lady Venom

Not in this thread please... read the title. Search station visits and repost in a suitable one. There is a thread on the main page in which Rhur Phantom disucsses and Int Visit.

Reply 33

hermaphrodite

LOL. it all sounds like common sense to me

Reply 34

TKnightrider

Can i just congratulate Quiet Mason on his successful trip to Odiham. Well done and keep it up.

Reply 35

Captain Biggles

gunner068

thanks mate :smile:

im having trouble working out time questions when the speed is greater than 60 mph!! ie You are called to an airbase 210 miles away. How long will it take you to get there if you travel at 175mph?

I would notice that 210 > 175, therefore it's going to take over an hour to get there. So, with that in mind, 210 - 175 = 35 (since you know it's going to be more than an hour, so may as well start with an hour). Now then, what's 35/175?? Well, find a common factor for both 35 and 175. We have, 1 (obviously), 5, and 35 luckily enough. You get 1/5 and now you can work out 1/5 of 60 (since it's going to take you 1 and 35/175 hours - can't leave it as a fractional time) which is 12 minutes.

That's probably seems quite a long way to do it, but it saves working with massive numbers with no obviously visible common factors. It's easier for me to do it that way anyways.

Reply 36

adi88

Hey folks. After reading all of the posts on SDT and working through alot of questions (dare I say) i'm starting to get it more, (the questions not sex (lol)). But there is a problem I have with one question and would like some help please.

At 130mph, how long does it take to travel 52 miles?

I have a problem because I cant cancel it down, i've checked it on calculator and 130/52 is 2.5, which seems a bit hard for a non calculator question. So does anyone have a really easy and foolproof way of working this out?

Thankyou. :tsr2:

Reply 37

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

130/52 has nothing material to do with the question.

You have to be clear in your head what you are being asked, and then break it down into simple ways or working it out, and preferably checking it as well.

Unfortunately simple in your head is not the same as simple written down, but here goes!

At first glance, the numbers look tricky, so look for a link and simplify them.

130mph - simplify it by dividing by 10 = 13miles in 6 minutes (learn that a tenth of an hour is 6 minutes, not 10!)

How many times does 13miles go into 52 miles = 4

So to travel 4 lots of 13 miles ie 52 would take 4 lots of 6 minutes, eg 24 minutes.

Cross check for sensibleness - 130 is about 120mph which is two miles per minute. If you were doing 2 miles per minute you would do 52 miles in 26 minutes. You are actually going a bit quicker than 2 mpm, so you'd expect to get there sooner, therefore 24 minutes is a good answer!

This sounds long winded but, if you aren't a natural mathematician, it works and gets much quicker with practice.