TBAS · Pilot selection
Directional Orientation Test
The Directional Orientation Test is the first TBAS subtest, in which a voice names one of four parking lots and you click it in the view from an unmanned aircraft.
- Items
- 48
- Answer options
- 4 lots: north, east, south, west
- Scoring
- Accuracy and completion time
- Counts toward
- PCSM
- Equipment
- Mouse, headphones
Screens of the trainer
The subtest
Measures
The subtest measures spatial orientation: relating a map with north always at the top to the view from an unmanned aircraft's forward camera.
It counts toward the PCSM score. No separate TBAS score is released to the applicant.
Format
The subtest has 48 items, each answered with a click on one lot.
Scoring
The subtest is scored on completion time and accuracy.
Item types
One heading, four lots
On the right, the Tracker Map always has north at the top. The aircraft is a red dot with a yellow arrow behind it, pointing in its direction of travel, and its heading is printed under the map.
On the left, the Aircraft View shows a building with four parking lots around it, at north, east, south and west. The top of the view is the direction the aircraft is heading. A voice names one lot, and you click it in the Aircraft View.
Misreading the arrow is the most common mistake. The arrow is not a field of view: the aircraft is at the red dot and flies the way the arrow's tip points.
Example
The heading reads 90, so the aircraft flies east and the east lot sits at the top of the Aircraft View. The voice always uses the same words: "Image the north parking lot." The north lot is the one on the left.
The trainer in play
The Frontline Forge trainer
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Every heading, every lot
The 48 items cover 12 headings 30 degrees apart, each with the four lots, in a new order every attempt. Training mode marks the correct lot after each click and shows how the heading places it, with the clock stopped until you press Next.
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A spoken instruction
The trainer speaks each instruction aloud, as on the subtest. The "Practice without sound" option shows the instruction as text instead.
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Speed in the score
In the trainer, a correct answer within 1.5 seconds scores a full point, a slower one scores less, down to zero at 10 seconds, and the total is out of 48. Each score is ranked against other test-takers, and the Statistics page plots the ranking of every attempt.