wrighthenry
Pre-takeoff checklist
Yesterday I officially received my license to learn!
I have been prepping for the last three weeks, and at 48.7 hours I took my checkride. Thankfully the checkride was no different than all of the mock checkrides my instructor put me through. The oral was a breeze. In fact the examiner noted we went through it much quicker than normal just because I knew most of the answers to his questions. Honestly though I think I knew just enough on some things to get him talking and that did the trick!
My favorite part of the day (besides when the DPE told me to taxi to the ramp so we could do our paperwork!) was the flight to where the examiner is based. I had to wait a couple of hours for fog to lift around his airport so I got started later in the morning than I would like. However, the flight down was the smoothest most pleasant flight I have ever experienced. I swear on climbout I felt like the plane was barely moving (it is a 150hp 172 so maybe it was barely moving) through the air since it was so smooth. I did my long XC on the hottest day of the summer, so this was a nice change of pace!
The flight started great with me hitting my first checkpoint with only 4 seconds difference than I had planned! It didn't hurt that I had a nice big road to follow all the way to my VOR checkpoint. Did all of the usual maneuvers and spent some time trying to find a small grass strip on the way to our diversion airport. Took me forever to see it. I was convinced my examiner was going to pull power as soon as I saw it and tell me to land but he didn't. My steep turns were a little shaky to start but within PTS. We finally headed back to the airport where I did a soft field landing and a short field take off. One time around the pattern and I did my best short field landing I have ever done, putting it done squarely on the numbers. Taxi to the ramp and I'm a private pilot!
Oh, the checkride was almost over before it started. I took the ride at an uncontrolled field with intersecting runways. I fly out of a class D so I am used to taxi instructions. I was taxiing to rwy 5 and it didn't register to me to stop at the hold short line for 17-35 until I was right on top of it. Got it stopped and announced my intentions to cross the runway. Examiner noted I "just" caught it. All this even though my CFI told me to watch out for it. And I had just talked about runway incursions with the DPE. Lesson learned. Big time.
I don't post much but do a lot of lurking. I'm convinced all of the reading I do here and on other boards has helped me in my training and I hope it makes me a safe competent pilot from here on. So thanks to everyone for their knowledge.
I have been prepping for the last three weeks, and at 48.7 hours I took my checkride. Thankfully the checkride was no different than all of the mock checkrides my instructor put me through. The oral was a breeze. In fact the examiner noted we went through it much quicker than normal just because I knew most of the answers to his questions. Honestly though I think I knew just enough on some things to get him talking and that did the trick!
My favorite part of the day (besides when the DPE told me to taxi to the ramp so we could do our paperwork!) was the flight to where the examiner is based. I had to wait a couple of hours for fog to lift around his airport so I got started later in the morning than I would like. However, the flight down was the smoothest most pleasant flight I have ever experienced. I swear on climbout I felt like the plane was barely moving (it is a 150hp 172 so maybe it was barely moving) through the air since it was so smooth. I did my long XC on the hottest day of the summer, so this was a nice change of pace!
The flight started great with me hitting my first checkpoint with only 4 seconds difference than I had planned! It didn't hurt that I had a nice big road to follow all the way to my VOR checkpoint. Did all of the usual maneuvers and spent some time trying to find a small grass strip on the way to our diversion airport. Took me forever to see it. I was convinced my examiner was going to pull power as soon as I saw it and tell me to land but he didn't. My steep turns were a little shaky to start but within PTS. We finally headed back to the airport where I did a soft field landing and a short field take off. One time around the pattern and I did my best short field landing I have ever done, putting it done squarely on the numbers. Taxi to the ramp and I'm a private pilot!
Oh, the checkride was almost over before it started. I took the ride at an uncontrolled field with intersecting runways. I fly out of a class D so I am used to taxi instructions. I was taxiing to rwy 5 and it didn't register to me to stop at the hold short line for 17-35 until I was right on top of it. Got it stopped and announced my intentions to cross the runway. Examiner noted I "just" caught it. All this even though my CFI told me to watch out for it. And I had just talked about runway incursions with the DPE. Lesson learned. Big time.
I don't post much but do a lot of lurking. I'm convinced all of the reading I do here and on other boards has helped me in my training and I hope it makes me a safe competent pilot from here on. So thanks to everyone for their knowledge.
