Utah-Jay
Pre-takeoff checklist
Here is my recap to my oral/check ride for my Sport Pilot Certificate
My CFI told be about a week in advance that my check ride would be Wednesday November 11th, I immediately looked at the weather and was not thrilled as it was going to be windy, a day later would be perfect weather. Oh well, I thought maybe I’ll get lucky and it won’t be too bad.
I had printed out the entire oral and practical PTS from the FAA site about two weeks prior to study and prepare for what was to come.
Morning of the check we met at 8am a UT9, actually got started about 8:30 after a short chat and getting everything logged into the FAA website. I had read numerous times about orals being a chat about aviation, this one was not at all. It was straight questions and answers right down the PTS list. Certain sections say it is required to test on a minimum of 3 of 8 (medical), but my DPE went for all 8 and did this on every portion of the oral. I watched him check each and every line off as completed. I was not bothered as I knew the material inside and out. I only had to look up one item that I was unsure of, and it was just an affirmation of my “guess”. The oral lasted over an hour, and I was often thinking we were wasting relatively good weather. I passed the oral and he said let’s go over my flight planning and we dug straight in.
My flight plan was detailed, and I had every last item prepared, all landmarks listed. Pre-flighting the flight plan was pretty quick, so we headed out to pre-flight the plane. The DPE followed me around and chatted as I went through my normal pre-flight but vocalizing everything so he knew what I was doing and thinking. It was pretty cold as I pushed the plane out of the hanger and the wind was starting to kick up. Oh lucky me.... NOT! Our planned flight was a no go as there was a snow storm in that direction, so we just headed in the other direction (south) to stay clear of the approaching front to start the required maneuvers. Just as he had in the oral, he had his checklist and we just started with slow flight turns which doubled as clearing turns, then stalls, turns around a point, steep turns, S-turns. All maneuvers were made more difficult due some very bumpy conditions, so much so that the DPE offered me discontinuing, which I declined and carried on. We had several instances when we lost altitude at 300-400FPM. Then we headed back to UT9 for the different landings and takeoff configurations required for a tailwheel check ride. As were were on base to final about 400’ AGL the air smoothed out as it often does around UT9 and I greased a perfect 3pt landing. I then exited the runway with the appropriate radio call and taxied back for a short field takeoff which was flawless. As we made a trip around the pattern and set up for a short field landing all was great on a very stabilized final approach.... which had a long float that led to a go around. He said good job we can check that off the list. As I was passing mid-field I looked over and I pointed out we must have floated due to the wind changing to a slight tailwind. BTW, UT9 is only 2400’ x 24’, so it does not take much to create a go around situation. In trying to keep this relatively short, our next few approaches and take offs were from both directions as the wind continued to change directions. My CFI and the Pringle’s who own UT9 were all inside the office listening to radio calls watching out the window as I fought the changing conditions. When I had finally completed all of the required test tasks, the DPE said head back and land anyway your like as we are done.
Well, this is when things got really sporty as the wind was now a direct crosswind at about 15-18 mph in a plane that is only rated for max 23 mph cross wind. The snow storm was visibly approaching from the west as I came in on RWY 35 in a crab to land, well 35 at UT9 has hangers down the west side of the runway and the wind was pretty unstable just about the ground due to the wind rotors coming between the hangers which created a go around. No problem, I was the only plane in the pattern for obvious reasons at this point and I flew an abbreviated pattern to beat the storm which looked to be about 3 miles away at this point. I set up in a crab again on final and was perfectly lined up on 35, got low to the ground and kicked in the rudder to straighten up, lowered the left wing into the wind and got a huge gust which ballooned us up and I chose to do another go around. As we were on the downwind I looked over at the storm and told my DPE that this was our last attempt and if I could not get it down we would divert to Spanish Fork which was still well clear of the storm. I told him I was going to touch down on the runway for a diagonal landing onto the dirt. He told me I was the pilot and do what I thought was right. I then angled in a bit, still crabbing and touched down on the runway and held it nice and straight angling onto the dirt. I came to a stop a bit before the taxiway, radioed that “623” was clear of RWY 35 and let out a sigh of relief... both to have obviously passed and to be safely on the ground. My DPE then told me that was some very good ADM I had shown.
We taxied to the hanger so I could get the plane put away as it was starting to snow and blow even harder. The DPE walked to the clubhouse and recapped the ride to my CFI and others.
I felt as if my feet were floating on the walk from the hanger to the clubhouse to do the FAA paperwork and needed logbook entries. It took me 31.7 hours in all to complete, 11.7 over the minimum required for a Sport Pilot. From start to finish it was 71 days.
My CFI told be about a week in advance that my check ride would be Wednesday November 11th, I immediately looked at the weather and was not thrilled as it was going to be windy, a day later would be perfect weather. Oh well, I thought maybe I’ll get lucky and it won’t be too bad.
I had printed out the entire oral and practical PTS from the FAA site about two weeks prior to study and prepare for what was to come.
Morning of the check we met at 8am a UT9, actually got started about 8:30 after a short chat and getting everything logged into the FAA website. I had read numerous times about orals being a chat about aviation, this one was not at all. It was straight questions and answers right down the PTS list. Certain sections say it is required to test on a minimum of 3 of 8 (medical), but my DPE went for all 8 and did this on every portion of the oral. I watched him check each and every line off as completed. I was not bothered as I knew the material inside and out. I only had to look up one item that I was unsure of, and it was just an affirmation of my “guess”. The oral lasted over an hour, and I was often thinking we were wasting relatively good weather. I passed the oral and he said let’s go over my flight planning and we dug straight in.
My flight plan was detailed, and I had every last item prepared, all landmarks listed. Pre-flighting the flight plan was pretty quick, so we headed out to pre-flight the plane. The DPE followed me around and chatted as I went through my normal pre-flight but vocalizing everything so he knew what I was doing and thinking. It was pretty cold as I pushed the plane out of the hanger and the wind was starting to kick up. Oh lucky me.... NOT! Our planned flight was a no go as there was a snow storm in that direction, so we just headed in the other direction (south) to stay clear of the approaching front to start the required maneuvers. Just as he had in the oral, he had his checklist and we just started with slow flight turns which doubled as clearing turns, then stalls, turns around a point, steep turns, S-turns. All maneuvers were made more difficult due some very bumpy conditions, so much so that the DPE offered me discontinuing, which I declined and carried on. We had several instances when we lost altitude at 300-400FPM. Then we headed back to UT9 for the different landings and takeoff configurations required for a tailwheel check ride. As were were on base to final about 400’ AGL the air smoothed out as it often does around UT9 and I greased a perfect 3pt landing. I then exited the runway with the appropriate radio call and taxied back for a short field takeoff which was flawless. As we made a trip around the pattern and set up for a short field landing all was great on a very stabilized final approach.... which had a long float that led to a go around. He said good job we can check that off the list. As I was passing mid-field I looked over and I pointed out we must have floated due to the wind changing to a slight tailwind. BTW, UT9 is only 2400’ x 24’, so it does not take much to create a go around situation. In trying to keep this relatively short, our next few approaches and take offs were from both directions as the wind continued to change directions. My CFI and the Pringle’s who own UT9 were all inside the office listening to radio calls watching out the window as I fought the changing conditions. When I had finally completed all of the required test tasks, the DPE said head back and land anyway your like as we are done.
Well, this is when things got really sporty as the wind was now a direct crosswind at about 15-18 mph in a plane that is only rated for max 23 mph cross wind. The snow storm was visibly approaching from the west as I came in on RWY 35 in a crab to land, well 35 at UT9 has hangers down the west side of the runway and the wind was pretty unstable just about the ground due to the wind rotors coming between the hangers which created a go around. No problem, I was the only plane in the pattern for obvious reasons at this point and I flew an abbreviated pattern to beat the storm which looked to be about 3 miles away at this point. I set up in a crab again on final and was perfectly lined up on 35, got low to the ground and kicked in the rudder to straighten up, lowered the left wing into the wind and got a huge gust which ballooned us up and I chose to do another go around. As we were on the downwind I looked over at the storm and told my DPE that this was our last attempt and if I could not get it down we would divert to Spanish Fork which was still well clear of the storm. I told him I was going to touch down on the runway for a diagonal landing onto the dirt. He told me I was the pilot and do what I thought was right. I then angled in a bit, still crabbing and touched down on the runway and held it nice and straight angling onto the dirt. I came to a stop a bit before the taxiway, radioed that “623” was clear of RWY 35 and let out a sigh of relief... both to have obviously passed and to be safely on the ground. My DPE then told me that was some very good ADM I had shown.
We taxied to the hanger so I could get the plane put away as it was starting to snow and blow even harder. The DPE walked to the clubhouse and recapped the ride to my CFI and others.
I felt as if my feet were floating on the walk from the hanger to the clubhouse to do the FAA paperwork and needed logbook entries. It took me 31.7 hours in all to complete, 11.7 over the minimum required for a Sport Pilot. From start to finish it was 71 days.
