This document is “021 02 Electrics and Electronics,” part of the JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities) Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence Theoretical Knowledge Manual series, published by Oxford Aviation Training with Jeppesen and approved as JAA compliant by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. It corresponds to Aircraft General Knowledge 2 in the wider ATPL syllabus and follows the series’ standard format of numbered chapters, worked examples, diagrams, and end of chapter self assessment questions.
The manual is organised into three main sections. The first covers DC electrics, starting with basic principles such as current, voltage, resistance, and power, then progressing through magnetism, including magnetic fields around conductors and coils, before addressing aircraft electrical power systems in detail. This includes generator and alternator warning lights, master switches used to isolate faulty generators, and monitoring instruments such as moving coil ammeters and voltmeters, along with the use of shunts and multipliers to extend their measuring range.
The second section covers AC electrics, building on impedance and the vector relationship between resistance, inductive reactance, and capacitive reactance, along with resonant circuits where these reactances cancel out. It continues into AC motors, explaining how a rotating magnetic field is generated from a three phase supply and how synchronous motors, which are not self starting and rotate at a fixed speed tied to supply frequency, function as a result. A dedicated chapter on semiconductors covers conductors, insulators, N type and P type materials, the P N junction, diodes, and transistors, before introducing digital logic gates, binary logic, and truth tables.
The final section introduces radio theory, covering basic principles such as emission designators for navigation and communication systems like NDB, VOR, DME, and ILS, along with frequency and wavelength conversion exercises tied to real aviation radio bands.
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