Is Instrumentation (022) Hard? And Can You Memorise It?

Pitot-static instruments, altimeters, ASI, VSI, gyroscopic instruments, ADI, HSI, magnetism and compasses, navigation systems, and warnings and recorders.

A mix of physics (how the instruments work) and systems knowledge (what the aircraft does with them).

For the full topic-by-topic syllabus breakdown, see the Instrumentation subject guide.

Any single number here would be false precision, so we won’t give one. As a rough planning figure, most self-study candidates allocate 40–80 hours per subject, and students report Instrumentation typically sitting toward the middle of that range. A mid-sized exam (60 questions, 90 minutes) mixing theory and systems recall.

Your own figure depends on background, maths comfort and whether you are studying full-time — treat the range as a budget to adjust, not a target to hit.

Instrument errors — pitot-static errors, compass turning and acceleration errors, gyro drift — follow from the physics. Learn the mechanism and the error questions answer themselves; memorise outcomes without the mechanism and every reworded question is a coin flip.

“I would not recommend to memorize answers without understanding the minimum theory even if they are banky”— a student in our community, on General Navigation, Radio Navigation and Instrumentation

Instrumentation is not part of our seeded affinity groups. Students often place it near the navigation pair (061+062) for the shared instrument-and-systems flavour, but it works as a standalone block.

How the pairings fit into a full plan — and why order matters — is covered in the recommended order of study, with the sitting mechanics in sittings & limits.