Passed my checkride

Congrats!!! I'm hoping I can say the same in less than a month. Ground test this sat, check ride hopefully mid dec.

Cheers

-Brian
 
Thanks! I guess I should add a little more detail.

My checkride went extremely well. I had a VERY bad flight with my instructor a couple of weeks ago that spooked me (not literally scary, just sloppy flying on my part ... making me feel like "I'll never get this down.") But the following flight with my instructor was fantastic, so he signed me off for the checkride ... and it's a good thing, because I was definitely ready. I was very happy with all the maneuvers and only botched the short-field landing, but it was still good enough to pass.

The biggest surprise was just how fast the flight went. Boom-boom-boom, one maneuver after another. We only spent about an hour in the air, but it was enough to hit all the requirements.

The oral was almost fun. It wasn't as excruciatingly painful as some of the stories I've read on here. The DPE was fantastic, and it was cool learning from a former Marine pilot and current American Airlines captain. Parts of it felt like a really good, fun ground lesson from him. It would have been a lot less fun if I was less prepared, though.

I do wish I'd brushed up on the various emergency squawk codes. That's one thing I forgot to review recently.

So to you student pilots who have an "off" day, just remember there will be plenty of "on" days, too ... and one of them will be your checkride. This was a good one for me.
 
Congratulations!

Who is your first passenger?
 
If you have a moment, could you give a brief summary of the topics covered during the oral portion? I am preparing for my checkride and it helps to get difference perspectives of what different DPE's are asking.

Thanks!

-Brian
 
Congratulations
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Who is your first passenger?
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My wife, but I don't know when. I'm flying to College Station solo on business Monday and Tuesday, and the weather isn't looking too cooperative before then.

Speaking of which ... if anybody's been there, would you prefer Easterwood Field in College Station or the smaller Coulter Airfield in Bryan? My hotel is about halfway in between, and I can have a friend pick me up at either airport.
 
B17Rex said:
If you have a moment, could you give a brief summary of the topics covered during the oral portion?
Click to expand...

Sure!

He covered most (if not all) of the FAA's "areas of emphasis," or whatever they're called.

1. Positive aircraft control,
2. Positive exchange of the flight controls procedure,
3. Stall/spin awareness,
4. Collision avoidance,
5. Wake turbulence avoidance,
6. LAHSO,
7. Runway incursion avoidance,
8. CFIT,
9. ADM and risk management,
10. Wire strike avoidance,
11. Checklist usage,
12. Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs),
13. Special use airspace (SUA),
14. Aviation security,
15. Single-Pilot Resource Management (SRM)

He also did a lot of situational stuff, like "what would you do if you lost an alternator at night over this particular airport" and really drilled down on the details of that.

He seemed to spend extra time asking about things I didn't seem too sure of. I was super confident about airspace on the sectionals, for example, so he quickly moved on to other topics once he knew I had that one nailed after a few questions. But if I stumbled with something, he'd spend a lot more time on it and ask a bunch more detailed questions ... and usually ask me to look up the answer in the FARs if I didn't know it.

That was smart on his part, and it was obvious he's been doing this a while. By the end of it, he had a great sense for what I knew and what I didn't.

He spent a fair amount of time asking about all the required inspections, flight reviews, etc. You need to know what makes a plane/pilot legal or illegal to fly.
 
Vance Breese said:
What are your plans?
Click to expand...

Buy an airplane, if I can convince my wife it's a good idea :) I'll start one of those dreaded "what plane should I buy" threads on the Flight Following board in a few minutes.

Other than that, I want to enjoy my VFR ticket for about a year before starting instrument training. I'll fly myself on some business trips, take friends up, visit family, etc.

Basically, I want to get where I'm going faster and have fun in the process. Flying is more about utility to me than just fiddling around in the air, so I want to use it for those mid-range trips that are too short for commercial flights and too long for sitting in a car. I want it to save me time when the weather's good :)
 
TexasAviation said:
I do wish I'd brushed up on the various emergency squawk codes. That's one thing I forgot to review recently.
Click to expand...

Easy way to remember...

75, we've been taken alive.
76, we got a glitch
77, we're going to heaven

Congrats on a successful ride!!


And always go with Easterwood. Excellent airport and staff and FBO. Can get a bit busy when the Aggies are playing. But the times I have been there in the Skylane I was treated very well.
 
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Congratulations! I think the airline pilots as DPE's deliver the best check ride experiences. Mine was a current SWA captain and had similar situational "what-if's". He used the experience as a teaching/learning opportunity which I very much appreciated.
 
Congrats now go fly and enjoy yourself.
 
Way to go! Welcome to the club. The DPE did show you the secret handshake right?
 
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