LoLPilot
Line Up and Wait
Hey guys and gals. I know I've been AWOL for a while. I've been lurking but not posting. Been kind of busy with school and also with preparing to convince the FAA that I should have an instrument rating. That happened tonight, and what a checkride it was.
My checkride was scheduled at 5:30. I had done night currency work and had done lots of ground and flown with a couple different CFII's to prepare. I got the the airport about 1 PM and was greeted by one of my friends saying that the plane I had scheduled for my checkride (which we were going to do a VOR check that afternoon on) had failed a VOR check earlier in the day. The other two planes that I'd normally use were down for maintenance. This left one 172 which is new to the school and I'd never flown before. My friend (who is an instructor at the airport) said let's take it up, do the VOR check and have you fly it under the hood. We got .6 hours on it. The DPE was pulling into the parking lot when we got back.
The oral was tough. We went through my weather briefing, approaches, my flight plan, and the DPE hunted until he stumped me. Multiple times. After being sure that I'd completely whiffed on the oral he said "alright let's go out to the airplane." When we got out to the ramp the plane was covered in frost, the fuel caps were open and the tanks were down about 2/3. I called the main office and asked if any of the line service workers were still there. One was there so he came out with deicing equipment and filled the tanks. After getting fueled and defrosted we went out and took off. It was very cold and the engine didn't want to idle initially. We flew a profile with some approaches that I was familiar with, and I liked the plane that I was in but for some reason I just wasn't meshing well with it. Through the whole ride I never felt like I got it trimmed out where it would fly hands off. I know that is just a time in aircraft thing but it bugged me a bit. None of my approaches were stellar, but they were good enough for my DPE.
I guess the question is "now what?" I don't know that I'll fly IFR all that much aside from maintaining currency and proficiency with safety pilots. I'd like to instruct so I will probably start working on commercial maneuvers. At the same time I did a VFR solo flight the other day just to clear my head and found it somewhat disconcerting not to have the voice on the radio and a course to follow. I'm really happy, and really tired, and a little sad. I made a lot of memories training for my private certificate, and I made even more training for my instrument. The instrument training had me making many new friends as I found people to fly with to practice approaches or to build cross country hours with. I guess a little part of me is sad it's over. It was an adventure, and while I know there will be more of those to come this one was special.
My checkride was scheduled at 5:30. I had done night currency work and had done lots of ground and flown with a couple different CFII's to prepare. I got the the airport about 1 PM and was greeted by one of my friends saying that the plane I had scheduled for my checkride (which we were going to do a VOR check that afternoon on) had failed a VOR check earlier in the day. The other two planes that I'd normally use were down for maintenance. This left one 172 which is new to the school and I'd never flown before. My friend (who is an instructor at the airport) said let's take it up, do the VOR check and have you fly it under the hood. We got .6 hours on it. The DPE was pulling into the parking lot when we got back.
The oral was tough. We went through my weather briefing, approaches, my flight plan, and the DPE hunted until he stumped me. Multiple times. After being sure that I'd completely whiffed on the oral he said "alright let's go out to the airplane." When we got out to the ramp the plane was covered in frost, the fuel caps were open and the tanks were down about 2/3. I called the main office and asked if any of the line service workers were still there. One was there so he came out with deicing equipment and filled the tanks. After getting fueled and defrosted we went out and took off. It was very cold and the engine didn't want to idle initially. We flew a profile with some approaches that I was familiar with, and I liked the plane that I was in but for some reason I just wasn't meshing well with it. Through the whole ride I never felt like I got it trimmed out where it would fly hands off. I know that is just a time in aircraft thing but it bugged me a bit. None of my approaches were stellar, but they were good enough for my DPE.
I guess the question is "now what?" I don't know that I'll fly IFR all that much aside from maintaining currency and proficiency with safety pilots. I'd like to instruct so I will probably start working on commercial maneuvers. At the same time I did a VFR solo flight the other day just to clear my head and found it somewhat disconcerting not to have the voice on the radio and a course to follow. I'm really happy, and really tired, and a little sad. I made a lot of memories training for my private certificate, and I made even more training for my instrument. The instrument training had me making many new friends as I found people to fly with to practice approaches or to build cross country hours with. I guess a little part of me is sad it's over. It was an adventure, and while I know there will be more of those to come this one was special.
