Defence Awarding Organisation · RQF Level 3
DAO Level 3 Diploma in Applied Aviation Studies (Aircraft Systems Management)
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits38
- Guided learning280 hours
- Units in this qualification11
Awarded by Defence Awarding Organisation · on the Ofqual register
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See how this course maps onto your role
Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
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What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
These are the units Defence Awarding Organisation registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Air Safety and Flying RegulationsReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- State the principles of flight safety.
- Describe the documents that regulate service flying.
- Operate the air system in accordance with the release to service authorisation.
- Describe the characteristics of a basic radio system.
- Operate an aircraft intercom system.
- Operate a V/UHF radio.
- Operate a HF radio.
- Demonstrate R/T phraseology and procedures.
- Carry out take off R/T procedures.
- Carry out Cruise R/T procedures.
- Carry out descent and recovery R/T procedures.
- Carry out emergency R/T procedures.
- Carry out weather gathering from various agencies.
- Plan a medium and high level sortie.
Aircraft SystemsReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- Describe the basic Fixed Wing (FW) principles of flight.
- Describe the function of structural components common to generic aircraft.
- Describe the components and operation of a basic aircraft engine system.
- Identify types of gas turbine fuels.
- Describe the components and operation of a basic aircraft fuel system.
- Describe the components and operation of a basic aircraft hydraulic system.
- Describe the components and operation of basic aircraft air conditioning & pressurisation system.
- Describe the components and operation of a basic aircraft oxygen system.
- Describe the components and operation of a basic
AirmanshipReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- Demonstrate situational awareness.
- Prioritise events.
- Demonstrate mental flexibility.
- Communicate decisions effectively.
- Manage systems.
- Manage resources.
Demonstrate an understanding of NCA employment in the RAFReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- Identify the main operational roles of aircraft which employ a WSOP.
- Describe the primary roles of WSOP branches.
Electronic Warfare and RadarReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- State the principles and background of Electronic warfare (EW).
- Describe anti-aircraft weapons and their guidance techniques.
- Describe the basic characteristics of Electronic Support Measures (ESM) equipment.
- Describe Missile warning Systems (MWS).
- Describe the function and employment of Electronic Attack (EA).
- Describe Electronic Protection Measures (EPM).
- Describe ideal defensive aids suite (DAS).
- Describe the considerations for planning and practical employment of ESM and DAS on RAF ac.
- State the basic principles of a radar system.
- State the basic principles of a secondary surveillance radar system.
Fixed and Rotary Wing crewman operationsReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- State the regulations and responsibilities for the carriage of air cargo.
- Identify restraint equipment used in RAF aircraft and state their limitations and inspection criteria.
- Demonstrate the practical inspection and application of restraint equipment.
- Identify the rules of ready access with regards to the air transportability of internal loads.
- Describe the effects of incorrect loading on aircraft.
- State the principles of restraint used in the carriage of internal air transportable loads.
- Describe Tie Down Schemes (TDS).
- Calculate the all up weight (AUW) and Centre of Gravity (C of G) of an aircraf
Mathematics and Navigation TheoryReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- Demonstrate the theory and knowledge of mathematics relating to aircraft operations.
- Calculate conversions between imperial and metric quantities.
- Manipulate numbers using standard form.
- Manipulate numbers using prefixes.
- Solve mathematical problems using vectors.
- Explain the principles and effects of moments.
- Calculate floor load intensities.
- Manipulate formulae.
- Interpret information in tables.
- Interpret information in graphs.
- Describe basic navigational theory.
- Solve aircraft navigational problems.
- Carry out Mental Deduced Reckoning (MDR) techniques to solve flight related calculations.
MeteorologyReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- Describe the terms associated with the atmosphere.
- Describe the terms associated with pressure.
- Interpret meteorological codes.
- Define meteorological terms.
- Explain the effects of friction on low level wind flow.
- Describe the weather conditions associated with clouds.
- Describe the weather conditions associated with icing.
- Describe the weather conditions associated with thunderstorms.
- Describe the weather conditions associated with Fronts.
- Interpret Met flight documentation.
- Describe radio meteorology.
Plan and prepare for a navigational exerciseReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- State the aim of a work cycle in an airborne environment.
- Conduct a pre-sortie brief.
- Manage AC systems to safely navigate a AFP route.
- Demonstrate appropriate actions during an aircraft emergency.
Science, Navigational Aids and Flight InstrumentsReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- Describe the fundamental principles of electricity.
- Describe the fundamental principles of magnetism.
- Describe the basic operation of flight instruments.
- Interpret information from flight instruments.
- Interpret information from glass cockpit flight instruments displays.
- Explain the basic operation of radio and navigation aids.
SensorsReal unit · Defence Awarding Organisation
What you'll be able to do
- Know Electro Optic and Infrared (EO / IR) airborne platforms.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum.
- Explain the principal features of an EO/IR system.
- Explain the principal features and operation of graphic overlays.
- Understand and operate an EO/IR turret.
- Demonstrate an understanding of infrared terminology.
- Understand and operate a hand controller unit.
- Understand and manipulate system menus.
- Describe the employment of EO sensors.
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
- Airline Management and Legislation
- Check and operate flight instruments and automatic flight control systems
- Check and operate navigation, surveillance and communication equipment
- Collect and use information to make decisions
- Conform with Regulatory Checks and Requirements
- Follow aviation procedures and practices and complete documentation
- Manage and monitor automated systems
- Management of Human Factors
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your own work
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for DAO Level 3 Diploma in Applied Aviation Studies (Aircraft Systems Management)
11 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Defence Awarding Organisation.
- Air Safety and Flying Regulations
- Aircraft Systems
- Airmanship
- Demonstrate an understanding of NCA employment in the RAF
- Electronic Warfare and Radar
- Fixed and Rotary Wing crewman operations
and 5 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.