ainokea
Pre-takeoff checklist
Head up from HWD to STS yesterday to take my PPL checkride and passed. It was a beautiful and smooth flight.
The oral portion took bout an hour but seemed to be quick. DPE went through all of the stuff in the PTS. Some stuff I wasn't sure about like what happens if a required item for flight is broken and also mentioned a "placard." I told him I was unsure and he gave me the answer. I felt like I over studied for the oral. If the DPE knows you are confident and know your stuff about that requirement he'd go to the next one.
Flight portion I barely passed....He said depart like we're going on our way to BFL which was my flight plan. He did a diversion and we started on our maneuvers. Next up slow flight with 180 turns. Next power off stalls. Those went good. Next power on stalls with turns. Power on stalls where never my favorite and I practiced these with turns my last few lessons. Next steep turns. When I practiced these I was within 50 ft of requirements. He wanted me to do a left and roll out to a right. I've never rolled out to another turn when I was training so I tried it out. First up was a left steep turn. I turn and see the altitude start dropping so I start pulling back to increase my altitude and feel the G's in my seat. Barely in specs...
Next roll into my right steep turn. Same thing and I am barely in specs. I'm trippin now and feel like crap because something that I've done so well during training I did crappy during my checkride. Next up was hood work. Turns to headings and unusual altitude and that went ok....
He told me how most of the airports in America were non-towered and he wanted to see how to legally enter the airport. I look on the sectional and get the AWOS and listened to the weather. Next tuned into CTAF and asked for traffic advisories. Got a response back that 31 was being used. Looked on the sectional and saw it was RP 31. So I knew it was TO/landing time... He told me first he wanted a short field landing and do a full stop on the runway. I told him I was aiming for the #'s. Landed right on the numbers a lil hard and bouncy and came to a complete stop on the runway. He said he wanted a short field take off. I put flaps 10 and start doing a pop a wheelie. He said STOP. What are you doing? I said soft field TO. He said NO. I wanted a short field take off and starts spelling it out for me. I said I was sorry and I always got those 2 mixed up. I put the flaps back up and stepped on the brakes applied full power saw it was in the green and took off. Next was a soft field landing. He said that short field was a lil rough and I wanna see some finesse. Soft field landing wasn't my smoothest and I tried to hold the wheels off as long as I can and the DPE said he was happy with it. We taxiid off the runway and there was a few planes coming into the field including a citation. The citation was on downwind and he said lets make this the last TO here and do a soft field. Flaps 10 and rolled out with no brakes and pulled all the way back on the yoke and pop a wheelie and hold it in ground effect and climbed and he said head back to STS. Headed back to STS and talked about hobbies and vacations. Once we landed he congratulated me and said you're now a private pilot. Went to the FBO and filled out the paper work and told me the things I can improve on (steep turns and unusual altitude). Head back to HWD with a grin and took some pics of the Bay Area.
The oral portion took bout an hour but seemed to be quick. DPE went through all of the stuff in the PTS. Some stuff I wasn't sure about like what happens if a required item for flight is broken and also mentioned a "placard." I told him I was unsure and he gave me the answer. I felt like I over studied for the oral. If the DPE knows you are confident and know your stuff about that requirement he'd go to the next one.
Flight portion I barely passed....He said depart like we're going on our way to BFL which was my flight plan. He did a diversion and we started on our maneuvers. Next up slow flight with 180 turns. Next power off stalls. Those went good. Next power on stalls with turns. Power on stalls where never my favorite and I practiced these with turns my last few lessons. Next steep turns. When I practiced these I was within 50 ft of requirements. He wanted me to do a left and roll out to a right. I've never rolled out to another turn when I was training so I tried it out. First up was a left steep turn. I turn and see the altitude start dropping so I start pulling back to increase my altitude and feel the G's in my seat. Barely in specs...
Next roll into my right steep turn. Same thing and I am barely in specs. I'm trippin now and feel like crap because something that I've done so well during training I did crappy during my checkride. Next up was hood work. Turns to headings and unusual altitude and that went ok.... He told me how most of the airports in America were non-towered and he wanted to see how to legally enter the airport. I look on the sectional and get the AWOS and listened to the weather. Next tuned into CTAF and asked for traffic advisories. Got a response back that 31 was being used. Looked on the sectional and saw it was RP 31. So I knew it was TO/landing time... He told me first he wanted a short field landing and do a full stop on the runway. I told him I was aiming for the #'s. Landed right on the numbers a lil hard and bouncy and came to a complete stop on the runway. He said he wanted a short field take off. I put flaps 10 and start doing a pop a wheelie. He said STOP. What are you doing? I said soft field TO. He said NO. I wanted a short field take off and starts spelling it out for me. I said I was sorry and I always got those 2 mixed up. I put the flaps back up and stepped on the brakes applied full power saw it was in the green and took off. Next was a soft field landing. He said that short field was a lil rough and I wanna see some finesse. Soft field landing wasn't my smoothest and I tried to hold the wheels off as long as I can and the DPE said he was happy with it. We taxiid off the runway and there was a few planes coming into the field including a citation. The citation was on downwind and he said lets make this the last TO here and do a soft field. Flaps 10 and rolled out with no brakes and pulled all the way back on the yoke and pop a wheelie and hold it in ground effect and climbed and he said head back to STS. Headed back to STS and talked about hobbies and vacations. Once we landed he congratulated me and said you're now a private pilot. Went to the FBO and filled out the paper work and told me the things I can improve on (steep turns and unusual altitude). Head back to HWD with a grin
and took some pics of the Bay Area. 
