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Checkrides
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...Checkride #7; ...Checkride
#8; ....Checkride #9; ...Checkride #10; ... ...Checkride
#11; ...Checkride #12; ....Checkride #13; ...Checkride
#14; ...Checkride #15; ...Checkride #16; Checkride
#17; ...Lessons Learned from My Checkride;
...WIZ' Checkride;
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Checkride
#7
When people told me that it was a day I would not soon forget,
I believed them. However, for me, it was the few days before
the checkride, making sure all the endorsements were correct,
that I had all my paperwork and logged hours, that made me crazy
at the beginning of the week.
As ominous day of the checkride approached, my nervousness, stress
level and studying intensified. By the weekend, I was in such
a frenzied state, I had resigned myself to believing that I was
most assuredly going to fail, that I was not qualified and will
never master the amount of information I needed to learn in time
for the checkride. Of course everyone around me was saying "You'll
do fine" and "it will be a breeze" etc.
While I appreciated the words of encouragement, I was not convinced
that I was even going to pass the oral, much less the practical
part of the checkride. One piece of advice a fellow pilot gave
me stuck in my head. "Make sure you get there early and
get a few tenths in, it will loosen you up and get you in the
right mind space," he told me.
My checkride was at 1pm on a Monday, so I decided to take a half
day at work and head down to the airport at noon. After fighting
with lunch hour traffic I arrived at 12:15pm, just enough time
to jump in the 172, do some takeoffs and landings and head out
on the first couple legs of my cross country that I had never
practiced before.
After some real rough short and soft field practice, I headed
southwest towards my first checkpoint, a nice sized lake, somewhere
about 10 miles on the 199 radial to the Westminster, MD VOR.
As I turned midfield across the airport, I saw about three bodies
of water ahead of me. In a panic, I grabbed the sectional. "WHAT
THE...," I thought to myself as I looked at the sectional
that only listed one body of water, my checkpoint.
I flew about 10 miles until I was over what looked to be the
largest body of water 10 miles out and took a mental survey.
On the way back to the airport, I decided I was just going to
ask one of the line personnel at the FBO what the bodies of water
were, and which was the one I had specified on my cross country,
it was now 12:55pm.
I ran into the FBO after I landed and began frantically asking
anyone I saw about this specific body of water and they all began
to argue about what the one on the sectional was! The final consensus
was that the one I took the mental snapshots of, was indeed my
checkpoint and that I should be fine on the checkride. I thanked
the gentlemen and line personnel and went upstairs into the office
to wait for the DE.
About 30 seconds later, one of the gentlemen that was most positive
about the body of water on the sectional came into the room (which
is also used as a pilot lounge) and sat across from me at the
table. I said "hello" and then he asked what my name
was. I told him. He then told me, "hello Ben, I am Dale,
your DE." At this point I was ready to pack up my things
and just leave. This was not going well at all.
I frantically tried to explain why I was so confused about the
lake but Dale just sat there smiling. He finally said, "it's
okay, no big deal, can I have your logbook for a bit please?"
I then passed him my log book which I had totaled up in all the
columns and signed every page, which made him very happy because
all he had to do is match my numbers and he could be fairly certain
he was correct on all of the requirements.
Dale then grabbed his monstrosity of a FAA examiner's binder
and asked me if I was ready. I was ready to get on with the interrogation.
He began by asking me about the FARs and what I could do as a
private pilot and then moved on to weather, systems, airspace,
airport procedures and equipment (what are the color of the end
lights on the far side of the runway when you are positioned
for takeoff?) Think about it awhile, answer at end of story]).
We then covered the cross country, airspaces, symbols and procedures
on the route. No big deal really. After every oral question,
except for a few, I gave the standard FAA response, written in
the ASA study guide (little blue book [get this, it is invaluable
for the last week or so of your studying]). After it was all
over, he said "very good, I hope your flying is as good
as your oral was, let's go fly." Heck, I thought I had blew
it.
We then headed out to the plane... the plane.. where was it?
Did someone steal my checkride plane? I ran over to the schedule,
no one listed but me, it has to be here, I just parked it an
hour and a half ago, right out front. Dale told me he had to
use the restroom, so I ran around the tarmac looking for the
plane. No Cessna 172 to be found. In a panic, I called one of
the line guys over and asked where it went. "Oh, the door
lock fell out last night and I just took it to the shop to be
replaced." I very calmly and slowly said, "I am in
the middle of my checkride, could you please BRING THE $#&#$$#%#
PLANE BACK!?!?!?" I think they lineman understood my urgency
and the plane quickly reappeared where I parked it.
Luckily, the DE saw none of this, he came out of the FBO and
I was waiting for him right by the plane, welcoming him on-board
and doing my preflight out loud, with the aircraft checklist
in hand, I also added some of my own things that I thought should
be checked, IE: door hinge pins, seat rails, anything else that
I can get to that has had an AD out about it. As I was completing
the last item on the list, he asked me with a chuckle, "ready
to kick the tires and light the fires?" I indicated affirmative
and we loaded in.
I gave him the pamphlet from Dauntless software that has a nicely
formatted passenger flight safely information and told him to
ask me if he has any questions about the flight. I also instructed
him on the operation of the seat belts and when they are to be
worn. He appeared bored, so I stepped up the pace a bit. I started
the engine, turned up the avionics and called UNICOM to check
the radios and tuned in ATIS. We then taxied into the runup area,
did the runup and he asked me to do a normal takeoff with a soft-field
touch and go, then a short field landing touch and go, then depart
for the x-ctry.
I greased the soft field, came in a little too hot on the short,
and departed on my XC a little far crosswind (I had planned on
coming back over the airport, but there were three other people
over flying the airport at my planned altitude so I asked the
DE if I could intercept the VOR radial a little further out,
and not start right from the center of the airport. He agreed
and that went well. We made it to my first checkpoint right on
the time I had planned and he asked where my second checkpoint
was. I told him, Westminster, MD, about 20 miles out. He nodded
and went back to watching me. I thought to myself, damn, we're
going to fly the whole thing,(York, PA -> Winchester, VA ->
Manassas, VA(into the class B)). However, as soon as we were
clear of Codorus Lake, my first checkpoint, he said, "okay,
lets do some maneuvers."
I did all of my required maneuvers within spec, not a big deal,
he even pulled the engine on my twice and told me to stop fiddling
with the checklist since the engine died so low to the ground,
there is little time for checklists (we were 1000 AGL on the last
simulated engine failure). He was right, by the time I went through
that checklist manually, I would have already been a part of
the scenery. So I did as he suggested and do what I had memorized.
He smiled and said "good job." He then asked for my
"view limiting device." Uh, oh. They were back in the
locked closet at the FBO and no one had a key that morning, oops!
I told him why I didn't have them and he said "no problem,
I'll test you like we used to." He then asked for my sectional
and began covering up the whole windshield with it(except for
a little spot on his side that he was peeking around.) It was
pretty neat and it made me fly very carefully. G.W. Item: It is
contrary to the FARs to cover any part of a windshield while in flight.
I made a few mistakes in my maneuvers, and I caught myself outside
the limits a few times, but quickly correcting it, hoping he
didn't see it, so I was not sure if I had passed or not. He was
constantly writing, looking, writing, looking. Then, after about
an hour he turns to me and says, "take me back to the airport."
I then asked him, "are we going back because you are finished,
or is it because _I_ am finished?" He turns to me and says,
"just take us back, and when we are on the ground I will
tell you how you have done." Well, being the pessimist that
I am, I assumed that all bad news is better delivered when people
are not driving or flying and are sitting down. Thus, using this
theory, I thought that I had surely failed.
I found the airport and landed (after he told me to do a normal
landing) and went through the shutdown checklist. After everything
was off, and the windows were open (it was at least 120F with
100% humidity inside the cabin at this point) he turns to me
and says "you don't think you did well?" I said, "it
was not the best flying I have done, actually it was some of
the worst." He then looks down at his papers and grins and
says, "you did excellent, congratulations pilot."
I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, faint, or just sit there
with the biggest Cheshire grin on my face that man has ever seen.
So I did them all at the same time. He got out of the plane and
said he was off to do some paperwork and that I should meet him
back in the FBO. I remember tying the plane down and walking
on cloud the whole way back into the FBO. No one was there except
the CSR, but she congratulated me. I walked into the pilot lounge
and he handed me my temporary license and explained the expiration
on it. I was still on cloud nine, so relieved that I had passed
and it was over.
I also felt quite cold and couldn't imagine why until I looked
down and realized that my light blue shirt was now dark blue,
I had sweat a river! I didn't weigh myself afterwards but I bet
I lost a few pounds! There was the intro flight, then 48.5 Hours
later....
Ben Silverman
Checkride
#8
I'm the astonished owner of my very own temporary airman
certificate. Actually, not that astonished. But terribly relieved.
It was my second try, and I was afraid that I'd repeat my prior
performance. I took my first checkride last week, on Friday.
All went well, up to but not including unusual attitudes. Actually,
the recoveries went well. But the time after the recovery became
interesting.
In the first example of unusual attitude (after flying under
the hood for a while), the DE futzed with the AI. He actually
gave me the plane in straight & level, but with the AI indicating
a climb. I looked at the speed, did nothing. I looked at the
TC, did nothing. I looked at the AI, and pitched down. I did
eventually recover. But it apparently left me a bit unsettled.
I'd practiced partial panel before, but never as a surprise.
That's a mistake. All subsequent unusual attitude recoveries
followed the same pattern. I'd recover properly, doubt the instruments,
and do something silly. The something silly would put me into
my own "unusual attitude" (usually banked left and
nose down). I'd then recover (albeit it now a little lower) and
repeat.
So the DE gave me a pink slip, and told me to practice under
the hood. So I did. I did a lot of partial panel, including a
fair bit with the AI uncovered but wrong. [It's too bad we cannot
selectively disable more instruments like that. Covered is very
different from wrong, I've learned.]
Today, even with a bit of a bounce in the air, I did much better.
One bit of advice that the CFI with whom I was practicing gave
me was exceptionally useful: once stable, pick a heading and
altitude and *stay there*. It seems obvious, but I guess it wasn't
so to me before I'd heard it. For some reason, I was treating
hood time differently than "normal flying".
I also spent a little reading time on the primary and secondary
instruments during different maneuvers. I think of it as a head
start on my instrument training, as it was from an instrument
training book.
Other random points from the first ride:
I was diverted in a way that might have crossed a class D. But
I was 200' above the ceiling at the time I was diverted, so I
just stayed there. I even crossed over the destination field
at altitude, just to get a look at it before entering the pattern.
I didn't go very far before the diversion: perhaps just two checkpoints.
I did expect to go further, but I did have my location and course
nailed. I guess he could tell. On one landing, I was just entering
the flare when he said "go around". One of the mains
even touched for a moment.
I'd actually forgotten about the test part, and I was afraid
that something was wrong. I spent a few moments during the climb
looking for the problem I'd missed, before I realized that this
was just a normal part of the test. There's nothing else that
stands out as interesting, so I'll stop right here. But for people
getting ready for their own checkrides, I'd emphasis the "wrong
vs. covered" of unusual attitudes (and hood time in general),
and the element of surprise.
- Andrew
Checkride
#9
On Dec 1 I got to put those famous initials behind my name PP-ASEL..and
it was a thrill I fly out of BMG and the DE was down at BFR I
got to the airport at 7am. I had my flight plan done and now
was watching the weather This would be my sixth attempt. We
had light winds...10,000 ft ceiling but snow moving in. I decide
to go ahead and take the chance. Off the ground at 8 and on the
ground at Bedford by 20 after. Met the DE in his office.and
it started
First he wanted to see my paper work..all in order
--Then the
check..LOL...it was good too.
--Then the log books on the plane.
--He wanted to see the 100 hours and the last annual and then asked
if they are the same. --He ask more about aircraft maintenance
--Then I blew my first question..what color is the brake fluid.
I got this blank look and told him..I have no Idea! He laughed
and said Red. I knew the rest of his answers on maintenance.
--Then he went into rights and privilege of the PP..
--A couple of
questions about the AF/D.
--Then onto the sectional...
--What airspace
do you need clearance to fly into..
--Where do you need a mode C..what
are your clearances..do you have a ceiling limitation..can you
do this or that..He spent much more time on the sectional than
anything else.
--Then on to the flight plan I had done. no problems..
--Had
to show him how I got the wind correction angle..
--He asked me about
my fuel numbers and I think I made a few points. POH say 8.6
gals per hour at cruise..and I use 10 for a margin of error.
when he saw this he seem very pleased.
--Then figure take-off and
landing distances. and again I think he was happy.. I showed
him the book figure and then told him I would add 50% to it to
be "real".
--We went over the weather charts and prog
charts..read a few metars then he said..we are going flying I
went out to the plane..checked the fuel..walked around and off
we went.
He didn't want a preflight briefing. And he did something funny,
it is 25-degrees out side..cold as could be..the heat in the
plane is not the best you know..and he took his coat off and
put it in back..this will make sense in a minute..LOL
I took off and hit my course for my cross country. We couldn't
climb up to cruise attitude because the ceiling had dropped.
I fly on my course..get the plane set up .......and missed my
first check point.I told him that I had..and why I thought I
had...told him that I would make the second check point in another
8 minutes...he said fly to it and we would see. and low and behold...7
minutes after our little conversation..there it was...right where
it was suppose to be..ok..turn 180 and put on the foggles..steady
flight ..climbs and descent..turns to a course...whoop..he said
we just lost the DG...now make turns to a heading..all went well..and
said close your eyes..we are going spiraling..LOL.
The DE took the controls and jerking around we went..When he
said the plane was mine we where in a very deep nose down spiral...throttle
out..wings level..and pull out...WOW..he asked why I leveled
the wings before pulling out and I told him about increase load
factors in a turn...he said good..Then he starts thrashing around
to put his coat on. I understand now. Little bit of diversion.I
ignore him..to much..you will see in a sec. now lets go stall...power
off power on..no problems...steep turn..no problems..ground ref..no
problems..lets go land..normal landing on 13 at BFR...ok..call
for traffic..enter on the 45...do my gumps check..and don't catch
that he didn't put his seat belt on after putting on his coat..he
puts in on while I am on base...I think uh oh..that is a bust..but
we go ahead and do our landings..I am high on my short field..go
around and he pulls the motor..ask for a quick decision..best
field is to the right about 40 degrees from our course..he is
happy again..didn't try to make it back to the runway..hit my
short field right on the numbers..hit the brakes..and he says
take it back to the hangar. I figure missing the first check
point and missing the seatbelt as earned me a trip back. We taxi
up to the hangar and he asks how I did. I started reeling off
everything I thought I had done wrong......and he agreed......then
said we are not looking for perfection ..we are looking for safe
pilot who make good decisions..and you are one..you PASS.
What is hard is making someone who hasn't done this understand
what a proud moment that is...I have done many things in my life.I
have passed many tests..I have gotten rewards for being one of
the best at what I do for a living..but it just doesn't compare
to getting those words...it almost reaches the feelings I had
when my children came into this world
So now I am a private pilot with all the responsibilities and
privileges due...and I make my first big decision on the way
home.I get BMG weather..2500 ft ceilings..4 mile visibility..so
I decide to fly back..on the way I hit a snow storm..do a 180
and back I go to make some phone calls..LOL.I tell them to come
get me...weather is to bad..between the airports it is more like
1000 ft ceilings and 2 miles visibility.So I am setting in the
lobby of the airport and in comes the DE...I told him what was
going on and damned if he didn't get a big smile on his face..shake
my hand..and told me how happy he was that I made that decision..I
think that made his day......and I know it made mine..My instructor
brings down a instrument rated friend and off we go..back home..and
me showing this piece of paper to anyone that will look..and
to a lot that don't..LOL>...
So now as soon as the weather breaks up here I am off..and am
starting my instrument rating this spring..have to repair the
.check book you know..Again..thanks to all in this newsgroup
that has been a help and for all the support...
Checkride
#10
Its me again! I'm a private pilot now though!!!!!! After days
of worrying it all came to an end around 10am cst.The day before After practicing one last time last night I was
a nervous wreak. I flew safe but it was the worst flying I've
done in a long time. So I came home and started to feel sick
and had a high temp, oh great, after getting over being sick
I'm gonna have to cancel it because I'm sick again, so I laid
down and took a nap at 6:30. I woke up at 10 and felt a lot better
but couldn't go back to sleep until after midnight because I
was worrying so much.
The morning of...
Then I woke up around 4:30 having a nightmare (yes about
not passing my checkride) so I laid there until it was time to
get up at 5am. After getting up and taking a shower I ate a bowl
of cereal and headed for the airport. I got there about 10 minutes
before the flight instructor said he would be there so I sat
and waited. Finally after waiting for 20 minutes he showed-up,
his car wouldn't start. I went in and started working on my flight
plan and when I was finished I had about 10 minutes left before
he got there. This is when I started freaking out! I tried to
go over everything one last time and was just a big mess. Then
I saw him walking up the sidewalk! After meeting him he seemed
pretty nice. (Note: At one point in the PTS history a pilot was
allowed only 30 minutes to do all the planning required for cross-country
planning .)
The oral
him "Can I please see your application?"
me "huh"
him "I can't start until I have your application"
So I run to find the instructor and he said he forgot so he printed
it out. Here I am racing to fill it out and get back in there
asap. After returning he fills out some papers and then its time
to get started. He starts by asking me to explain how I planned
the flight. Then we go over a few things on the sectional. After
he asked what I needed for class c airspace and the weather mins
for our flight. Then he asks what we need in the plane and what
happens if we have a pink registration. I had no idea so he explained.
Then he asked what happened if I was stuck at an airport with
a grounded mag, once again I wasn't positive on the answer but
had a general idea. After than he asked me to do the weight and
balance and then asked me to explain what things could increase
takeoff distance. After that he says the tas it and explains what
we will be doing on the flight. After a brief potty break and
after getting over the thought of how much I over studied for
this we went out to the plane. At this time I was pretty sure
I would walk away a private pilot.
The flying part
He let me preflight by myself while he was talking to another
guy, I figured he would be watching over me. The plane was ready
to go so we hoped in and started up. He asked for a short field
takeoff on runway 18. I haven't used 18 in several weeks because
of the wind. Off we went and then we headed towards our destination.
After showing him I knew exactly where we were at all times he
pulled the engine and asked me to make a grass strip. I made
it but it could have been a better forced landing. (didn't actually
land)
Then we went back to 2,000ft agl and he asked me to divert to Shelbyville and give him an estimated heading. After that he wanted me to tune into the VOR and fly there, I was off by about 5 degrees. He wanted a short field landing so I did it, it was a little bumpy but we stopped in plenty of time. Then we did a soft field takeoff and landing which went good, he asked why I wasn’t tracking the centerline on the runway though when on final, my answer was because of the road beside it, and nervous so he said ok.
After that we went up to 2,500ft and he told me to do slow
flight, I asked to go up to 3,000 to be safe so he said ok. Then
I went into slow flight and did some turns and he told me to
do a power off stall. After explaining to him I needed to do
a clearing turn (which he wasn't too concerned about, I thought
it was a trick) I did a power off stall and then a power on stall.
Then he asked me to put on the hood and fly a heading and descend
to 2,000ft. A few minutes later I was allowed to take it off
and we were on a 45 downwind entry for runway 18 at MBT. He said
he wanted a normal landing so no problem. Then there was a Citation
beside/behind us so he said to make it close and fast. I landed
and made the first taxi way, not the best landing but safe. Then
the worst part, parking the dang plane but I did it and he got
out and told me he would be inside filling out the paper work.
Then I asked him "Did I get it?" and he said "yes!".
Meanwhile my boss was watching and video taping me. I got out
and tied it down and it was over.
After
Before I went inside I talked to my boss for a few minutes
and then went in and was handed my temp certificate. I asked
how I did and he told me everything was safe, I just needed time
to improve. Damn I had a smile on my face then! Then my instructor
congratulated me and took my picture. He also said he wished
he would have taken a before and after picture because I was
pale as a ghost before! So far my instructor has a 100% pass
rate still and I was his #2 checkride. Then I called my dad and
told him the good news and went out to talk to my boss. I stood
out there talking to him and admiring the Citation for about
a half-hour. Then I went back in and talked to my instructor
about renting and IFR. After that I went home!
What I learned
Listen to other people, I freaked out over something I should
have laughed at.
You can do anything you set your mind to.
How easy the test really was.
Not to stress things.
That I'm rambling right now.....
Zach
Checkride
#11
This morning I got a call from the DE, Terry, asking me to meet
him at the Brookings airport at 9 a.m. I drove up there since
the plane was already there. I had flown there yesterday and
done the oral, but the weather had gotten too poor for us to
fly or for me to fly home.
I got there and greeted Terry. He told me he had considered calling
me back yesterday evening, but he figured I had gone home and
settled in, so he'd let me rest up and we'd fly today, if the
weather stayed nice. He told me to do a preflight, I asked if
he'd gotten the keys from Lee, another CFI who kept them yesterday
when I was picked up and brought home. Terry didn't have them,
but just then the A&P from my own FBO arrived and told me
to call Lee's cell phone. I got Lee and he gave me the combination
to the club hangar where the Tomahawk's keys were. I got them
and started preflighting.
Terry put his things in the plane and wandered off to talk to
another pilot while I did the preflight. He was nearby but didn't
watch me or quiz me during the preflight. Once I was done we
got in the plane together. He told me I 'd made a nice short
field takeoff yesterday (we'd gone around the pattern once to
check the weather) but we wouldn't discuss the landing, which
was supposed to be short field too. I said I was grateful because
it wasn't very good. Terry said it was a fine normal landing.
He was very easy going and funny. He made me comfortable right
away. I explained that I wasn't too comfortable in Brookings
and tended to be high because of the surrounding terrain (hills,
trees, deep canyons on either end of the runway, which effectively
stretches between two cliffs on a mesa of land). He said I could
make a soft-field takeoff and we'd head for Crescent City. He
asked me to have my chart ready for a diversion. And he warned
me that since we'd be flying on my familiar grounds, he'd have
high expectations for my performance takeoffs and landings. I
felt pretty good. A pep talk last night from my CFI had helped
my mindset, and he'd given me some visualization exercises to
do (visualizing the performance takeoffs and landings I was so
worried about)
I knew that on yesterday's short flight I had badly over-controlled
the airplane, so for the last 15 minutes of the drive to the
airport, I did a relaxation exercise (promise not to laugh) I
love to sing in the car, and Bette Midler and I have a similar
range, so I put The Rose on the CD player and sang to it over
and over. It is a calm, gentle song, and it put me in a very
mellow mood.
We lifted off Brookings with a decent, not good, soft field takeoff.
I identified and tuned in the VOR for Crescent City, then explained
to Terry that I was not going to track directly to the VOR from
here because it would take us out over the Pacific quite a ways,
and I wasn't going to take the Tomahawk that far off shore. Terry
agreed and said I could follow the coastline. After a few minutes
he asked me to get out my chart and tell him where we were.
It was easy, we were over Harbor, a small town I was quite familiar
with. Terry noted the fact that this was all familiar to me and
that he wished he could see how I did using pilotage up near
Portland where he is from. I admitted that I had gotten lost
on my cross country to a towered airport and didn't realize that
VOR frequencies had 2 digits after the decimal point so I dialed
in 112.05 rather than 112.50 so I couldn't track the VOR. I explained
that I had really used pilotage then to get me to Medford. I
think Terry appreciated my frankness and honesty. I think I had
also made a lot of points yesterday refusing to go on with the
checkride due to the weather, then having someone come and pick
me up.
Next, Terry had me divert to Gasquet (Ward). I had to give him
a heading and time to get there. I gave him the direct heading,
then explained that we'd go through a pass in the hill to get
there, so I'd not fly that heading. Then I miscalculated the
time putting the distance on the inner dial of the E6B and reading
the time on the outer dial. As soon as I said it I knew I was
wrong (25 minutes to fly 15 nautical miles at 90 knots per minute)
I made the correction and he accepted it. At this point I had
made several small mistakes, but corrected them quickly and Terry
had been very helpful and instructive during the portions that
I needed help or redirection on. I was still feeling and getting
the impression from Terry that I still had a shot at it.
We were setting up for the stalls when a friend of mine announced
intentions to take off and head our way at our altitude. I made
a radio call to let him know I was in the same area maneuvering
at his intended altitude. Jon asked if I was done or if I was
still working. I told him I was working hard. Terry laughed and
Jon said he'd fly up the beach and at a lower altitude to give
us room to work. Terry laughed again and said that the local
pilots all seemed to know me. I laughed to and said that they
were cheating for me. Terry told me he appreciated the camaraderie
developed at a small airfield.
We did a power-on stall, he allowed that I could announce an
imminent stall. I did and recovered at the point of mushiness
in the controls. Next was a power-off stall. This time he asked
me to wait for buffeting, which I did. Whenever he felt I was
forgetting something (whether I was missing something or I was
doing things in a different order) or when I'd start to lose
my heading or altitude, he'd point it out and say, " you
are supposed to maintain 2,500" or "do you need the
flaps?"
On to slow flight. He asked me at what speed I'd been practicing,
and he allowed me to use it rather than 1.2 Vso. It was uneventful.
Then on to Crescent City to do a short field landing. He asked
me to pull off the power for a simulated emergency engine out.
I did, really liking that he had me pull power, rather than reach
over and pull it himself. I went through the checklist quickly,
having visualized it frequently the last few weeks. We were lined
up for a nice emergency landing site and he asked me to slip
to get us down to it. I did. at about 500' he said to go around.
So I climbed back to pattern altitude and headed for Crescent
City again. I checked AWOS for the weather, set up for an crosswind GW??entry into the pattern. That set up puts us on long final for
a second runway and he asked if that was what I was going to
do. I explained that for the runway I was going to use, a 45
degree entry would put us too far out over the ocean. I made
my announcements, flew the pattern and gave him my stopping point
for the short field landing while on downwind. It looked just
fine and he had me go around at about 30 or 50 feet. We went
around and did a soft field landing. It was passable, barely.
The mains touched down a little more firmly than I'd have liked,
but I kept the nosewheel off.
We took off again and went back to the practice area for some
work under the hood. I got stabilized and he took the plane while
I put on my hood. We spent just a few minutes under the hood
doing climbing and descending turns. Terry asked me if I had
done any unusual attitudes and how did I feel about them. I told
him that I had done a few, but my tummy didn't like them much.
I told him I was willing to give it a try and I warn him before
things got ugly. He put me into a climbing turn and I got the
nose down and the power on full, but was having trouble leveling
the wings. Terry just said gently, "get the wings level
too." I finally got it under control and he had me remove
the hood. He explained that he was going to have me fly under
the hood back to Brookings, but we needed to do some ground reference
maneuvers. I started looking for a point to do turns around at
his request when a perfect little pump-house appeared off my
left wing. He asked me where we enter turns around a point from.
I told him from downwind and told him where that would be. I
then pointed out the pump-house and he said go ahead and start
now. Once around and he told me to take him back to Brookings.
I looked over and he was smiling. I grinned and said, "is
that it?" Terry told me that I had good control of the plane
and we could go back now. I flew back to Brookings as we chatted.
I entered the pattern and managed to make my best landing at
Brookings yet. Terry congratulated me and filled out my temporary
pilot certificate. I flew home on a cloud of happiness and called
the folks to come take a ride with me. I got congratulations
from nearly everyone I saw
Checkride
#12
WOW..what a day!
Started out early in the morning with me on the internet getting
all the weather and briefing info..and printing it out and putting
it into the folder which held all my other papers for the grueling
oral.
Got to the flight school and was ready to go when the DE got
there. Everything was going fine until he checked my log book
and saw that NONE of my PP info was signed off. I was shocked
because my instructor and I went over everything with a fine
tooth comb and I thought everything was completed. My instructor
was not in today...so we had to get him on the phone and he rushed
over to sign it. WHEWWWWWWWW
Oral I thought was pretty straight-forward and to the point.
Some of the situational questions required applying the knowledge
not just spitting out the answers. I was extremely well prepared
for the oral and had been doing all sorts of work to try and
predict questions, etc. and I was surprised at how much I learned
when it was over. After answering a question the DE would go
further and expand on things he had seen and what his experience
had taught him. I think I learned more in this 3 hour oral than
I have in any 10 hour flying or ground lesson. My examiner was
very detailed in wanting answers and after I answered them he
was like a fountain of aeronautical knowledge. Honestly, I know
the FAA examiners are good, but this guy was sharp as a tack
and didn't mind filling you in on his knowledge.
So far so good.
Next the practical flying. Everything went pretty well, but I
got distracted by his conversation, missed my checkpoint, and trying
oh so hard to maintain altitude & computations in the air
that I missed ATC calling an airplane who was in contact with
them at our 12o'clock and 1 mile ahead. I never saw the guy and
the examiner said..."do you see any traffic?" Taking
his hint I finally found it, but it had long since passed us
going from left to right. The examiner said that ATC called the
other plane to alert him of us, and that I missed it. I thought
"Damn....now I blew it" Luckily he had seen me scanning
and tipping the wings constantly and only told me to be more
diligent on looking for forward traffic and they are very hard
to see right on the horizon.
We went through all of the other stuff...diversions, hood work,
stalls while turning, etc and did all of without much trouble
at all. Went to a small airport and did the short and soft field
work. First short was lousy so I decided to go around. He seemed
impressed that I knew I was off and aborted the landing. The
second short was better...but not by much. I had everything going
great and was nice and slow when for some reason I got nervous
that maybe we were going a little too slow and added some power
and pitched the nose down a tad to increase airspeed. We floated
a lot more than we should have, but I was still well within my
landing point. He asked me why I added
power and I couldn't give him an answer, but he said...your still
within the regs. Soft field was really good..and actually that
should have been my short field..I had it stopped right away
with no float. He chuckled and said..."Except for keeping
the nose high, you should have made that one your short field.
"
We finished up and tracked a VOR home...no prob. Final landing
was a no flap slip to landing...aced it with just a little side
drift, but got back on centerline right away.
Well now I am official..now I just gotta figure out where to
go..ha ha ha OOOOOO HOOOOOOOO time for a beer.
Scott Thompson, PP-ASEL (that looks so cool!) out of SSF
Checkride
#13
Ok, here goes. I hope this is interesting. :)
Checkride was scheduled for 10 am. I have been flying a 152,
and me, the DE, and full fuel would put us over gross, so I showed
up early in the am, about 7:30 to fly in the pattern for a while,
do some touch an go's and use up some fuel.
DE shows up at the FBO and we begin the oral. He is very laid
back and the oral goes much better than I thought. He asked some
systems questions, some FAR questions, fuel types, minimum equipment,
transponder checks, about 3 questions on weather minimums, showed
some pictures on taxiway signs and asked what each meant. I was
surprised at how easy it was. I was really stressing but I suppose
making a 94 on the written did help. He did sorda stump me on
how to tell the difference in jet and 100ll. I said jet has no
smell, and I was wrong. But he explained it to me, and was satisfied.
He looked over my flight plan, inquired about my headings and
the wind, and I told him that half way through the winds changed
so I picked this other heading. He asked what that was called
and I replied interpolation. He showed some disappointment that
he didn't get me. He looked very briefly in the aircraft logs,
but did not go into detail about them. I told him the tach had
been replaced so the next annual is due at 68 hours on the tach,
since there was another tach in there since the last annual.
I suppose that knowledge showed him I had read the logs and knew
what I was talking about. I used the blue ASA private pilot oral
guide to study. Helped a lot. I recommend it for anybody getting
ready for their checkride. The oral was overall Very easy. He
also said he liked it when people come to him who have studied.
He said it makes his job much easier. I liked hearing that. So
off we went to fly.
Was going to go up to 4500, but there were scattered clouds not
far up. I called departure and asked to hold at 2500. A few minutes
after the first checkpoint, he had me call departure so we could
divert. He asked me what heading would take us to another field
in the area. I told him 350, and he said to turn to that heading.
I did so, and he asked me if I was sure about the heading. Which
I was not. I said not really, that it could be 340 or 345. He
asked me how I could be sure several times, to which I finally
took the hint and pulled out the sectional. After looking at
it and where I was I said yes, 345 would get us there. He still
questioned me and asked if I was sure. He asked how I could really
be sure. To this I finally got the hint and pulled out the plotter
and confirmed 345 would get us there. He said what you do in
the air should be no different than what you do on the ground.
He said always use your plotter and line up the compass to get
your heading even in the air. Lesson learned.
So in the practice area we first did steep turns. He was sorda
irritated that I did my clearing turns as a 180, and then another
180 back. He said lifting up the wing was fine with him, and
is what he prefers. I did the rest of my clearing that way, but
only to please him.
Going forward I feel
safer doing a much broader search of the area. I nailed the steep
turns and he seemed pleased. After that we did slow flight. Turned
a 360 degree turn in slow flight, and then did one power off
stall. We did one emergency engine out procedure, and then we
did ground reference maneuvers. We did about 3 s turns, and one
turn around a point. We began heading back to the home field,
and I put on the hood. We did a few ascents and descents. Did
not do unusual attitudes. Called tower, did regular landing which
sucked, ( He even mentioned it could've been better, which scared
me, I thought I could've failed on that landing) a short field
takeoff, a short field landing, soft field takeoff, soft landing,
and then taxied back. It was VERY, VERY short, and I am surprised
how easy it was. total hobbes was 1.4
We did not do any uncontrolled field ops, no unusual attitudes,
no power on stalls. The other things we did, we only did once,
and moved on. I guess I was used to my instructors pounding me
with the maneuvers. One steep turn after another. Stall after
stall, etc etc.
Back in the FBO he pulls out his temp airman cert pad, and writes
it up. He said I did a good job. I was thrilled. Took my wife
up as my first passenger today. We had a good time, and I am
going in the pattern this work to work on my landings some more.
I am still not happy with them.
THANKS to everybody in this newsgroup who have posted, replied
and put their .02 in. Jim Fisher , Bob Gardner, Gene Whitt, Stephen
Ames, Al Gilson, Roy Smith, thanks to all of you, and to others,
however, the ones mentioned above stand out. Not sure why I was
drawn to their responses. Could be the years of
experience, the newness of some of them, or just the way they
approached and replied to questions. Anyway, thanks again!!!
I hope to begin doing some real cross country's and yes, instrument
is on the horizon. Way out on the horizon...
Thanks again,
Rob Alford, PP-ASEL 54 hours
Checkride
#14
Checkride scheduled for 9 AM, 50 miles from my home airport,
at an old Air Force base right next to a Class D and almost under
the veil of a Class C airport. Got to my little uncontrolled
field out in the country about 0745 to preflight and meet my
instructor, who looked at the sky and asked me what the weather
looked like where I was headed. Ceiling was about 4200 AGL, briefers
said 10 miles vis. under the ceiling. Waited a little as the
sun came up and burned off the haze, then flew up for the checkride.
Wind is 11 kts right down the runway, but they have a right pattern
on one runway, left on the other. Since I've only flown about
4 RP's, of course the wind favors that runway, just to keep things
interesting. I land, hook up with the instructor, and we start
the oral.
Checks log books, makes me get out the sectional so he can check
distances on my X-ctry legs, then says all that is in order.
How do we know our airplane is airworthy? Showed AROW documents,
logbooks with annual stamps, and transponder cert (which I got
updated two days before). Lots of questions on airspace and svfr,
weather minimums. Went over flight plan for the X-ctry, talked
about panel mount GPS in our plane, said I could use it after
I demonstrated pilotage and computed GS in the air. Then said
I WOULD have to demonstrate use of the GPS, since he believed
in testing you on everything in the airplane. Told me to go preflight
when I got ready, he'd be on the ramp watching, and not to explain
anything unless he asked.
Pre-flight, had to add air to the tires (got out POH to check
correct pressures, they were only about 4 lbs low, but he wanted
them aired up). Got in, first thing he did was put one foot under
rudder pedals, the other one over them. Went over free controls
in briefing, then proceeded to brief on seatbelts, door, emergency
procedures, etc, til he got tired of it and said "Consider
me briefed". Taxied out, did run up, and started with a
short field t/o. No problem on an 8000 X 150 runway. Flew 1st
two legs of X-ctry, computed GS with E6B, then he took the plane
and gave me the foggles.
Under the hood, straight and level, level turns, climbing turns,
descending turns, now close your eyes. Gave it back to me with
full up trim, impending stall, no problem. Close 'em again, this
time a graveyard spiral to the right. Then one to the left. And
just for grins, he then did one to the right, pulled it out and
up til we got negative G's and I came up out of the seat, then
a spiral to the left. Cool.
Slow flight, down to 55 kts. Turns in slow flight, made the last
one a clearing turn, then back to cruise, 100 kts, for steep
turns. 1 to the left, 1/2 to the right and he said roll out.
Simulated fire, emergency landing in a field. Simulated loss
of oil pressure, another emergency landing. Picked a close field,
did a slip down to about 200 AGL. Stalls were next, power-on
right turning, then power-off left turning. Then we did turns
around a point, and he says to turn on the GPS, take me direct
back to airport.
Back at the airport, did a short field landing, then a soft field
takeoff. About 30 feet up, he pulls the power. Land straight
ahead, then go back for a regular takeoff. He then wants a short
field landing, no flaps. Start setting up, and he pulls the power.
Misjudged it, and would have been about 100 feet short of the
runway. Well, the ground is always nice and smooth just before
the threshold, isn't it? Added a burst of power, then pulled
it back off, landed and stopped. (Remolval of flaps would have extended
the glide. G. W.) He then took the plane, had
me make the radio calls, and took us around the pattern. He showed
me a short field landing, dragging it into the runway low and
slow, lots of power, full flaps, kill power over the threshold,
nose it down, then haul back on the yoke. Set it down firmly,
grabbed the hand brake and hauled her to a stop.
I didn't know what was next, til he looked over at me and said
"I'll make a deal with you. If you can get us back to the
ramp without bending anything, I'll make you a private pilot".
That was the most careful taxi I have ever done.
Flew back home, was met by my family. My wife and 5-year old
son then jumped in the plane for a little sight-seeing trip.
It was a little bumpy, so we didn't stay up but about 1/2 hour,
but it was great.
Rodney Anderson
PP-ASEL (For one whole week now)
Checkride
#15
Hello all,
I took the checkride on Monday the 16th at Burlington Intl. airport
in Burlington, Vermont (BTV). The ride was a terrific experience,
thanks to my CFI having prepared me well, and thanks to the examiner
being such a great guy with tons of experience. Even the weather
was perfect! What a great way to cap off a year and a half of
training and studying! Anyway, here's a hopefully not-too-long
narrative of the checkride:
The appointment was at 10 AM. The examiner wanted me to plan
a cross country from BTV to PLB Plattsburgh, NY) to TEB (Teterboro,
NJ), so I'd been working on that the evening before. It was a
pretty good X/C with lots of different airspace, and some other
challenges. I got the winds and the current forecasts in the
morning at around 6.30AM and made my wind corrections. I went
out to the airport at 8 to pre-preflight the aircraft and to
check on some things in the maintenance logs. Turns out the airplane
had been sprayed with deicing fluid, so I made sure to wipe the
goo off the windows.
The examiner arrived at 10am and I felt at ease right away. I'd
been told that he was an airline captain and had lots of experience,
but I found out that he's been with TWA for 30 years, flying
everything up to and including the 747. Before that, he had 10
years of other commercial flying experience. All that experience
could have been pretty intimidating, but he was very low key
and friendly, and we got along great.
The oral lasted for about 2 1/2 hours total, but it felt more
like a conversation than a test. Sure, he definitely asked me
some tough questions and we covered all the PTS points about
the regs, airspace, X/C planning, night flying, weather, etc., But it was a very enjoyable experience since he told me stories
and gave me advice based on his experience throughout the oral.
To top it off, he wrote all his rules of thumb and other tidbits
on pieces of paper that I got to keep!
Before I knew it, it was time to go flying. We did a normal takeoff
from BTV, which is class C, and headed over Lake Champlain to
Plattsburgh. Once there, we entered the pattern and did a normal
touch and go (there was some crosswind), followed by a short
field stop-and-go, followed by a forward slip to landing. The
DE told me that he likes to see the slip carried through into
the flare. Once he explained it to me, it made sense. Basically,
his argument is that if you're carrying a slip, it's like you're
coasting down a hill in a car riding the brakes. Now, in the
car scenario, you wouldn't let go of the brakes until you're
on flat ground again. Same thing with the slip. If you take it
out before the roundout, you're going to build up speed before
the flare and float. By carrying the slip through the roundout,
you don't build up any extra speed and just straighten out in
the flare. I followed the prescription and it worked out great.
After the slip landing, we flew the pattern again and did a soft-field
touch and go.
I was feeling pretty good at this point. The landings had worked
out really well, and he'd given me some positive feedback about
them. Just having an experienced airline captain in the airplane
with me was a treat. To have him tell me he liked my landings
felt awesome! Hey, I can do this!
Climbing out of Plattsburgh, the hood came on and he gave me
some vectors to follow, and told me to dial in the Plattsburgh
VOR and track the 90 radial outbound. Once we got up high enough
we did unusual attitudes, constant speed climbs and descents,
etc. After the hood had come off, I did steep turns followed
by slow flight. In slow flight, we did 30 degree banking turns,
climbing and descending turns, with and without flaps. We then
went straight into the stall series, with a balked landing stall
and a departure stall. I can't remember if we did turning stalls
or not, but we might have. It's all a little bit of a blur.
He pulled the power and pointed out a field to me. As I was circling
over the field, he gave me some pointers on how he judges his
height over the field and how he likes to adjust his pattern.
He circles over the field until he's close to 1000' AGL abeam
the beginning of the field. He keeps the flaps up and judges
his descent by picking a point midfield and basically keeping
it at a constant angle by widening out the 180 turn to final.
Once you're on final, you'll be lined up to land midfield with
no flaps, so if there's a wind that you haven't corrected for,
you'll still have some cushion altitude-wise. If not, you just
start bringing in the flaps. This was again great advice, since
I always tend to be too high on the engine-out landings. This
time, I was definitely in the ballpark and was able to make the
beginning of the field without having to do S-turns or any other
monkey business on final. He didn't tell me to go around until
I was almost on the ground, which was pretty exciting. It also
made the go-around more realistic since there were some trees
at the other end of the field.
I won't bore you with the ground reference maneuvers. After those
were done, we headed back to Burlington for a normal landing.
I must have been getting too cocky at this point, since I somehow
managed to bounce the landing.( *%#^$#!) It wasn't too bad, and
I salvaged it, but still it was not the kind of ending I wanted
to my checkride.
Nevertheless, once we'd parked the airplane, the examiner reached
over and shook my hand to congratulate me on becoming a private
pilot! The relief and joy I felt almost made me fall out of my
seat!
When I got home from the airport, my wife (who must have had
more confidence in me that I did) welcomed me with a chilled
bottle champagne. Nothing ever tasted this good!
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my CFI, everyone I've
flown with during my training, the examiner, and last but not
least everyone on this newsgroup. I've learned so much from everyone's
postings here during my training, and I'll definitely stick around
here as I go on to my instrument training!
Wohoooo!
Kristian Ljungkvist, PP-ASEL (Yeah!!!)
Checkride
#16
Apologies for not providing this earlier, it sounds like
lots of folks in my area are going up in the very near future.
Steve Benedict is a busy man! In any case, here tis, from Feb
8.
I was very nervous about the checkride. For me it represented
the culmination of a childhood dream that had ended abruptly
when I was in my early teens due to family issues, and it took
me 20 years to overcome enough roadblocks in my life to be able
to pursue it again. In any case, I didn't sleep much the night
before---in fact, I got up and rechecked weather several times,
and revised all my ded reckoning at least twice. I wasn't really
worried about it, but the anxiety kept me from sleeping. Apparently
this happens to a lot of folks. If I had it to do over again
I would seriously try to get as much sleep as possible, and eat
a hearty, protein-filled breakfast. All I had to eat that morning
was coffee and a banana, and I think by the time I was doing
stalls at 4 in the afternoon my blood sugar was nearly gone.
The meat of the story:
I had been worried about the wind, as the day before my instructor
and I were actually blown sideways off the runway at Sonoma Skypark
while practicing short and soft field work. I had just touched
the mains for a stunning (if I do say) soft field landing, and
suddenly we were 50 feet sideways and about 30 feet up. I immediately
initiated a go-around and hollered "wup, I didn't do that!"
and Roger said "me neither!" The weather was kind of
mixed, so I was half expecting to have to defer the flying portion
of the exam for a week or so. Luckily the wind was much calmer
by morning, so we were on.
Also, the day before the test I made sure to get all of the plane's
current weight and balance info, and found out where the logbooks
showed all the current things like avionics and prop inspections.
I had to bring the logs with me, and I wanted to know where everything
was.
Steve called me about 6pm the night before and had me plan a
trip from Santa Rosa to Bakersfield, and gave me his weight info.
I planned the trip to within an inch of its life, working around
the SFO class B, alternate landing sites, the whole nine yards.
I calculated how much fuel I would burn on the way to pick him
up at STS from Petaluma, and it was a good thing, too, as it
brought us back under gross (this was a C152).
I woke up at 8am (much earlier than normal) and checked weather
again and wrote down every word the guy said. Recalculated all
of the planned times and headings with the new wind info. My
wife and 3-yr-old dropped me off at the field in Petaluma around
11:15am, for a 12pm appointment in Santa Rosa. I checked out
the plane and grabbed the logbooks, and asked the chief CFO to
take a look to make sure all of my endorsements were correct.
My instructor had signed the written exam paperwork to say that
he had taught me about the questions I had missed, but it turned
out what he really needed to do was to add a sentence to his
endorsement in my logbook; the place to sign on the exam report
itself is only if you flunk the test and need to retake it. Roger
wasn't around, however, so I left him a note to call my cell
phone and headed for STS.
I was on the 45 entering downwind at STS (a class D airport)
at pattern altitude when someone else called the tower and gave
my approximate position. I got a little worried when his shadow
crossed my windscreen. Realizing that a midair was probably not
a good thing to happen on the way to one's checkride, I dropped
down about 150 feet, turned on all my lights (like that would
help at noon on a sunny day), and flew a close downwind trying
to crane my neck to see who the heck it was. Turned out to be
a North American (AT-6 or P-51?) who had me in sight the whole time, entered
downwind at least 500 feet too high, and used this opportunity
to pass. I ended up being #3 to land. If you're out there, sir,
that particular maneuver was not appreciated.
I landed and found Manny's Aviation, where I was to meet Steve
(HINT: don't taxi toward the tower, it's north of there tucked
back in a corner), parked and went in, about 5 minutes late.
Steve showed up about 45 minutes later (he had told me he might
be a little late as well), and we drove back to his office. He
got all the paperwork out of the way first, verifying my name
and address, etc. About halfway through this, Roger called offering
to fly up to sign anything I needed, and it turned out the slightly
mistaken endorsement was no big deal.
For the oral portion, Steve mostly went through the PTS page
by page asking me questions and telling me stories about his
life and how he got into flying. This part of the test was really
more anecdotal than anything else, though we did cover just about
everything. He talked some about runway incursions and asked
me how I avoid them, and spent some time talking about density
altitude. We went over the airplane's logbooks, talked about
my flight plan and particularly about the weather information
I had gathered. He asked me what Vx and Vy were for my aircraft,
and what I would use that information for.
I dislike the term "common sense", since so much of
basic logic is sadly uncommon, but that's really how I would
describe this. More than anything else, his emphasis was very
strongly toward correlating different information and using it
in a practical sense (hence the term "practical exam").
He was less concerned that I knew how much a gallon of avgas
weighed, for example, than he was with knowing what I would do
if I was over-gross at a high-density-altitude airport. I posted
a while back that he asked me "if we went to Tahoe one bright
morning and topped the tanks while we were there, what would
we expect if we wanted to come back at three in the afternoon?"
I told him that I'd have to calculate the density altitude, and
why, and that I might have to either drain some fuel or leave
him there. Luckily for me he has a sense of humor.
We covered everything in the PTS by about 2:45 or so and then
headed back to the plane. He told me that I needed to (1) not
scare him, (2) not do anything illegal, (3) not push the plane
outside its operating limitations, and (4) do what he asked me
to do. He also said that one thing that really bugs him is for
people to do things wrong and then yammer about how they knew
how to do it right; he said he didn't want excuses, he just wanted
to see that if I was doing something wrong that I was working
to make it right again. This turned out to be absolutely the
case, and is probably why I passed, particularly with regard
to landings (see below).
At that point the test got much quieter, as he needed to observe
more than participate. I gave the plane an extremely thorough
checkout, gave him my canned passenger briefing that I had half-snarfed
from this group, started the plane and made my radio calls. He
asked me not to talk too much, just to do everything that I was
supposed to do, and he'd ask questions if he thought I was missing
something. I followed the checklist religiously. I was getting
more nervous at this point, partly due to not talking as much
and partly because I felt more confident about what I knew than
about how I actually flew.
Plus, the weather was starting to move in and the ceiling was
coming down a bit, and as a result he had me divert on the ground
(an easy one!) to Healdsburg, an airport exactly 10 miles away
and sitting right on the compass rose for the STS VOR. We took
off and went up to Healdsburg, entered the pattern and set up
for a short-field landing. I had my airspeed too low and as a
result turned too early for final, but somehow managed to bring
it down right where I wanted it and dropped in right on the numbers,
not quite hard enough to actually knock out our teeth, though
my fillings were a little loose afterward.
We taxied back for a soft-field takeoff, made it around the pattern
once again, and set up for a soft-field landing. He said "here's
where you get to show me your finesse." Once again my airspeed
was too low, and we ended up dropping in a little hard, whereupon
he made a remark about my finesse that was funny at the time
though I don't remember it now. Not an awful landing, and I remembered
to keep the nose up, but I thought I was done for. He took the
controls and used the rest of the runway to show me the attitude
he would have liked to have seen, and described what he saw that
I had done wrong, mostly airspeed too low. He didn't ask me to
do it again, as he said he was satisfied that I was doing the
right things to make it work, that the landing was perfectly
safe if not pretty and that he hoped I would practice them in
the future.
We did a perfect (if I do say so myself) short-field takeoff
and he had me put the foggles on. He gave me vectors for 15 minutes
or so, which I thought I did quite well, then some unusual attitudes,
and then we took them off (we were over the ridge east of Cloverdale
at this point) and did some steep turns and then some slow flight
and stalls. I just couldn't get the plane to stall, I was treating
it too gingerly; he took the controls and gave me a short lesson
and reiterated what he expected, that it was very important that
I was in complete control of the plane. This time I was able
to stall it and recover to his satisfaction, and even pointed
out some rather close traffic during the maneuver, which I think
he appreciated.
We headed back after that. I was a little worried that we hadn't
done some of the things I had been practicing, like turns around
a point and whatnot, but he said he was satisfied with my pattern
work and that I had shown I could compensate for wind with reference
to the ground. He was very happy with my hood work and said he
hoped I would go on to get an instrument rating, but that he
hoped I would continue to practice slow flight and stalls as
well as short and soft landings, because there are many folks
who get their tickets and then just drive around and never practice
any of the performance maneuvers. I think it was shortly after
this that I pooched my final landing---he asked for a normal
landing, and it had been so long since I had done one that I
couldn't remember how to do it! I landed just past the numbers
and set the nose down way too quickly, as for a short-field landing.
He talked with me about the importance of keeping the nose up
after all types of landings, and then we taxied back to Manny's
and he wrote up my paperwork and said "Congratulations",
and told me about the instrument course he teaches at Santa Rosa
Jr College.
I flew back home to Petaluma with my paperwork, smiling all the
way, and as I was entering the 45 I heard my instructor call
5 miles out. I keyed the mic and said "that you, Roger?"
He responded with "who be that?" and I said "Private
Pilot Jeffrey Osier-Mixon", and got a flurry congratulations
over the radio. I made a nearly perfect landing in Petaluma and
as I was tying down, my family came over and my 3-year-old hollered
out, "Congratulations Daddy!"
The weather was mostly north still, so I grabbed the keys to
one of the 172s and took my family up to watch the sunset. It
was the finest 0.6 hours I ever spent in an airplane. I have
spent several hours since then both driving around (we have been
to Mendocino twice) and practicing slow flight and landings;
I don't feel that my learning process has slowed down in the
slightest.
Yesterday was my wife's birthday, so we flew up to Mendocino
(poddy break) and then up the Lost Coast to Shelter Cove for
a late lunch. She has begun to comment "Nice landing, Captain!"
about my landings, so I know they have improved, thanks in great
part to the advice I have gotten on this newsgroup. We had a
quiet ride home with a low (3000) ceiling along the Mendocino
coast, with my son asleep in the back, and we both looked at
each other and talked about what an incredibly awesome privilege
we have to be able to do this. I'm thankful for it all over again
whenever I think about it.
Anyway, things to bring to the checkride:
foggles
aircraft logbooks and POH
all required signatures and endorsements
a complete application
all flight planning and w/b calculations
a written record of your weather briefing
medical certificate
current sectionals and A/FD, and TAC if required
current FAR/AIM
some form of protein, and a bottle of water
a written passenger briefing
checklist for your plane
record of your written exam
logbook
I hope this helps ease some of the anxiety of others preparing
for the exam. The short story really is that the prep work was
tougher than the exam itself, but maybe that's because I spent
so much energy preparing for it. Just remember to breathe, and
keep your sense of confidence---you don't get to the exam without
at least one other person feeling that you're ready for it. Get
some sleep and eat a hearty breakfast, and everything will be
fine.
Jefro
Checkride
#17
Well, in the spirit of this group I will belatedly describe the
checkride I took--and passed!! on April 14. Actually I have been
so busy enjoying my new privileges that I have been too lazy
to write it up...
The morning was a bit hazy but viz was adequate, and NO WIND!!
Actually as you will see that may or may not have been a real
advantage. I had already taken the oral almost a month earlier,
but got delay after delay on the flying while waiting for the
weather to clear. The DE called me the night before and told
me to use the same cross country destination he had originally
assigned, but to update the weather. He had me calculate weight
and balance with 140 lbs of luggage but did not actually bring
any. Since this exceeded the baggage area limit for the C172
we were flying, I calculated balance with all the weight in the
back seat, or with half in the back seat and half in luggage,
and showed him both. I photocopied the charts from the POH and
highlighted all the relevant lines. The strategy was to be so
disgustingly organized that he would go on to the good stuff
quickly, and perhaps it worked. He was not particularly interested
in watching me preflight and chatted about the weather as we
taxied.
I fly out of El Monte in Southern California and we started and
ended the test at my home field, which was great. I was assigned
Henderson, NV as a destination. To cross the mountains I planned
a cruising altitude of 9500 feet. The examiner told me that he
wanted a short field takeoff, and that we would actually level
out at 3500 feet. He wanted to modify the route to avoid Class
C airspace near Ontario, so we would go slightly north of my
original plan. He also mentioned that if he said nothing, that
meant everything was OK. While taxiing, he also mentioned that
his last examinee had failed, because he had not gone through
a restart procedure on his emergency landing. With that fresh
in mind, we did the run up, and took off with no problem.
The air was absolutely still and cool, and I got us right on
course with no problem. While en route the DE kept fiddling with
the com radio, listening to ATIS at every airport in the region.
I am not sure if this was meant to be a distraction or not, since
the fields were not near our route. He asked me to remind him
what the date of our oral test had been, and remarked that at
that time the FBO with which he was affiliated had never lost
a plane, but that it now had--a rented C172 that went down off
Malibu, maybe related to flight into IFR conditions--anyway,
if he meant to make me nervous that did not really do it since
I already knew about this.
Just short of our northern turn toward Nevada, he asked me to
divert to Redlands, which is to the east. I located the field
on the sectional and calculated heading, distance, time and fuel.
En route I identified several other airports as checkpoints,
and when I pointed out Redlands to him, we went on to the next
phase. He had me put on foggles and we did about 6 or 7 minutes
of instrument flying which was uneventful. He then took the plane
and tried to disorient me by doing several up and down roller
coaster maneuvers (that were hard on the stomach with the foggles
on!) following which he put me in an unusual attitude; nose high,
slow and banked to the right. The recovery was easy; my CFI had
done much harder ones, though without the ride beforehand. Then
the foggles came off, and he asked for a steep turn, which he
allowed me to do in either direction, and only required once.
He said I could assume that he had cleared for me, unless I wanted
to do it myself. I took him at his word and did a steep 360 to
the right, and did well, even though that was one that has been
tough for me.
Next we went directly to slow flight, which has always been one
of my best maneuvers. Here I nearly lost it; I gained about 150
feet while transitioning. He asked me if I recognized a problem
and I said yes, I had gained altitude and that it was outside
of the PTS. He said that he could fail me for that and I said
yes, I know. He asked me what had happened, since my steep turn
had been perfect, and I said that I was not sure, but that I
thought that the combination of maneuvering under the hood followed
by the steep turns and the transition in rapid succession had
made me slightly queasy, and that I had gotten behind the plane.
He said, "Well, do it again" and this time I did it
flawlessly for him. Maybe he didn't want to wait another three
weeks for another good day just to test that one maneuver, or
maybe he was just in a good mood. Next we did a power-off stall.
Then we started back toward El Monte, and while over an unpopulated
area he had me do S turns across a road and turns around a point.
He actually did the clearing turns and set up the plane where
he wanted to start the S-turns, and this would require the first
turn to the right. I had been told that no tricks were involved
in the test, but the PTS called for the first turn to the left;
so I mentioned that. He said that he understood, but that I should
go ahead as instructed and that would be fine. Then I did turns
around a point, where he let me choose the point. No problem
there. Next he pulled the power. I went through the checklist
and procedures for emergency engine out but this part was a little
embarrassing. I found straight flat dirt road as my landing area
and began to set up for it. As we got lower I saw power lines
along side it, and updated to another road a little farther away.
The DE then asked, "Well, what about THAT?" and pointed
out HIS side of the plane to a new freeway under construction,
consisting of 20 miles of straight flat obstruction-free concrete.
I had to admit that was a pretty good option. He remarked that
I would have seen it while turning base for my original target,
and could easily have made it there. He reminded me to be
sure to look ALL around when choosing an emergency landing area.
Point taken!
We flew back to El Monte where he wanted a short field landing.
I had been practicing the previous two weeks in strong headwinds,
which effectively caused the plane to virtually hover over the
runway and made short fields a snap. On this day, however, there
was NO wind, so my aiming point was too far down and I saw that
I would miss. I went around, which he approved of. He mentioned
that his most frequent reason for failing examinees was the short
field landing--usually landing too short. "A little short,
add a little power, a little long, add a lot of power,"
he said, and then we were back for another try. There was a lot
of traffic in the pattern and the tower had me do S turns on
final; I landed a little long, but within the designated limits,
and we came to a full stop and taxied back for a soft field takeoff
and landing. These both went OK. I have made softer soft field
landings but it was decent enough. We taxied back to the FBO,
he shook my hand, and it was over.
Wow! I took a week's vacation off from work, and I flew my wife
to Santa Monica for dinner, to Santa Ynez for lunch in Solvang,
and to Borrego Valley via Carlsbad, for an overnight stay at
a resort in Borrego Springs. She seems to be enjoying it, but
for me it really is an addiction--the more I fly, the more I
want to fly again! However, I'll wait till fall before I start
instrument training; one checkride a year is plenty for me.
Lessons
learned from my checkride:
1) It probably helps to communicate with the examiner as you
make your maneuvers, even if he says nothing; I had
the feeling that when I was not perfect, my 'narrative' let him
know what I 'thought' I was up to, especially on things like
the stalls and special takeoffs and landings.
2) Be honest and don't disagree with the examiner. I feel sure
that if I had argued about my problem with the altitude on the
slow maneuvers, rather than acknowledging that I had made a mistake
and recognized it as such, he would not have been so kind to
me. I tried to be very polite when I asked about the S-turns
to the right.
3) Practice your best maneuvers as well as your most challenging
ones. I had the greatest problems on the test with slow flight
and short field, normally my two easiest tasks! I was so happy
to have just done a perfect steep turn that it probably contributed
to my getting behind. I relaxed too much when the "hard
part" was over. In flying, I suppose, there are easy maneuvers
and hard maneuvers, but the checkride is testing you on ESSENTIAL
maneuvers, all of which may be equally important for safe flight.
Best of luck to everyone, and I hope this long-winded narrative
is helpful.
Jeff Schweitzer, PP-ASEL
WIZ' Checkride
Just a few quick notes on my checkride Saturday. Since I benefitted from
others' checkride stories, I thought I'd give back.
Some of you may remember the screw ups by my AME that caused my medical, which
I obtained before ever starting flight training, to be revoked the day before
my checkride was scheduled. I got my medical back, but between travel for work
and the period spent getting my medical back, I only flew 3 hours in the last
two months. Needless to say, I wasn't at the top of my game, but I have a good
instructor, and I felt competent enough to get through.
Conditions weren't ideal. Although high pressure dominated and the day was
warm (by January in DC standards), winds were shifting from a direct crosswind
to a slight headwind, and gusting from 8 to 14. Of course, I couldn't get away
to do it Friday, when it was dead calm...
We started by checking over the paperwork. I paid the fee. The DPE was pretty
tough (he has a reputation for that), but fair, and tried to teach me a few
things in the process. Right off the bat I though I failed - Friday the DPE
told me to plot a course to Capital City (CXY) in Harrisburg. I drew the
course line to Harrisburg Int'l (MDT), next door, instead, and did all of my
nav log based on that. I know the difference between the two airports; I was
just dog tired by the time I got home and plotted it. I offered to re-do the
nav log, saying at least he could observe me doing the work. He told me that
in days past, they used to give the candidate the destination just before the
checkride and he or she would have 30 minutes to do the log.
I'm OK with plotters and the whiz wheel, so I was able to fix the log in about
8 minutes. We then went on to look at the chart; he quizzed me on some pretty
obscure stuff. Can you get fuel at this airport? Yes, it has tick marks around
the symbol. How about this one? Should be able to; it's a big airport, but no
tick marks. Answer: It houses a National Guard Unit. Possibly for security
reasons (?!) the availability of fuel is not marked on charts for military
bases, even if they are on otherwise public use airports. Why does this
airport with a Guard unit have tick marks? The rule is applied
inconsistently... We went over my calcs for weight and balance, and he gave me
an out-of-the-envelope scenario and asked me how much weight I would have to
shift from the baggage area to the backseat to fix it. I showed him my short
field landing and takeoff calculations, and where I added 50% to them because
of airplane age and my lack of experience. He didn't like that part; thought
it was too conservative.
He quizzed me further on an Alert Area, types of airspace, the Washington, DC
ADIZ, and airplane systems. I knew some of it, but not others (I didn't know
the master cylinders for the brakes were at the firewall under the pedals...)
He pointed out some fun places to fly when I get my certificate. I filed my
ADIZ flight plan, got a briefing. Then we flew.
I got my squawk code from Potomac, and checked in with them in the air, as
required in the ADIZ. I hit the first couple of checkpoints from my nav log
right on, then he had me calc groundspeed - all fine. I then had to divert to
a small, inconspicuous airport. I estimated the heading and distance,
estimated the time en route, and headed over. Pilotage told me I was
right in the neighborhood, but I didn't see it. I turned for another pass, but
didn't see it then, either. He told me I had one last chance. I turned once
more, and during the turn lifted my wing to look, and it was right there. I
was spot-on with the navigation, but had passed over the 1800' strip twice
without seeing it! Naturally, this shook my confidence just a little, but I
pressed on.
Under the Foggles, I did turns and ascents\descents at a fixed airspeed,
followed by unusual attitudes. He really pulled the plane around -- the first
time I ever felt queasy in an airplane. Each time, he asked me what attitude
we had been in. The last time, he surreptitiously pressed down hard on the
right rudder pedal, and when I had trouble centering the rudder, I asked him
if he was pressing on it, and if he would please stop doing it.
We did short and soft field takeoffs and landings. I intercepted and tracked a
VOR heading he set back to home field. Along the way he offered some friendly
tips on things that would help my precision when I started training IFR. We
got back to the pattern and he pulled power when I was on downwind abeam the
numbers. I had never done one close in like that, and turned right to the
airport -- I was too close. I slipped, but couldn't lose altitude fast enough,
and went around. Second time was better, but still not good enough; went
around. Third try, he said, was my last. I did better, but had some speed and
floated a bit. I wasn't down by the midway point of the 4,200' runway... I had
understood him to say that this was my last chance to pass, but I was
uncomfortably close to my personal minimums and didn't want to run out of
runway. I decided to sacrifice my checkride for safety, and announced a
go-around as I pushed in the throttle. He said "NO!" and in the next
second or two, I pulled throttle, then added a little back to arrest the sink
rate. Needless to say, we landed; he had taken the controls, and as we taxied
back he asked me for a self-assessment. I felt about half of my checkride was
several notches below my normal performance, but I said I appeared to be
within PTS tolerances. On the last go-around, I was pretty sure I could have
put the plane down if it had been an engine failure, but didn't want to get
too close if I didn't have to. He essentially asked if I was doing sort of a
dance on this issue, and I told him no, that I knew he said it was my last
chance on the engine out, but I made the decision to go around because I
thought it was the safe choice. It was a true answer, because as I was making
the decision, I really expected it to cost me my checkride. It was only after
we parked and I started tying down in a kind of resigned manner, when he said
he couldn't think of any major reason not to type up a white piece of paper
for me! We went to his office, and he filled out the paperwork, joked with me
a bit,
I didn't really get that sense of elation people write about -- I felt kind of
traumatized, actually. I could barely stay awake the rest of the evening
because I was so fatigued. I was pretty surprised when I looked at the Hobbs
and it had only been 1.8 hours. I feel a bit better now, but the fact that I
didn't perform as well as I could have is still kind of gnawing at me, and I
don't feel the joy and relief I expected... I'm hoping the "Alright - I
have my pilot's certificate!" thing will sink in at some point. I am
considering sitting down with the DPE and letting him know that I wasn't
totally satisfied with my
performance, and asking him for more a debriefing if he's willing.
Thanks everyone for sharing your training and checkride stories with me. I
considered checking this newsgroup a valuable part of my training.
Wiz, P-ASEL
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