Distraction's thrown at you during training/checkride

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HPNFlyGirl

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I am curious as to what kinds of "distractions" your instructors threw at you during your training or what do the instructors on here do to their students?

My CFI told me the tail was still tied down when it was untied. So I had to get out andn check it...then he told me he was kidding. Sigh. I think he did it to see how I would react. Calm cool and collect I was.
 
On my mock checkride the instructor (not my regualr CFI)must have asked me 100+ questions....ok well it was darn close to that. I actually had to hold my hand up to signal for quiet so I could make my call for a 45* entry to the downwind at the home airport.

He was even asking me questions during the engine out on final approach and chatting until we touched down. He tried to get me to start my power on and off stalls near the edge of town until I told him I wanted to clear the homes and head farther west over the farm land areas where I would then do my clearing turns prior to the start.

The one question I didn't answer was how to turn on the curtesy lights under the wing.......I had to look that up when we got back so I could answer it.

It all helped, the actual checkride was fun and no distractions that I even gave a second thought to (except for the normal pucker factor).
 
HPNFlyGirl said:
I am curious as to what kinds of "distractions" your instructors threw at you during your training or what do the instructors on here do to their students?
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On my pre-solo ride, as we turned final, the instructor (not my regular guy, who was out sick) started talking about how his brother had stopped at a roadside melon stand the previous weekend and picked up some great canteloupes, and had shared them with my instructor, and how good they were. I remember wondering what planet this guy was coming from. I completely ignored him and landed the plane. Neither of us said anything about it, he signed my ticket, and off I went around the pattern by myself. It wasn't until years later that I realized what he was trying to do, and that I had passed a test.

Typically, I'll do the same thing -- start talking about something completely irrelevant while my trainee is concentrating on a critical phase of flight to see if s/he will ignore me or, even better, tell me to shut up . I don't go as far as the instructor in one of Ernie Gann's books who lit matches and held them in front of the nose of the pilot while he flew an ILS to mins, but I do try to simulate a natter-brained passenger, and to ensure that my trainee won't be distracted from the task at hand.

My CFI told me the tail was still tied down when it was untied. So I had to get out andn check it...then he told me he was kidding. Sigh. I think he did it to see how I would react. Calm cool and collect I was.
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I'm not sure I'd call this a "realistic distraction" as much as I would an annoying joke, but I did recently deal with a pilot who forgot to pull the chocks on an IR practical test, and was so unnerved it ruined his performance, so who knows...
 
On my PP check ride I was of course given a diversion for my XC to plot out while in flight. While that was happening I mentioned one of the things I could do right away was punch in direct on the GPS to the new destination, then I could start flying and then back up and calcualte the fuel consumption, check points, times, etc. He said that was ok and to do that.

After hitting the direct button and begining my calculation the DE then started to ask me more question about things I could do with the GPS. He was trying to over tax me on all the things I was doing. When I realized this I told him that I was busy and would be happy to show hime some more on the GPS later.

His response was 'good answer' and he left me alone after that.

After I finished my calculation he then did come back and asked me how I could do the 'direct' thing without the GPS. I mentioned asking ATC for a vector or just kinda guessing what the general direction was, turn to that heading and then correct when I figured it out.
 
I had a CFI on my last stage check for my PPL who was gabbing like crazy and cracking jokes all thruout the runup. He's a pretty funny guy---he had me laughing like crazy, but I was going thru the checklist just fine (or so I though).
We were cleared for takeoff, and the throttle went forward, and airspeed came alive. Right at rotate speed, I applied back pressure, and the plane just didn't want to go. We kept accelerating and accelerating, and finally at around 90 kts, we lifted off. After we were at pattern altitude, I looked down and realized that I forgot to put the trim in the takeoff position. The CFI said, "ah, distracted you, didn't I?"
hmmmm. funny
 
Well, there's the old "door popped open" trick. And the ever popular "hey, there's a bee in the cockpit".

Most of the DE's I've had have been very reasonable about the distractions. They were things you might experience in real life in flight.
 
My fixed-wing instructor popped the door of a Warrior on short final. It was a real hot day, I knew immediately what he had done, and just said "Thanks. It was getting pretty hot in here...".
 
Besides the above mentioned items, two things come to mind:

1) I had an instructor lean toward me and pointing to a lake ask "what lake is that?" Shortly afterwards the engine quit. He had turned the fuel off. I went through the checklist and found it pretty quickly, then told him if he ever did that again he was walking back to the airport.

2) On flare the classic there's a baby (deer, car, tractor, etc) on the runway so you have to do a go around.
 
Ron Levy said:
On my pre-solo ride, as we turned final, the instructor (not my regular guy, who was out sick) started talking about how his brother had stopped at a roadside melon stand the previous weekend and picked up some great canteloupes, and had shared them with my instructor, and how good they were. I remember wondering what planet this guy was coming from.
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On my PP checkride, once departure kicked me loose and I started to intercept my airway for the XC, the DPE starting telling me all the ways other guys had screwed up on the XC portion, like diverting to the wrong airport, flying the wrong radial, using the wrong unicom freq, all sorts of stuff. I thought it was comical, and ignored most of it.

On the IR, he'd start babbling about something, anything, every time we got inside the FAF. Luckily my safety pilot (and the guy I'll likely partner with for a plane) did that all the time, and still does it to me during approach practice.
 
NC Pilot said:
2) On flare the classic there's a baby (deer, car, tractor, etc) on the runway so you have to do a go around.
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Variation on a theme. Takeoff, had rotated, lifted off, and just reached Vy, when in a loud god-like booming voice he yelled "land, now, get us on the ground!"

So, I pulled power, and did a decent no flaps landing, braked hard to a stop, and was asking what was wrong, did we have to leave the plane, etc. "No, just thought you needed to practice an aborted takeoff."

Nice.
 
1. On PPL checkride DE drops a pen and asks me to get it as he thinks it rolled under my seat. Immediately after bending down to get it, we were in a extreme nose high and banking attitude on the edge of a stall. That's how we began unusual attitudes.

2. On my last T&G of the PPL checkride the DE pulls the power on takeoff approaching 500 AGL, folds his arms and looks at me.
 
NC Pilot said:
2) On flare the classic there's a baby (deer, car, tractor, etc) on the runway so you have to do a go around.
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It was on takeoff roll, near Vr. It was a turkey. Two, actually. Hens. And they were for real.

Just before I created turkey puree ala PA28-161, he popped two notches of flaps which immediatly got the airplane up a couple of feet, missing the turkeys. I'll never forget that lesson -- it will only work on something like a Piper where there's no delay in putting out the flaps, but it's a useful one :yes:
 
yes as a CFI, I love nothing more than when some guy NORDO or a bunch of deer or a guy in a car or whatever run out on the runway in front of my student. Much better test than me talking about a bus full of nuns or something silly like that...

My CFII examiner starts asking me what my parents do while we are outbound on the NDB "Pizza place and bar" By procedure turn inbound he's asking if we are one of these crappy chain restaurants with old junky ingredients "No, family owned since 1961, only the freshest" Finally he broke down and says "you know im trying to distract you right?" "yep, not working"

I love it when the old 150s door actually pops open and I dont have to. Nice thing about the old 172s is the door handle is behind the student. I almost always instruct with my left arm stretched behind the student anyway, so I just give the handle a flip sometimes. I discovered another good one on accident a couple weeks ago. If you shut the door on your seatbelt strap it makes a pretty noticable noise smacking against the fuselage, even I was wondering what it was for a second.
 
tonycondon said:
If you shut the door on your seatbelt strap it makes a pretty noticable noise smacking against the fuselage, even I was wondering what it was for a second.
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BTDT...several times.
 
Beware when CFI's get real chatty!

My helicopter instructor used to like getting me distracted with chat and then turn off the governor and roll off the throttle a tad so that the rotor RPM would start to decay. Since you mostly are looking outside in a VFR helicopter, and only scanning the instruments infrequently, usually the low RPM horn would go off before I noticed the governor warning light. No biggie, roll some throttle back on and lower the collective a tad until you get the RPM back up where it belongs, then tweak the throttle as needed beyond what the correlator does for you.
 
tonycondon said:
I love it when the old 150s door actually pops open and I dont have to.
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I was flying the club 172 right after another member, and he had laid the pitot cover on the floor behind the pilots seat. Of course, that was the day the door would pop open on me, no biggie, I couldn't get it to close, so left it go and landed. Unfortionately, the pitot cover had been sucked out, never to be found, and I got to buy the club another one. Now, the cover always goes into the seat back pocket.
 
My CFI pulled the fuel guage circuit breaker (Warrior) during a circuit in the pattern - I reached the GUMPS check, saw that a breaker was pulled and didn't say anything. Since I has just switched tanks on the previous pass, I didn't bother to verify that I was on the fullest tank (I know, I SHOULD have). By the time I noticed the fuel guages were dead, I was already on final. Yea, I got chewed out for not verifying the fuel guages in my scan, at which point I leaned over and reset the breaker. Turned out the whole set-up for a distraction fell apart because I skipped a step on my checklist.

My CFI is famous for turning off the alternator ( the ammeter is on the far right ) to see how long it takes students to notice. Also for pulling breakers on the stall horn without notice during stall practice (good training for noticing the stall with your feel, rather than your hearing).

My DPE is such an old pro it took me a few days after my checkride to even realize the times he was trying to distract me.
 
Something I did to Agatha one time on the way back from Ocracoke in the 172. Waited until she got the plane leveled out and trimmed, then reached down and moved the seat back a few notches. Plane started to climb. "Oh, we hit an updraft" she says. Re trims. Moved the seat forward. "Hm, a down draft" she says. Re trims. Repeat for about 1.2 hours. Never caught on, but she complained bitterly about the constant up and down drafts.

Best part was telling an instructor after we got back to the airport. He suddenly got a worried expression on his face as she approached from my 6 and I didn't catch it. Got smacked in the back of the head when she realized what I had been doing during that flight.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat though.
 
NC Pilot said:
1) I had an instructor lean toward me and pointing to a lake ask "what lake is that?" Shortly afterwards the engine quit. He had turned the fuel off. I went through the checklist and found it pretty quickly, then told him if he ever did that again he was walking back to the airport.
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Good for you. I'm all for injecting simulated emergencies, but not deliberately creating real ones.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Variation on a theme. Takeoff, had rotated, lifted off, and just reached Vy, when in a loud god-like booming voice he yelled "land, now, get us on the ground!" So, I pulled power, and did a decent no flaps landing, braked hard to a stop, and was asking what was wrong, did we have to leave the plane, etc. "No, just thought you needed to practice an aborted takeoff."
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There would have to be several thousand feet of runway in front of us before I'd try something like that.
 
HPNFlyGirl said:
I am curious as to what kinds of "distractions" your instructors threw at you during your training or what do the instructors on here do to their students?
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Both my instructor and DPE both basically would just "chit chat" at critical times - like when I would need to make a radio call - or on short final - or right as I would be getting to a check point. Mostly to see how I would react.

100% of the time after figuring out that they were just trying to act like a "real" pax who might not know when it's not a good time to talk I was just polite and asked them to hold their conversation until ...

I never had anyone throw a chart in the back seat or be overly distracting - just subtle things that they would do to see how I would react.

If you react like a PIC then you have nothing to worry about! :)
 
Ron Levy said:
There would have to be several thousand feet of runway in front of us before I'd try something like that.
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Lovell Field, CHA, 7400ft, plenty of room for this one.
 
RotaryWingBob said:
. I'll never forget that lesson -- it will only work on something like a Piper where there's no delay in putting out the flaps, but it's a useful one :yes:
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I love the way the Pipers do that. EMT has a short displaced threshhold. We used to take the Archers out onto the runway, get it as close to the edge of the pavement as we could, and when we were cleared for t/o, we'd stand on the brakes and apply full throttle. Let go the brakes and just before that nice big thick line marking the edge of the 'real' runway, we'd pop a notch of flaps. The plane would pop right up to about 5' off the ground. you couldn't climb yet, ground effect was the only thing keeping you in the air, but you accelerated faster. And it was just fun to do.
 
I don't remember if I had any distractions thrown at me or not. I guess if I did, i'd remember.....

Although on my pvt checkride, we were supposed to fly to Compton. DE changed her mind about 3 mintues after takeoff and she made me go to Fullerton instead. i had never been there before, but managed to find the runway!
 
Hi Gang
During my checkride with the DE I was doing a engine out and I was setting up for a landing in a farmers field. The farmer was plowing the next field and the DE kept asking me what kind of tractor is the farmer using. I told him I didn't know, he then asked what was the farmer planting in the field I then told the DE that I was a city boy and a little busy right now. He then kept asking me are we going to make the field? I told him yes we will make it, he then asked are we going to clear that fence row. I again told him yes and he answered well I guess we will just have to wait and see. Now Im thinking maybe I won't clear that fence but I kept the airspeed at Best Glide and when we about 50 ft agl he told me good job I was trying to see if you were going to fly the plane or talk to me. He then told me what kind of tractor was in the field and what he was planting.

Regards Mike
 
On my checkride, the examiner waited until I was on downwind for a shortfield landing on rw 14 at CRG, to throw distractions at me. He began to ask me about how I was calculating my touchdown distance from the imaginary 50' obstacle. He started throwing numbers and formulas at me to the point that I couldn't ignor him. When I was just about abeam the numbers I told him to be quiet until we could land and discuss it. He never said a word after that and I flew to an adequate shortfield landing. I thought I had blown the checkride because as soon as I shut down the engine he got out without saying a word to me and hustled inside. I nervously tied down the airplane and went inside expecting to be chided for my performance.
Instead, he handed me my temporary certificate and congratulated me.
 
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During the simulated IFR part of my checkride, MY DPE tuned in a hockey game on the ADF.

Wasn't had to ignore (and very easy to turn off). I did thank him for demonstrating the last remaining use for an ADF -- got a laugh.

Bruce
 
Frank Browne said:
I thought I had blown the checkride because as soon as I shut down the engine he got out without saying a word to me and hustled inside. I nervously tied down the airplane and went inside expecting to be chided for my performance.
Instead, he handed me my temporary certificate and congratulated me.
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When I did my helicopter checkride, towards the end the DE had me doing all kinds of hover maneuvers. We were so low on fuel at that point (my recollection was that the W&B only worked with something like 12 gallons on board) that I was expecting the low fuel warning to come on. Finally he told me to taxi back to the ramp where we started. Now I knew that since he hadn't said anything, that up to this point I had passed. So I sort of looked over at him, and said "You mean if I don't kill us on the way to the ramp, I pass?". He laughed and said "that's right -- if you don't kill me you pass". ;)

My partners and I, incidentally, will be doing R44 transition training with him (as a CFI, not as a DE) next weekend. A friend who is an ATP-RH with 6,000 helicopter hours or so, said that this guy taught him some things about autorotations, so I'm looking forward to it!
 
flykelley said:
Hi Gang
During my checkride with the DE I was doing a engine out and I was setting up for a landing in a farmers field. The farmer was plowing the next field and the DE kept asking me what kind of tractor is the farmer using. I told him I didn't know, he then asked what was the farmer planting in the field I then told the DE that I was a city boy and a little busy right now. He then kept asking me are we going to make the field? I told him yes we will make it, he then asked are we going to clear that fence row. I again told him yes and he answered well I guess we will just have to wait and see. Now Im thinking maybe I won't clear that fence but I kept the airspeed at Best Glide and when we about 50 ft agl he told me good job I was trying to see if you were going to fly the plane or talk to me. He then told me what kind of tractor was in the field and what he was planting.

Regards Mike
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Who was the DE?
 
To add to my other experiences - I'm not sure if it qualifies as a 'distraction', but I seemed to have an inordinate number of 'engine failures'. Seems I had 2-3 every single training flight. It got frustrating and old after a while, but I added another step to my scan. I added the step of finding an emergency landing area every time I look down. I do this automatically now. There's a recording that plays over and over in my head 'What would you do if the engine failed NOW?'.
 
Missa said:
Who was the DE?
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Hi Missa
It was Walt Ducan who at the time owned Flint Air. It turn out that Walt was into old cars and was looking for a model a and I had a friend who had one for sale. He ended up buying that car and I restored it for him and we became friends. Never thought that the big bad DE and I would become friends after a check ride.

Regards Mike
 
i was getting ready for my checkride with my instructor. we were on short final and he says 'there's a deer on the runway'

i looked very carefully.. and i did not see it.

he repeats.. 'THERE IS A DEER ON THE RUNWAY' ..

i'm looking closely.. and there defaintely was not a deer on the runway..

he says it fimly once more .. 'THERE IS A DEER ON THE RUNWAY'

i finally say.. he must have ran off cause he's not there now...

i didn't understand that he wanted me to pretend :)
 
flykelley said:
Hi Missa
It was Walt Ducan who at the time owned Flint Air. It turn out that Walt was into old cars and was looking for a model a and I had a friend who had one for sale. He ended up buying that car and I restored it for him and we became friends. Never thought that the big bad DE and I would become friends after a check ride.

Regards Mike
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Not who I thought it was. Sounded a lot like my instructor Todd so I thought it might be his mentor Milton Berz, or my DE.

My PPL Checkride was far from ordienary. A good freind had done training with him and told me what I should do on 'passenger breif' to break the ice. She told me to say 'I was told to ask you if you wanted the standard passenger breif or the one especially for you' He chuckled and said 'the one specially for me'. My reply: "Get in, sit down, shut up, hold on and don't touch the controls unless I tell you that you can." He was laughing the whole time. I then asked if he wanted me to go over what I would tell a normal passenger. He said 'Nope, the PTS says we have to go over passenger breifings and we did, lets fly'. It really broke the ice for me and helped me calm down. You see I had a backwards checkride. It was 3:00pm on a Saturday in January but it was one of those few perfect flying days in January in MI and it was the only slot I could get that weekend. I proved the AC was airworthy, we flew then did the rest of the oral. I was also really nervous since the checkride before me was also from the same flight school in the other plane. I saw him taxing out as I was taxing in "907 this is 86G how'd it go" long pause "Not as well as I had hoped. Remember ground reference manuvers are done at less then 1000 ft AGL". Instant panic mode. :eek: But all went well for me and then the next weekend I did unusual attitued training with him in the 5RB. :D My first question to him that day was "Now you've already sent in all the paperwork right? If I mess up you can't take it away right?" He started laughing agian.

Missa
 
mmilano said:
i was getting ready for my checkride with my instructor. we were on short final and he says 'there's a deer on the runway'

i looked very carefully.. and i did not see it.

he repeats.. 'THERE IS A DEER ON THE RUNWAY' ..

i'm looking closely.. and there defaintely was not a deer on the runway..

he says it fimly once more .. 'THERE IS A DEER ON THE RUNWAY'

i finally say.. he must have ran off cause he's not there now...

i didn't understand that he wanted me to pretend :)
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That reminds me of the time my orignal instructor was trying to simulate engine loss on take off. He pulled the power and said nothing. So I pushed the power back in and contined to climb. :rolleyes: He got testy and said "No, Engine out". Me "Ah, well you could have said that when you pulled the power." I then went to best glide and pointed at the feild in fount and just off to the right "There". Him "Ok" and put the power back in.

Missa
 
Missa said:
That reminds me of the time my orignal instructor was trying to simulate engine loss on take off. He pulled the power and said nothing. So I pushed the power back in and contined to climb. :rolleyes: He got testy and said "No, Engine out". Me "Ah, well you could have said that when you pulled the power." I then went to best glide and pointed at the feild in fount and just off to the right "There". Him "Ok" and put the power back in.

Missa
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Now you know why I guard the throttle at all times when a CFI is aboard. A couple months ago my CFI pulled power on downwind during my annual club review. I suspected he might when he asked the tower for a short approach. While bringing the 182 in dead stick I asked him if he knew the leading cause of engine failure in light aircraft. He replied that it was fuel exhaustion. I said, "No, it's CFIs. Fuel exhaustion comes in second." :D
 
Ghery said:
Now you know why I guard the throttle at all times when a CFI is aboard.
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My handle is on the throttle from takeoff to the point to where I'm in an established cruise climb.

My hand is also on the throttle during the decesnt into an airport. A CFI has an awful hard time pulling the power on me.
 
During my commercial training, in a piper arrow, my CFI would always try to pop the breaker for the gear on me when I wasn't looking. I'd always hear the breaker pop, even if he was gabbing at me, and he'd always ask, "how the heck can you hear that?!" All those years of audio engineering I guess.
 
Ron Levy said:
On my pre-solo ride, as we turned final, the instructor (not my regular guy, who was out sick) started talking about how his brother had stopped at a roadside melon stand the previous weekend and picked up some great canteloupes, and had shared them with my instructor, and how good they were. I remember wondering what planet this guy was coming from. I completely ignored him and landed the plane. Neither of us said anything about it, he signed my ticket, and off I went around the pattern by myself. It wasn't until years later that I realized what he was trying to do, and that I had passed a test.
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My examiner tried to point out something "interesting" on the ground ("Oh, my god, this car in the intersection just got T-Boned by a semi!") at some critical junction when I should be doing the 5 T's or dropping my gear or something else like that.
 
One of the instructors in Minnesota loved to turn down the dash lights in the daytime taking away the three in the green on the Arrow. First time he did it to me, I forget to check and call three green on short final. He starts screaming---"Go-Around, You just geared up the airplane". Me-- "If I just geared up, we ain't going around" Him--- "well go around anyway"

Don

PS-- I used the same trick on my Comm student the other day. She fell for it hook line and sinker.
 
One thing I do when injecting a situation is to preface it by the old Navy standard "This is a drill, this is a drill," and I brief my trainees accordingly before flight. That way the trainee isn't looking on the runway for a school bus that isn't really there.

BTW, I'd separate the "realistic use of distractions" like tuning in a hockey game on the ADF from scenario injections like a school bus on the runway. The two have different purposes.
 
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