Checkride write up

masloki

Pattern Altitude
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Aug 23, 2011
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Display name:
Nunya
First, to all other students, be stubborn, and you can make it too. My original goal was start in Sept. and tear through it by New Years. *Between Chicago weather, work travel, holidays, Chicago winds, instructor holidays, and all the breaks causing lesson repeats, I finished in June.*

Check prep with an examiner was scheduled for Monday. Wx was crap, so it became an extended knowledge test (prep). My soft spots: were class G airspaces above 1200 agl, and 10,000 msl, Wx charts, night landing techniques where I over-thought it (lock the pitch/airspeed, keep the numbers with power, done).

Cancelled Saturday check ride with winds 14G21 out of 290 for rwy 21. Sunday much better at 10g15 out of 300, with gusting forecast to drop off near the end of the ride. *So I made the go call, with an out for a nearby airport that had better alignment, in case the forecast was optimistic.*

So,the real oral exam became the game of stump the candidate :) We got into kias, kcas, tas, and how it changes with temp and alt. The important part is that kias is all the wing knows. A couple other questions I blasted through, mainly due to reading this forum for many months. Thank you to all the contributors!

We take a slow walk to the airplane so I can get a feel for the gusting. Not too bad with it kicking up every few minutes. *Went through walk around and briefing like I did 100x, making sure to use the checklist. *He gave me a tip about checking the cotter pins on the wheels.*

Took off, followed procedures, given direction to conduct a soft field take off and level off at 2500. *Hanging out in ground effect with xwind gusts wasn't easy. I over-corrected a little, regained centerline and was on my way. *Went through gaining the course line, pilotage, tuned the VOR, followed the course with correction, and did hood work. *I busted my altitude but quickly corrected. Went into stalls, power on with left turn, which I had never done before. Power off with right turn. I liked that every once in a while he gave me a "nice" which beats waiting for the dreaded "do you want to continue". Did emergency descent at 85, he said engine still on fire, took it unto the yellow line, and hey, we are at 1800, let's do turns around a point. *I picked a point, mentioned that it was upwind so the first half turn would be a clearing turn :). Made it through the first half and he said let's go home. *Went into short field landing, which was on the target. I usually borked the short field on the first landing after maneuvers, so it felt good to nail it. Next time around, directed to soft field, then told to go around, then forward slip to soft. Landed a bit long, so he asked for more brakes, but after that, he said, "take it to the pumps."

Did virtual paperwork, he gave me tips to lock into my mind sight pictures for different power configs, and I went home with my temporary airman's certificate. Woot!
 
Nice writeup and congratulations on your new ticket! My time is coming soon.

This also reminds me I need to ask my CFI about emergency descents.
 
Nice job. Sure feels good when you're finished with that temporary cert in your pocket. Congratulations on getting your license to learn.
 
Nice writeup and congratulations on your new ticket! My time is coming soon.

This also reminds me I need to ask my CFI about emergency descents.
Hopefully you don't have to ask-I believe it's in the new PTS.
 
Forward slip, emergency descent, and full stall into the break, were the main changes in the practical area. SRM/ADM was the main addition in the overall PTS. Emergency descent was the only real addition for the examiner's routine.

My many year'd CFI and many year'd examiner were joking about each revision seems to just swap some cogs out every few years.
 
Nice job and good story! Enjoy the new piece of paper and soon to be plastic occupying that space in your wallet. I still take mine out and look at it and remember my check ride and accomplishments with great pride. Congrats!
 
Great job!

My plastic license came in about 3 weeks.
 
And finally totalled all the numbers up
67.1 total/13.7 PIC
31.8 ground
9 months club dues
exams
pilot bag and stuff that goes inside it
$9924 out the door :eek:

Gonna be a little while before I save up enough to start the IR.
 
What's up with the cotter pins? I think on my rentals, I can only see a tiny bit of rubber on the bottom of the wheel (huge wheel pants).

Congratulations, and I spent more than twice what you did.
 
Holy cow - twice as much! Time to relocate to the boonies for some cheap rentals. :)

Yeah, with wheel pants on, there wouldn't be a way to see the pins. It is definitely one of the many items on a Cessna that you want to check if you can, but isn't on the checklist. A CFI out of Palomar showed the updated checklist his schools uses that includes turning engine to off then back on to ensure the mags are grounded/prop is not hot.
 
Holy cow - twice as much! Time to relocate to the boonies for some cheap rentals. :)

Yeah, with wheel pants on, there wouldn't be a way to see the pins. It is definitely one of the many items on a Cessna that you want to check if you can, but isn't on the checklist. A CFI out of Palomar showed the updated checklist his schools uses that includes turning engine to off then back on to ensure the mags are grounded/prop is not hot.

I learn something new (about pre-flight) every time I fly in somebody else's plane. I always watch them do the pre-flight. I have added MANY extra things to my routine as a result. None of them are on any sort of checklist that I've ever seen.
 
I learn something new (about pre-flight) every time I fly in somebody else's plane. I always watch them do the pre-flight. I have added MANY extra things to my routine as a result. None of them are on any sort of checklist that I've ever seen.


Agreed. It seems everytime I fly with someone different, I end up having one or two items more to check during a preflight.
 
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