jcepiano
Pre-takeoff checklist
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- May 31, 2014
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jcepiano
Thanks to everyone for the help and advice. It's been a long road, but today I took my PPL checkride and passed.
The other accounts of checkrides helped me quite a lot so here's my experience.
I had my oral scheduled for 8AM this morning with the flight portion scheduled for 11AM. This examiner does a lot of practical exams, so the fact that I was just one of many many people made me feel less stressed. He's in his late 60s/early 70s and much less intense than I expected.
We sat down, he went over my application, checked all of my endorsements, medical certificate, and and had me look over the privacy act and pilot's bill of rights. After this, he read over the general plan of action for the oral and practical.
The oral began with him writing a number of things on the white board which he wanted answered on a yellow pad.
- At the first stop of our cross country, add 120lb passenger in the back. Calculate our new weight and CG after the first leg.
- Draw diagrams of your fuel, pitot-static, and vacuum systems.
- Equipment Requirements for Day and Night VFR (ATOMATOFLAMES, FLAPS)
- Landing and Takeoff Numbers for an airport at 2000 feet and 30C temperature. Takeoff with 10KT tailwind, Landing 10KT headwind
There was a couple of other things, but I'm seriously blanking out right now. After we went over everything, he asked me to double check my work for the weight & balance. In the heat of the moment, I stupidly did a weight add/remove calculation with a gallon amount instead of pounds. I guess he figured this was an 8:30AM kind of thing.
Then he looked over what I missed on the exam, asked me questions to double check that everything was clear. After that he opened a gigantic binder and started flipping through it and asking random questions. I'll write the ones I remember.
- I want to hire you to fly me to southern california. When can we go?
- If you move, how long do you have to report your change of address?
- My attitude indicator just died in the run-up, can we fly?
- How far do you need to stay away from a thunderstorm?
- If you happen to get caught in a thunderstorm, should you turn around, or keep going forward?
- What speed would you want to fly inside of the thunderstorm?
- If I land on the belly of a plane with a gear failure, when do I need to notify the NTSB?
- I'm taking off from Lake Tahoe with a 90F temperature, what do I need to worry about?
- How does maneuvering speed relate to your gross weight?
- Describe how an aft CG mean for your stability?
- What's the DECIDE checklist?
- What are the 3P's?
- Discuss Pilot Resource Management.
- Whats more dangerous - flying during the day or at night?
- What type of illusions should you worry about at night?
- What's a somatogravic illusion?
- What's a featureless terrain illusion?
- What's a downslope runway illusion?
- What's Hypoxia?
- I did a controlled ascent during a scuba dive, how long should I wait until I fly?
- Actually, I made a mistake, it was an uncontrolled ascent, how long should I wait?
- What type of electrical system do you have?
- What component gives pressure information to the GPS?
- Who is responsible for the flight?
- Who is responsible to make sure the plane is maintained?
- What can you to avoid runway incursions?
- What are all the types of NOTAMs?
- What beacon would you see at a civilian vs. military airport?
- What can you do to avoid terrain?
- What can you do to avoid high wires?
- What makes a plane fly? (money obviously)
Then he asked for the chart to come out.
- Where is an MOA?
- Can you enter whenever you want?
- When there is a T instead of a airspace ceiling, what does it mean?
- Where does class E go up to?
- I want to take off at a class E airport below 10,000, visibility is 2miles - can I go?
- What does the R mean at an airport? (private)
- Show some airports where I can find fuel
- Show some airports where I can't find fuel
- Find a victor airway, and tell me what the number with a box around it means (distance between VORs)
- What do the little red flags mean?
- What do you need to cross the ADIZ?
- What do you need to enter class C?
Taxi Diagrams - pointed to taxi locations, ILS critical areas, do not enter signs.
He showed me weather depiction charts, radar summaries, and had a huge legend with most of the weather symbols. Had me identify rain, drizzle, haze, thunderstorms, fog, and smoke.
There were other questions, but I don't remember. Of the 130 or so, I took a face plant on probably 8-10 of them. He told me that I really should know the answers, but given the percentage, he felt the oral was complete. He asked me to go out and preflight the plane.
I went out, set up the cockpit, did the preflight, he came over and walked around with me. Asked some more questions about the C172R.
- What are these weights on the ailerons?
- Where are the weights in the elevators?
- Name your antennas
- Did you roll the tires over to check for any issues?
- Where is the static port?
After these things, we got in, and got ready to start. I gave him a briefing about seat belts, doors, and the fire extinguisher. Started up, and off we went.
We got to the runway, did the run-up, then he asked for a soft field takeoff. We stayed in the pattern, he asked for a short field landing, as we were midfield, he asked tower for a short approach, then pulled my power at the abeam point. Did my power off landing plus the power loss checklist from memory. Right over the numbers he said go around and then wanted a short field landing next. I was pretty confused because he said, make it a short field takeoff on the go (I almost never did rolling touch & go's with short field landings, so I was unprepared for this). I started to brake on the short field landing and he yelled to release the brakes and take off. I did.
Then tower asked us to make left traffic for the shorter runway, then he asked for a no flap landing with a forward slip. We did the landing, then he asked for a right crosswind departure. On the upwind, he took controls, and asked me to begin my cross country. As soon as we turned to our heading, he diverted me to another airport near by. I was going to use the GPS and he turned it off. Asked me to use Pilotage from my experience. We went to the airport, overflew the airport at 1000 above TPA and then when turning back to enter 45, he asked for an emergency descent from 2000 to 1000 in the 180 turn. We did a normal touch and go, then made a right crosswind departure to an area with roads and farms for ground reference maneuvers.
He asked me to fly parallel to a road and notice there was a parallel road. He told me to turn perpendicular to the road and when I passed the second one, begin S-turns at 800 feet. Following the S-turns, he asked me to notice a tree and proceeded to request "steep turns around a point." I was very confused but I said, OK. I started them and he was asking why my bank angle was so high - after he realized that he inadvertently asked for "Steep turns" around a point, he let me redo the maneuver.
Next, the hood came on. Asked me to fly towards my home airport. He took the controls and did some recoveries from unusual attitudes. Had me take off the hood, then we did our slow flight, power on/off stalls, steep turns, and asked me to take him back to the home airport since he had a second check ride.
As we approached he asked about high temperature/low oil pressure situations and alternator failures. Also asked about light gun signals. On base, he requested a soft field landing saying "I don't care how long it goes, but make it beautiful." It was definitely a nice end to the airborne portion.
We taxied back and he was hurrying me to get back (I wonder to see if I'd let him push me around on the ground). We got back, we shut down, and he said that my flying was good, good hand-eye coordination, and that he wanted to see me in his office.
After I sat down, he was working on the paper work, discussed the seriousness of the responsibilities associated with a license, that I should always prepare seriously and never take the privilege for granted. He had me sign some papers and then gave me my temporary airmen certificate.
It was a long and tough road, but the hard work paid off! First flight with a passenger tomorrow!
Thanks to everyone for all the great advice and support along the way. You guys rock!
The other accounts of checkrides helped me quite a lot so here's my experience.
I had my oral scheduled for 8AM this morning with the flight portion scheduled for 11AM. This examiner does a lot of practical exams, so the fact that I was just one of many many people made me feel less stressed. He's in his late 60s/early 70s and much less intense than I expected.
We sat down, he went over my application, checked all of my endorsements, medical certificate, and and had me look over the privacy act and pilot's bill of rights. After this, he read over the general plan of action for the oral and practical.
The oral began with him writing a number of things on the white board which he wanted answered on a yellow pad.
- At the first stop of our cross country, add 120lb passenger in the back. Calculate our new weight and CG after the first leg.
- Draw diagrams of your fuel, pitot-static, and vacuum systems.
- Equipment Requirements for Day and Night VFR (ATOMATOFLAMES, FLAPS)
- Landing and Takeoff Numbers for an airport at 2000 feet and 30C temperature. Takeoff with 10KT tailwind, Landing 10KT headwind
There was a couple of other things, but I'm seriously blanking out right now. After we went over everything, he asked me to double check my work for the weight & balance. In the heat of the moment, I stupidly did a weight add/remove calculation with a gallon amount instead of pounds. I guess he figured this was an 8:30AM kind of thing.
Then he looked over what I missed on the exam, asked me questions to double check that everything was clear. After that he opened a gigantic binder and started flipping through it and asking random questions. I'll write the ones I remember.
- I want to hire you to fly me to southern california. When can we go?
- If you move, how long do you have to report your change of address?
- My attitude indicator just died in the run-up, can we fly?
- How far do you need to stay away from a thunderstorm?
- If you happen to get caught in a thunderstorm, should you turn around, or keep going forward?
- What speed would you want to fly inside of the thunderstorm?
- If I land on the belly of a plane with a gear failure, when do I need to notify the NTSB?
- I'm taking off from Lake Tahoe with a 90F temperature, what do I need to worry about?
- How does maneuvering speed relate to your gross weight?
- Describe how an aft CG mean for your stability?
- What's the DECIDE checklist?
- What are the 3P's?
- Discuss Pilot Resource Management.
- Whats more dangerous - flying during the day or at night?
- What type of illusions should you worry about at night?
- What's a somatogravic illusion?
- What's a featureless terrain illusion?
- What's a downslope runway illusion?
- What's Hypoxia?
- I did a controlled ascent during a scuba dive, how long should I wait until I fly?
- Actually, I made a mistake, it was an uncontrolled ascent, how long should I wait?
- What type of electrical system do you have?
- What component gives pressure information to the GPS?
- Who is responsible for the flight?
- Who is responsible to make sure the plane is maintained?
- What can you to avoid runway incursions?
- What are all the types of NOTAMs?
- What beacon would you see at a civilian vs. military airport?
- What can you do to avoid terrain?
- What can you do to avoid high wires?
- What makes a plane fly? (money obviously)
Then he asked for the chart to come out.
- Where is an MOA?
- Can you enter whenever you want?
- When there is a T instead of a airspace ceiling, what does it mean?
- Where does class E go up to?
- I want to take off at a class E airport below 10,000, visibility is 2miles - can I go?
- What does the R mean at an airport? (private)
- Show some airports where I can find fuel
- Show some airports where I can't find fuel
- Find a victor airway, and tell me what the number with a box around it means (distance between VORs)
- What do the little red flags mean?
- What do you need to cross the ADIZ?
- What do you need to enter class C?
Taxi Diagrams - pointed to taxi locations, ILS critical areas, do not enter signs.
He showed me weather depiction charts, radar summaries, and had a huge legend with most of the weather symbols. Had me identify rain, drizzle, haze, thunderstorms, fog, and smoke.
There were other questions, but I don't remember. Of the 130 or so, I took a face plant on probably 8-10 of them. He told me that I really should know the answers, but given the percentage, he felt the oral was complete. He asked me to go out and preflight the plane.
I went out, set up the cockpit, did the preflight, he came over and walked around with me. Asked some more questions about the C172R.
- What are these weights on the ailerons?
- Where are the weights in the elevators?
- Name your antennas
- Did you roll the tires over to check for any issues?
- Where is the static port?
After these things, we got in, and got ready to start. I gave him a briefing about seat belts, doors, and the fire extinguisher. Started up, and off we went.
We got to the runway, did the run-up, then he asked for a soft field takeoff. We stayed in the pattern, he asked for a short field landing, as we were midfield, he asked tower for a short approach, then pulled my power at the abeam point. Did my power off landing plus the power loss checklist from memory. Right over the numbers he said go around and then wanted a short field landing next. I was pretty confused because he said, make it a short field takeoff on the go (I almost never did rolling touch & go's with short field landings, so I was unprepared for this). I started to brake on the short field landing and he yelled to release the brakes and take off. I did.
Then tower asked us to make left traffic for the shorter runway, then he asked for a no flap landing with a forward slip. We did the landing, then he asked for a right crosswind departure. On the upwind, he took controls, and asked me to begin my cross country. As soon as we turned to our heading, he diverted me to another airport near by. I was going to use the GPS and he turned it off. Asked me to use Pilotage from my experience. We went to the airport, overflew the airport at 1000 above TPA and then when turning back to enter 45, he asked for an emergency descent from 2000 to 1000 in the 180 turn. We did a normal touch and go, then made a right crosswind departure to an area with roads and farms for ground reference maneuvers.
He asked me to fly parallel to a road and notice there was a parallel road. He told me to turn perpendicular to the road and when I passed the second one, begin S-turns at 800 feet. Following the S-turns, he asked me to notice a tree and proceeded to request "steep turns around a point." I was very confused but I said, OK. I started them and he was asking why my bank angle was so high - after he realized that he inadvertently asked for "Steep turns" around a point, he let me redo the maneuver.
Next, the hood came on. Asked me to fly towards my home airport. He took the controls and did some recoveries from unusual attitudes. Had me take off the hood, then we did our slow flight, power on/off stalls, steep turns, and asked me to take him back to the home airport since he had a second check ride.
As we approached he asked about high temperature/low oil pressure situations and alternator failures. Also asked about light gun signals. On base, he requested a soft field landing saying "I don't care how long it goes, but make it beautiful." It was definitely a nice end to the airborne portion.
We taxied back and he was hurrying me to get back (I wonder to see if I'd let him push me around on the ground). We got back, we shut down, and he said that my flying was good, good hand-eye coordination, and that he wanted to see me in his office.
After I sat down, he was working on the paper work, discussed the seriousness of the responsibilities associated with a license, that I should always prepare seriously and never take the privilege for granted. He had me sign some papers and then gave me my temporary airmen certificate.
It was a long and tough road, but the hard work paid off! First flight with a passenger tomorrow!
Thanks to everyone for all the great advice and support along the way. You guys rock!
Last edited:
But it sounds like you almost had a CPL checkride. 
