So, student pilots.. Who are we and where do we stand?

It finally happened! I had my PPL checkride yesterday and.....

... did not pass.

My navigation, stalls, steep turns, emergency procedures, ground reference, and most of my landings were within standards.
The examiner even told me at the end of the oral exam portion that I was one of the best PPL applicants he'd tested this year. That felt pretty damn good. Months of study paid off!

However, I busted on the short field landing. I shot two attempts, came in way too high and fast on my first attempt and saw the writing on the wall. I knew I would float well past +200ft so I called go-around, aborted the landing, and went around.

For the 2nd attempt I got in my own head and over-corrected. I was ~5kts too slow crossing the threshold, and I didn't have the energy to make it to my point, so I touched down about 50ft short of it.

The disapproval stings, but it's not going to stop me from getting back out there and learning what went wrong, how to fix it, and trying again. A couple of lessons and a lap around the pattern with the DPE and I'll be a pilot!
 
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Am getting a little frustrated. Have 100+ landings and a little more than 45 hours. Most of the training so far has gone without a hitch,,,,,,,,,, except landings. Can do 3 or 4 in a row that are perfectly acceptable then I bounce one bad enough that I usually abort it. Not knowing when I will have that bad landing makes me nervous. Know everyone is different but is this in any way normal? Don't want to give up on training but I need to figure it out.
 
Pretty normal. The bounces will become fewer and fewer, but meanwhile if you know when to go around you'll be fine.
 
Instrument rated as of today! Found out once back on the ground, a convective sigmet popped on our heads. I used to AP to brief my approaches and get set up, then hand flew the approaches. What a weight lifted. Short break, and back to studying for the FII and the CPL written, then CPL maneuvers, time building.

I have to knock out the 10 night tower T/L and the 2 hour XC night dual recieved. Been up since 0430.
 
Just got my official commercial lic in the mail. Did my 2nd session of training in the Piper Seminole this past sun. So far it is going well but man it is expensive to train for the multi. I am hoping I finish it in the bare minimum hours so I dont run of of money. lol
 
Early this morning it was in the mid 70's with 5-10 knots of wind and very few clouds. I spent half-an-hour discussing the pertinent parts of the 140DA-1 and A-691 . . . the weights and balance; engine and airplane limits: oil and fuel requirements: and observing a preflight inspection of the aeroplane which involved his explaining the correct function of every part as well as what documentation was required by regulation.

We looked at the first aid kit, the ELT, and the fire extinguisher . . .. Then he taught me the safe way to hand prop the aeroplane. (It sounds so much fancier in "British".)

He took off and landed. But, in-between I got my first half-hour of instruction and performed straight-and-level flight, climbs, descents, and leveling off after each as well as making medium bank turns in both directions. He reiterated his belief that learning was sensory and we did not discuss any performance numbers, nor could I see the panel from the back seat while in the air.

Although I am told that 60 mph is the default answer to every question.

And I am officially a backseat (aeroplane) driver.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Two weeks with no flight time. Ugh. Between weather, July 4 holiday and losing almost a week to the airport being without power due to Beryl, I can’t seem to catch a break. Today’s forecast looks crappy, as well.

The flight school won’t schedule the DPE for my checkride until I complete a mock checkride, and the earliest opening that I can schedule it is 2 weeks out - and that assumes that the weather is clear that particular day. If weather blocks that, then I’m re-scheduling for probably another 2 weeks or more out.

:mad2:

There has to be a better way to get this done.
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BTDT. Had similar problems with both my Sport and Private checkrides. In fact, the NHC began contacting me to learn when I had a plane reserved so they could incorporate it into their hurricane forecasts.

My school was a bit more flexible with the scheduling and would usually find a way to work me in. The DPE and weather were significantly less cooperative.
 
43 hours. Have about 4.5 solo. I'm dragging my feet on the long solo. I've done a couple mini cross country flights to nearby airports. CFI says I'm ready for check, just need to wish out the solo time. We have done a few extra curricular true short fields... so much fun. Still battling the nerves of flying alone, but I know that will come with time. I actually haven't solo'd in a while because we have been doing fun flights and practicing stuff. Hopefully I can finish up soon!
 
JoshuaP said:
43 hours. Have about 4.5 solo. I'm dragging my feet on the long solo.
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You mean the 150nm cross country to three different airports? That was amazingly fun and as memorable to me as my first solo! But get more solo practice time in beforehand if you're not proficient/confident - you'll have to aviate, navigate and communicate all on your own.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Two weeks with no flight time. Ugh. Between weather, July 4 holiday and losing almost a week to the airport being without power due to Beryl, I can’t seem to catch a break. Today’s forecast looks crappy, as well.

The flight school won’t schedule the DPE for my checkride until I complete a mock checkride, and the earliest opening that I can schedule it is 2 weeks out - and that assumes that the weather is clear that particular day. If weather blocks that, then I’m re-scheduling for probably another 2 weeks or more out.

:mad2:

There has to be a better way to get this done.
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It been the other way around for me lately and I am not complaining.

-Fri wheels up at 5 AM. 12 hrs on the Hobbs. At 5 pm trying to do a short flight back home and the plane wont start. The starter not working. Nobody to pick me up except for me 80 yr old friend who only flies when its totally sunny. He drove 90 mins to pick me up. Got home at 10 pm.

-Sat a few hrs with the fam at the lake. get back home at 10 pm

-sun wheels up at 6 am. 8 hrs on the hobbs

I love this flying thing too much.

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I'm in a club. My instructor was unavailable for a week. As soon as he got back somebody checked the plane out for 8 days. So no lesson from July 1 to July 21st. During that time it's been hot and dry, western PA is entering a drought. Looking at the weather, from the 22nd to the end of the month it's supposed to rain and/or t-storm every day.

It's really, really frustrating. I'm thinking of ceasing training with the club and just going to a flight school. It won't help the weather issue but the plane and instructor should be more accessible.
 
StraightnLevel said:
8 days?

That's not OK for a flight school model at all. Sounds like it's really a club/partnership that allows CFIs to train in their planes occasionally. That may be OK for getting a minor endorsement like complex, tailwheel or high performance, but probably not for getting a full cert.
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It's not a flight school, so it wouldn't run like one. It sounds like he's in a club and taking lessons from an independent CFI/CFI associated with the club.
 
Yeah, it's a flying club. We have a max of two students at a time. All the CFIs who are members are retired airline pilots or military who treat it more like a social club.

Our by-laws allow any member to take the plane overnight up to 12 days. I've been unlucky this summer with availability and weather. But I knew the rules when I signed up so it is what it is, just venting.
 
Got a ppl checkride scheduled in two weeks… any advice?
 
I went and got SES current today in anticipation of my MES rating in a few weeks. Lovely (though hot!) day for floats today in central Florida. Just enough breeze to ripple the surface so glassy water techniques not required, but not enough to even weather vane the plane much. Did slow taxi and docking (to fuel the plane), take off from Lake Dora, flew down to Lake Apopka and did 5 landings, step taxi and turn, returned to Lake Dora and did a landing and beach.

On my first landing I relaxed the back pressure on the yoke, big no-no! 3rd landing I let the sink rate get high and bounced, but "did everything right" to recover: added power, kept nose up followed through and landed. Next 2 were really nice, gentle landings.

So, get a little more time in the twin in the next couple of weeks then off to Brooke's in Coure d'lene for CP-MES in their Beech 18.
 
SkyhawkJ said:
Got a ppl checkride scheduled in two weeks… any advice?
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If you have any mental downtime where you're just performing menial labor or whatever, wear earbuds and listen to checkride mock oral interviews on youtube. I did that while cutting grass, driving, etc for a couple weeks leading into my Private checkride and the oral portion was extremely easy.

I compiled a non-exhaustive playlist linked here.
 
ColinD said:
If you have any mental downtime where you're just performing menial labor or whatever, wear earbuds and listen to checkride mock oral interviews on youtube. I did that while cutting grass, driving, etc for a couple weeks leading into my Private checkride and the oral portion was extremely easy.

I compiled a non-exhaustive playlist linked here.
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That's a good list. I like this one for ppl a lot. The 1st time I watched it I was terrified thinking I'll never be as prepared as this gut. But then I watched it 100 times. my oral went really well.


I also love the youtube material by Leslie Henninger. I think she's fantastic.
 
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Probably nothing big deal for most about flying into ORD but this felt like an OSHKOSH experience for me. I have flown to other Bravo airports before but ORD makes those other ones child play. Taxi in/out was the hardest part.
 
My instrument checkride is on Monday. The DPE has a real sense of humor: he assigned a cross country to KOSH, so I'm not at Airventure but I'm sitting here pouring over the NOTAM. :lol:
 
ColinD said:
My instrument checkride is on Monday. The DPE has a real sense of humor: he assigned a cross country to KOSH, so I'm not at Airventure but I'm sitting here pouring over the NOTAM. :lol:
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I just got mine a few weeks ago. Good luck!
 
Congrats and thanks, I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. I came into IR with well over 50 hours PIC cross country time, so we got to spend pretty much every lesson flying back to back approaches and managed to log a few hours of actual. I hired a sharp, experienced CFII in his 70s and flew with him almost exclusively, rather than building time with a safety pilot. Hired the same DPE as I used for my private, so I know what to expect. Just gotta remember to hit the $1000 button now.
 
Had a nice lesson on Sunday and let my uncle come along to sightsee. Very cool.

My other two lessons were cancelled due to low ceilings.
 
After years of hard work, speed bumps, and life getting in the way, finally completed my commercial checkride yesterday!

Still have lots to improve on, but super stoked to finally have it finished and open up many more professional pathways for myself.
 
Hello everyone, figured I'd introduce myself here. 20 hrs into my PPL, should be soloing this week, weather permitting. Learning in a C150L and been loving it!
Bit of a hiccup with my medical (posted over in the medical section if you are interested), but sounds like my cert is still valid and a resolution is likely, so onward we go!

Flew a little bit under the hood last week, and man that was an uncomfortable feeling!
 
Needed to impose another 24-month deadline on myself, so I just completed the Commercial/CAX written exam.

The test had considerable overlap with AGI and IGI/IRA, so I only spent a few days with Sheppard Air and passed with a 99% - curse those postage stamp sized performance flow charts on these exams. :mad2:
 
ColinD said:
Needed to impose another 24-month deadline on myself, so I just completed the Commercial/CAX written exam.

The test had considerable overlap with AGI and IGI/IRA, so I only spent a few days with Sheppard Air and passed with a 99% - curse those postage stamp sized performance flow charts on these exams. :mad2:
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Was thinking about doing the same thing with shep air. Did you also study the commercial material to learn it or solely do shep air for commercial written and will actually "learn it" later?
 
The written barely touched on any commercial-specific topics. It was almost entirely private knowledge at a deeper level: aerodynamics, hazardous attitudes, ADM, sectional chart symbolism, airport surface markings, performance and W&B calculations, and some IFR basics.

When I use Sheppard, I skip over most of the questions involving performance calculations, fuel burn vs. distance vs. time problems, and W&B stuff. Most of that is trivial to calculate on the spot with the ASA CX3 or similar, and you'd have to be a real savant to memorize the hundred correct answers and correlate them to the questions. I do one or two of the calculations that corresponds with each graph/chart/table just to make sure I'm familiar with the data set and any 'gotchas' (example: the fine print on a 'takeoff distance over a 50ft obstacle' chart, where it says ground roll is something like 73% of the specified distance. Some of the questions want total distance, some just want the ground roll. Plant that seed in your mind and dust it off when necessary, based on the wording of the question.)

The Sheppard question bank contains something like 1150 questions now, I think it was recently expanded from ~750 and is now similar in size to the beastly IRA question bank. On the real test, I was administered 105 questions, so they must be testing some new ones; however, I didn't see anything that wasn't already in the Sheppard test prep.
 
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