Tristar
Pattern Altitude
A full report was in order as to the fact that many have asked and I was willing to share. 
Flying is something I have enjoyed since I was a little kid. I remember looking at the skies and wondering what it would be like to touch a cloud and see the same things birds do. Little did I know how much was involved. But I've learned something over the years. As pilots, we're better than the birds. We take machines, humans, and the elements and ask them to work together as a team. You will never see a bird shoot an ILS down to minimums nor ask it to differentiate the readings of every instrument in the cockpit at the same time. It is a pure skill and one we are proud to show off.
Checkrides are the perfect example of our moment in history to show what we are capable of. Today was my day and I was eager to prove my skills.
I had done my oral prior to today so this was the flight portion of the checkride only. This morning, I flew with my instructor as a refresher. We were both satisfied with my performance the same as we had been when weather grounded my first attempt. No big deal but it was nice to feel the airplane in my fingertips in a relaxing atmosphere before the heat of the day.
I met with my examiner around 11:00 and we talked briefly about what was to be expected. Nothing much more than emphasizing, "you're pilot in command today" which felt pretty exciting.
We jumped in the notorious "37Uniform" with all the checklists, hood, approach plates, headset and other items that make a pilot seem cluttered at first but ready for anything. The airplane started up smoothly, the run up went well, and the clearance for takeoff in hand. The first trick up the examiners sleeve is the engine failure on the initial takeoff stage. Thats the easiest task. As soon as you hear the engine change tune, both engines to idle, keep it centered on the runway, brakes as needed. He gave it back to me and we were once again on the roll. We climbed out to 5,000 ft. I showed him a great example of slow flight into a power off stall, then a power on stall, and finally an engine out procedure and shut down. The trickiest part is probably the air start while keeping needles in place but he had no complaints about my performance.
The last task of a multi checkride is the single engine ILS. An ILS in general is not hard, keep the needles centered and you're good to go. An ILS with a failed engine makes things a lot more interesting. Suddenly all the training you've been given up to this point is summoned at one moment; multi for checklists, shutting down the correct engine and keeping bank and rudder into the good engine, IR for the ILS procedures, and of course private for the basics. It's a handful no doubt but has its own flow and important aspect to the single engine ILS. I have to say I did really well on my promptness and smoothness of shutting the engine down and completing the checklist during the procedure. The important thing is to always fly the airplane first. If you do that, everything falls into place in a methodological order. I did find the airport and call out minimums with the left engine at idle. Landed and instructed to taxi back to the flight center. My hopes were high, he hadn't said much the entire flight.
I pulled the airplane into place and shut down the engines. We sat and talked for a few minutes. He mentioned there were a few things I could always do better on but he was very impressed with my "air work." He liked how well I kept altitude during my engine out procedures and emphasized that was a very important part he was looking for. He was also impressed with how well I conducted other maneuvers such as stalls and steep turns. I even noticed I didn't loose an ounce of altitude. With all of the compliments, I am perfectly happy with the little things to work on that I'll learn over time anyways. With that note, I secured the airplane and was asked to walk inside to finish up paper work. If you haven't gathered by now, I passed the checkride. It had its ups and downs just like any other ride but I have to say it was one of the best checkrides I've done and felt prepared for.
I now have a pretty white certificate that says, "Airplane Single and Multi Engine Land Instrument Airplane" and I am very proud of it.
Flying is something I have enjoyed since I was a little kid. I remember looking at the skies and wondering what it would be like to touch a cloud and see the same things birds do. Little did I know how much was involved. But I've learned something over the years. As pilots, we're better than the birds. We take machines, humans, and the elements and ask them to work together as a team. You will never see a bird shoot an ILS down to minimums nor ask it to differentiate the readings of every instrument in the cockpit at the same time. It is a pure skill and one we are proud to show off.
Checkrides are the perfect example of our moment in history to show what we are capable of. Today was my day and I was eager to prove my skills.
I had done my oral prior to today so this was the flight portion of the checkride only. This morning, I flew with my instructor as a refresher. We were both satisfied with my performance the same as we had been when weather grounded my first attempt. No big deal but it was nice to feel the airplane in my fingertips in a relaxing atmosphere before the heat of the day.
I met with my examiner around 11:00 and we talked briefly about what was to be expected. Nothing much more than emphasizing, "you're pilot in command today" which felt pretty exciting.
We jumped in the notorious "37Uniform" with all the checklists, hood, approach plates, headset and other items that make a pilot seem cluttered at first but ready for anything. The airplane started up smoothly, the run up went well, and the clearance for takeoff in hand. The first trick up the examiners sleeve is the engine failure on the initial takeoff stage. Thats the easiest task. As soon as you hear the engine change tune, both engines to idle, keep it centered on the runway, brakes as needed. He gave it back to me and we were once again on the roll. We climbed out to 5,000 ft. I showed him a great example of slow flight into a power off stall, then a power on stall, and finally an engine out procedure and shut down. The trickiest part is probably the air start while keeping needles in place but he had no complaints about my performance.
The last task of a multi checkride is the single engine ILS. An ILS in general is not hard, keep the needles centered and you're good to go. An ILS with a failed engine makes things a lot more interesting. Suddenly all the training you've been given up to this point is summoned at one moment; multi for checklists, shutting down the correct engine and keeping bank and rudder into the good engine, IR for the ILS procedures, and of course private for the basics. It's a handful no doubt but has its own flow and important aspect to the single engine ILS. I have to say I did really well on my promptness and smoothness of shutting the engine down and completing the checklist during the procedure. The important thing is to always fly the airplane first. If you do that, everything falls into place in a methodological order. I did find the airport and call out minimums with the left engine at idle. Landed and instructed to taxi back to the flight center. My hopes were high, he hadn't said much the entire flight.
I pulled the airplane into place and shut down the engines. We sat and talked for a few minutes. He mentioned there were a few things I could always do better on but he was very impressed with my "air work." He liked how well I kept altitude during my engine out procedures and emphasized that was a very important part he was looking for. He was also impressed with how well I conducted other maneuvers such as stalls and steep turns. I even noticed I didn't loose an ounce of altitude. With all of the compliments, I am perfectly happy with the little things to work on that I'll learn over time anyways. With that note, I secured the airplane and was asked to walk inside to finish up paper work. If you haven't gathered by now, I passed the checkride. It had its ups and downs just like any other ride but I have to say it was one of the best checkrides I've done and felt prepared for.
I now have a pretty white certificate that says, "Airplane Single and Multi Engine Land Instrument Airplane" and I am very proud of it.
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We seem to keep saying that hahahahaha
