Anyone do a Multi - Instructor write up?

SinkorSwim

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Sep 17, 2008
Messages
165
Location
St. Charles MO or WDW Fla
Display Name

Display name:
HFC1969
Just finishing up reviewing for my ride...

Thought I would check the PoA for any reading on others who have taken the check ride..


Thanks..
 
Sure, I had mine last April. I did it in a 310. Here's what I wrote up. Good luck!

---------
The examiner had told me to prepare lessons on Vmc, and takeoff briefing/engine failure scenarios.

When we started the oral, after the introductory discussions, we talked for a while about weight and balance. I discussed 91.205 requirements, but stressed that that's not all there is – TCDS, 337s, ADs, POH and POH supplements all need to be complied with. I used the example of the chute in a Cirrus being required but not a part of TOMATO FLAMES. We talked about all the required inspections, and I showed him where and when they were completed on the plane we were flying using the maintenance manuals.

After that he had me present my lessons. I started with Vmc and just worked my way through determining which engine is critical, the four factors determining that, and how to set the aircraft up for a zero-sideslip condition during engine failure. I then moved on to the factors that influenced Vmc. He asked a few questions during the lesson, but nothing surprising. I used a toy aircraft and a whiteboard to show what I meant.

Then he had me teach him the possible engine failure scenarios and takeoff briefing. We talked about accelerate-go and accelerate-stop distances some, single engine climb performance, and he was happy with my knowledge. He said something to the effect of "you're a good teacher, I like the way you present information, now let's go fly". So that felt good! Total time for the oral was about 1.5 hours.

We discussed how things were going to go in the air. Of the required maneuvers, he would fly about half of them with me teaching him, and I'd fly the other half while explaining what I was doing. This is of course typical for an instructor checkride. We went out to the airplane and he had me conduct the preflight while explaining what I was doing, like with a new student. He followed me around but didn't really ask any big questions.

He was big on CRM, and using both of us to make sure nothing was missed. For example, on the engine starting checklist, I read the items, he performed the actions. He taxied out while I talked to ATC.

We got to the end of the runway, did the runup, and he told me he'd make the first takeoff, a normal takeoff, and for me to teach him. We did the pre-takeoff brief as discussed, then rolled onto the runway and he took off, while I coached him through it. Once we reached about 2000 MSL he turned the plane back over to me.

We headed southeast toward a local airport. He wanted to do most of the maneuvers, especially the engine-out items, near the airport in case of emergency.

(Note - I think I remembered all the maneuvers we did, but it's possible I forgot one or two.)

- Descents, descending turns, climbs, climbing turns – he had me teach him power settings and such for these items. This was not a problem as I have done this often with instrument students.

- Clearing turns

- Steep turns – I flew these, and explained as I did them. They were no problem, actually they went very well. He wanted it at 45 degrees of bank (like Private standard) but two consecutive 360's, one to the left and one to the right, like Commercial standard. I was prepared to explain how to adjust for gains and losses in altitude, but fortunately did really well and didn't have many to discuss!

- Power-on stall – he wanted it done with 21" of MP for both the stall itself and recovery (full power would be way steep). Recovery at the first sign of stall, and using 21" for the recovery as well, which sure takes a while.

- Slow flight – I taught him through it. He didn't make many big (intentional) errors, so there wasn't much to correct him on, it was more about how I'd teach it to him.

- Power-off stall – he handed the controls back to me and asked me to demonstrate a power-off stall, recovering at the first sign of stall. No problems there.

- Vmc demonstration – I flew and taught. In this airplane at altitude you will generally stall before reaching Vmc. Since that's a dangerous condition with full power on one engine, he artificially limited rudder travel (with his foot) to ensure we reached Vmc before stall – which we reached at around 95 knots. Seeing I could no longer maintain directional control, I brought the right engine back to idle, pitched down, regained airspeed and control, and gradually brought the right engine back to full power, reaching full power and blue line simultaneously (as he stated he likes to see, but not a requirement).

- Engine failure – he reached down and turned off the fuel selector for the left engine, and I executed the emergency actions. As we were at a high enough altitude, we simulated attempting to restart the engine, but pretended it wouldn't restart, so proceeded to feather completely. We restarted the engine with me flying and reading the checklist, him performing the actions (which is easiest since most of the switches are on his side – the left side – anyway).

- Engine fire – once the engine was back running, he said something to effect of "that engine's really giving us problems today, now it's on fire!" I took the appropriate actions such as simulating fuel off and mixture off, entered an emergency descent turning away from the engine on fire, and once in the descent continued the engine fire drill. The 310 really needs a lot of nose down pitch to hold 138 knots (top of white arc) with gear and flaps out, engines at idle and props full forward, which is a lot of fun.

- Landing gear problem - at this time we were almost on downwind for runway 35, so configured the airplane for pattern work. When I put the gear handle down, I noticed the gear-down indicator lights were not lit. I pressed them to test, and they lit up. Presuming that the examiner had pulled the circuit breaker (which was next to his left leg, and something that will seem very familiar to my Commercial students), I simply stated that the first thing I'd check was the circuit breaker. "Oh look, it's out, would you like me to push it back in?" I put the gear selector handle in the "off" center position first, he pushed it back in, and the gear magically worked fine from then on. The manual extension system in the 310 is very straightforward, just turn the crank until it stops, but we did not run through that drill.

- Normal landing – on base, another other aircraft in the pattern announced that he was going to change to runway 17, so we played along and made our base into a crosswind and climbed back up to pattern altitude. Since I already had the gear down and flaps at 15, the pre-landing checklist was a little abbreviated. Flew the pattern normally and landed.

- Short-field takeoff – I flew this and taught him. On takeoff roll he "failed" the right engine by pulling back on the mixture. I brought both throttles back to idle and rolled out straight ahead. He was happy with that, so he said to continue (with both engines) and I performed the short-field takeoff. In the 310 it's pretty nose high, but you're over the 50 foot obstacle in just a couple of seconds, so it doesn't last long. On climbout once we got above 500 AGL he failed the left engine by throttling back to idle. I took the normal steps, and while climbing out straight ahead he said "why don't we just get the engine back and I'll fail it again on final" – instead of flying the whole pattern on one engine with the shallow climb angle. Sounded okay to me, so we flew the pattern normally with both engines.

- Single-engine approach and landing – on base leg he failed the left engine again with throttle. This was good because it required me to make a decision outside of the usual engine-out drill. Normally you'd make sure gear and flaps were up for maximum performance. Since I had already configured for landing, I had gear down and flaps at 15 (half). I didn't want to bring the gear up and risk it not coming back down, but I didn't want the flaps down either. So I elected to raise the flaps as I still had plenty of airspeed. He seemed okay with that decision. We simulated feather on the left engine by setting zero thrust. Once established on final to where I knew I'd make the runway, I put the flaps back down to 15 again, and left them there. I didn't go to flaps 35 because I didn't want the additional drag while on one engine.

We taxied off the runway and he said "I'm happy. Are you happy?" Well, of course if he's happy I'm happy! "Then let's head on back."

Total flight time 1.5. What a day!
 
Back
Top