Ted
The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2007
- Messages
- 30,006
- Display Name
Display name:
iFlyNothing
...but was then given a paper cert that said "AIRPLANE SINGLE AND MULTI ENGINE" instead of just "AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE." 
Full report:
This past weekend turned out to be one where I probably spent more time in my plane than sleeping (no sleeping in the plane!). It was supposed to be a fairly laid back weekend. Of course a laid back weekend for me involves going to NC to do a dog transport up north to NY, go back home for the night, and then end up back in Boston area where I've been stationed for the next few months.
Friday went as expected. Well, mostly. Drove down to HYA to pick up the Aztec from the autopilot shop. I had told them I didn't care if the thing was functional or not for the weekend while they worked on it, so long as the plane was airworthy. Well, they took it out, cleaned the connections very well (it wasn't wanting to engage all the time) put it back, and then just removed the altitude hold unit, which is the only part that wasn't working at all. That's been mailed out, but roll and pitch still work. And does that engage switch work better than ever! I was happy.
Once I got down to NC, I had two voicemails. There had been an animal testing lab in NC that was busted and shut down. The animals (mostly beagles) were really in a sad state, having never seen grass or outside of their cages. They were all rescued by groups as far as Newark, NJ and West Palm Beach, FL. Well, the Florida ones were the furthest, so guess who got a phone call. Suddenly the weekend got a lot busier, and I was glad the autopilot worked.
Saturday morning instead of heading north with 14 dogs, I picked up 16 and headed south to drop them off in Florida. These dogs had an amazing temperment, all extremely sweet and lovable, but were so extremely timid from no interaction with loving humans. They will make great pets with almost no effort. I made it back to where I woke up (very odd sleeping two nights in a row in the same bed), ready for Sunday morning's transport. We got the 14 loaded up that were supposed to go on Saturday, and got going north. The weather cooperated well.
Oh, and there's something about a checkride. Well, I was supposed to have my MEI ride at 10 AM Sunday. The examiner was very understanding, and so we pushed it back to 4 PM Sunday. So at the end of the trip, I flew to PSM (which is in the general area I'm staying) and met the examiner, who is a really nice guy and operated an Aztec for about 20 years. He knows the planes very well, but also did a better job than any other examiner I've gone to of making me feel relaxed and that this wasn't a big deal.
Like any other checkride, we went over the necessary paperwork, then did the oral, which was a nice conversation on instruction and Aztecs. We focused especially on Vmc and on the hydraulic system. He also told me some tips on things he'd found through his years of operating the Aztec, and a few interesting failure modes that I hadn't heard about previously.
After that, we went flying, which was just a fun time going out and doing a good workout with the plane. He was happy with my performance, gave me some good pointers, and told me to go out and make some new multi-engine pilots.
I've always had a fear of checkrides. This was the first one that I went into not being afraid of. In many ways, having it at the end of such a busy weekend was a good thing I think, since I was too distracted by getting the job done at hand. When I got there, it was actually a nice change of pace to be able to sit down with someone who had so much experience and just talk about airplanes. I told the examiner he may have broken my fear of checkrides. We'll see - I may just have to come up here for more checkrides in the future!
Easy weekend.
Full report:
This past weekend turned out to be one where I probably spent more time in my plane than sleeping (no sleeping in the plane!). It was supposed to be a fairly laid back weekend. Of course a laid back weekend for me involves going to NC to do a dog transport up north to NY, go back home for the night, and then end up back in Boston area where I've been stationed for the next few months.
Friday went as expected. Well, mostly. Drove down to HYA to pick up the Aztec from the autopilot shop. I had told them I didn't care if the thing was functional or not for the weekend while they worked on it, so long as the plane was airworthy. Well, they took it out, cleaned the connections very well (it wasn't wanting to engage all the time) put it back, and then just removed the altitude hold unit, which is the only part that wasn't working at all. That's been mailed out, but roll and pitch still work. And does that engage switch work better than ever! I was happy.
Once I got down to NC, I had two voicemails. There had been an animal testing lab in NC that was busted and shut down. The animals (mostly beagles) were really in a sad state, having never seen grass or outside of their cages. They were all rescued by groups as far as Newark, NJ and West Palm Beach, FL. Well, the Florida ones were the furthest, so guess who got a phone call. Suddenly the weekend got a lot busier, and I was glad the autopilot worked.
Saturday morning instead of heading north with 14 dogs, I picked up 16 and headed south to drop them off in Florida. These dogs had an amazing temperment, all extremely sweet and lovable, but were so extremely timid from no interaction with loving humans. They will make great pets with almost no effort. I made it back to where I woke up (very odd sleeping two nights in a row in the same bed), ready for Sunday morning's transport. We got the 14 loaded up that were supposed to go on Saturday, and got going north. The weather cooperated well.
Oh, and there's something about a checkride. Well, I was supposed to have my MEI ride at 10 AM Sunday. The examiner was very understanding, and so we pushed it back to 4 PM Sunday. So at the end of the trip, I flew to PSM (which is in the general area I'm staying) and met the examiner, who is a really nice guy and operated an Aztec for about 20 years. He knows the planes very well, but also did a better job than any other examiner I've gone to of making me feel relaxed and that this wasn't a big deal.
Like any other checkride, we went over the necessary paperwork, then did the oral, which was a nice conversation on instruction and Aztecs. We focused especially on Vmc and on the hydraulic system. He also told me some tips on things he'd found through his years of operating the Aztec, and a few interesting failure modes that I hadn't heard about previously.
After that, we went flying, which was just a fun time going out and doing a good workout with the plane. He was happy with my performance, gave me some good pointers, and told me to go out and make some new multi-engine pilots.
I've always had a fear of checkrides. This was the first one that I went into not being afraid of. In many ways, having it at the end of such a busy weekend was a good thing I think, since I was too distracted by getting the job done at hand. When I got there, it was actually a nice change of pace to be able to sit down with someone who had so much experience and just talk about airplanes. I told the examiner he may have broken my fear of checkrides. We'll see - I may just have to come up here for more checkrides in the future!
Easy weekend.
